Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 520

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

NAGASAKI

called Deshima. By the treaty of 1858, Nagasaki was one of the ports opened to British trade on the 1st July in the following year.

On entering the harbour of Nagasaki no stranger can fail to be struck with the admirable situation of the town and the beautiful panorama of hilly scenery opened to his view. The harbour is a landlocked inlet deeply indented with small bays, about three miles long with a width varying from half-a-mile to a mile. A reclamation scheme is now in progress; the portion of the sea in front of the foreign concessions at Deshima and Megasaki is to be reclaimed and the harbour deepened. It is estimated that the cost of the work will be four million yen, and that it will take five years to finish. The native town is on the eastern side of the harbour, and is about two miles long by about three-quarters of a mile in extreme width. The foreign settlement adjoins the native town on the south side. The chief mercantile houses are situated on the bund facing the harbour, behind which are a few streets running parallel with it, and there are a number of private residences on the hill-side. There are English Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, two clubs, and a Masonic Lodge. The principal hotel is the Nagasaki Hotel, opened in 1898, a three-storeyed brick building situated on the Bund. There are several smaller hotels, of which the two largest are the Belle Vue Hotel and Cliff House. The Nagasaki dock was lengthened during 1894 to admit vessels of 500 feet in length on a draught of 26 feet. Attached to the dock are extensive Engine Works, most completely equipped and fitted. These works were originally built by the Japanese Government, but they now belong, as does the dock, to the Mitsu Bishi Company. Waterworks have recently been completed. The reservoir holds 90,000,000 gallons, and there are three filter beds and a service reservoir. The Kiushiu Railway is now completed between Moji and Kumamoto, with a branch line to Nagasaki. The climate of Nagasaki is mild and salubrious, and there are several very popular health resorts in the neighbourhood, the most famous being Mount Unzen.

After the opening of the port the trade for several years steadily developed, but it subsequently declined, owing to various causes, but chiefly perhaps on account of its gradual attraction to Yokohama. During the last ten years, however, there has been a steady improvement in the foreign trade, which has more than doubled itself in that period. The imports, indeed, have increased tenfold in as many years : and with the opening up of railway communication with the interior of Kinshiu, com- pleted in 1898, à large increase in the prosperity of the port is anticipated. The chief articles of import are cotton and woollen manufactures. The principal exports are coal, tea, camphor, rice, vegetable wax, tobacco, and dried fish. There are several very productive coal mines near Nagasaki, of which the Takashima mine is the most important.

The value of the import trade of Nagasaki during the year 1897 was yen 13,601,234 against $10,024,382 in 1896, and that of the export trade yen 5,542,013 against 84,948,028 in 1896. Coal is the staple article of export.

The population of Nagasaki in 1895 was 71,619. The number of foreign residents, as given in the Consular report for 1895, was 1,049, of whom 543 were Chinese, 121 British, and 385 other Europeans and Americans. A small foreign daily paper is published entitled the Nagasaki Press.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 520

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