Directory_and_Chronicle_1891 — Page 13

PREFACE.

Departing from the usual custom of allowing the work to stand upon its merits, the Publishers of the Chronicle and Directory, in issuing the twenty-ninth volume, consider a few lines of explanation necessary owing to the alterations effected.

The book has, with the exception of the Codes and Treaties, been entirely set in new type, which it is intended to keep for its sole use. Advantage has been taken of this to re-arrange it in order to simplify reference and introduce a uniform system. To this end it was decided to put firms, public companies, institutions, societies, etc., all in one alphabet. The names of institutions, firms, etc., are set in small capitals to give them more prominence, and in all cases pains have been taken to facilitate ready reference. The official lists for French, Spanish, and Portuguese ports, hitherto partly given in English, are now all given in the languages of those countries, so that the names of departments and ranks of officers may be correctly indicated. The alphabetical list of names has been put in double column to save space, and in every way efforts have been made to compress intelligence so that the work may not grow unrea- sonably bulky. For this reason it has been set in somewhat smaller type. Owing to the ever increasing quantity of information introduced into the Directory por- tion of the book it has been found necessary to use contractions to a greater extent than hitherto, but this has in no case been allowed to affect the clearness of the information given. The space thus economised has been devoted to the introduction of new features and fuller intelligence, such as lists of the insurance offices and agencies at the principal ports, arranged in alphabetical order. As a further attempt at systematic arrangement the ports are now placed as far as possible in geographical order, beginning at the north, and this will be continued in future issues. The change introduced last year of placing the alphabetical list at the end will also be adhered to. This opportunity may be taken to state that the work does not profess to be other than a Directory for foreigners; native firms and native employés in Government offices and mercantile firms have to be excluded, however high the positions held by them.

The descriptions of the various ports and colonies have all been carefully revised and most of them extended, that of Hongkong, for instance, having been expanded from five pages to eleven of smaller type. Descriptions of Chinese Kowloon, Lappa, Lungchow, Mengtzu, Port Arthur, and Wei-hai-wei have been added; most of the plans have been revised to the latest date, and an entirely new plan of the Peak District of Hongkong is given, which includes the Peak itself and the Magazine Gap district. It is intended in future years to add to the number of plans. In the complete edition will be found several new features, such as the Chungking Convention, the Sikkim Convention with China, the new rules for the Hongkong Legislative Council, &c.

Neither time, money, nor labour has been spared to ensure accuracy, but the vastness of the field the book covers, the time consumed in obtaining the information, the neglect of some to send returns, and the occasional loss in transmission, to say nothing of the difficulty of dealing with indistinct caligraphy in many languages, will, it is trusted, excuse in great measure the errors that must unavoidably be found. We have, by employing an increased staff, introducing new machinery, etc., made every effort to prepare the work for publication in the shortest time possible; but it must be remembered that the sale has steadily grown till it is now double what it was some years ago, and—although we can receive corrections for each sheet up to the hour of going to press-the binding of so many copies of a book of twelve hundred pages necessarily takes several days.

In conclusion, we gratefully offer our thanks to the many friends, at over sixty different ports, whose valuable aid in informing us of new firms and institutions, of those that have ceased to exist, and supplying other information has greatly assisted in establishing the reputation of the work.

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