Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 582

138

SHANGHAI

K

Mr. H. H. Lindsay, head of the late firm of Lindsay & Co., and the Rev. Chas. Gutzlaff, in the Lord Amherst, with a view of opening up trade. Mr. Lindsay says he counted upwards of four hundred junks passing inwards every day for seven days, and found the place possessed commodious wharves and large warehouses. Three years later it was visited by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, who confirmed the account given by Mr. Lindsay. On the 13th June, 1812, a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, and a military force of 4,000 men under Sir Hugh Gough, captured the Woosung forts, which mounted 175 guns, and took the hsien (district) city of Paoshan. On the 19th, after a slight resistance, the force gained possession of Shanghai, the officials and a large proportion of the inhabitants having fled the previous evening, although great preparations had been made for the defence, 406 pieces of cannon being taken possession of by the British. The people, however, rapidly returned and business was resumed. The same force afterwards captured Chinkiang and Hankow, after which the treaty of Nanking was signed, and the ports of Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai were opened to trade. The city was evacuated on the 23rd June.

The ground selected by Captain Balfour, the first British Consul, for a Settle- ment for his nationals, lies about half a mile north of the city walls, between the Yang-king-pang and Soochow Creeks, and extends backward from the river to a ditch connecting the two, called the Defence Creek, thus forming what may be called an island, a mile square. The port was formally declared open to trade on the 17th November, 1843. Some years were occupied in draining and laying out the ground, which was mostly a marsh with numerous ponds and creeks. The foreigners in the meantime lived at Namtao, a subarb between the city and the river, the British Consulate being in the city. In two years a few houses were built in the Settlement, and by 1849 most foreigners had taken up their residence in it. By that time twenty-five firms were establishel, and the foreign residents numbered a hundred, including seven ladies. In that year an English Church was built, and on 21st November the foundation of the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Tongkadoo was laid. The French were in 1849 granted the ground between the city walls and the British Settlement on the same terms, and, in exchange for help rendered in driving out the rebels who had seized the city in 1853, got a grant of the land extending for about a mile to the south between the city walls and the river. They have since by purchase extended the bounds of the Concessio westward to the "Ningpo Joss house, "a mile from the river. Negociations ar now proceeding for an extensio of the Settlement to Sicawei, a farther distance of five miles. Later on the Americans rented land immediately north of Soochow Creek, in the district called Hongkew, so that the ground now occupied by foreigners extends for about four miles on the left bank of the river. The land in the British Settlement was assessed in 1893 at Tls. 18,532,573, and that in Hongkew at Tls. 10,379,735; in 1890 at Tls. 12,397,810, and Tls. 4,806,448; and in 1880 at Tls. 6,118,265 and Tls. 1,945,325 respectively, the total of Tls. 28,912,303 in 1896 shewing an advance since 1880 of over two hundred and fifty-eight per cent. While the value of the land in the British Settlement had trebled that in Hongkew had increased to over five times what it was worth sixteen years previously. A great rise in values took place during the later months of 1995 and this has continued during the last three years, chiefly caused by the influx of native capital, seeking safe investment under foreign protection ad by the great increase in population resulting from the establishment of numerous cotton mills, silk filatures and other industries. The rental assessment in 1897 of 473 foreign houses in the British Settlement was Tls. 534,205 and in Hongkew of 651 houses Tls. 327,348; that of 13,931 native houses in the former Tls. 1,873,918 and of 18,219 in the latter, Tls. 990,303, a total annual rental assessment of house property of Tls. 3,725,774. During the last three years 10,000 new houses have been built. In the French Concession the assessed value of land was Tls. 4,665,675 in 1898 ; the rental assessment of foreign houses Tls. 76,250 and of native houses Tls. 505,000. The Chamber of Commerce in 1882 valued the land in the three Settlements at Tls. 24,355,000 and the merchandise in stock at Tls. 32,645,000, together equal to fourteen and a quarter millions sterling. Both have at least doubled in value since that date and the boundaries of Hongkew have been enlarged. The British and French Settlements are now practically all built over, and the vacant spaces in Hongkew are being rapidly covered. Many of the best foreign houses both in the Settlements and outside roads are now occupied by Chinese, retired officials and merchants. A petition has now been sent to Peking praying for a greatly enlarged boundary for the Settlement. This has the support of the Consular Body and also of the native officials