Directory_and_Chronicle_1901 — Page 605

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司公船駁活大

TAKU-PEI-TAI-HO

Ta-ku Po-ch'uan Kung-ssu

TAKU TUG AND LIGHTER COMPANY, LIMITED,

Head Office, Tientsin : Tel. Ad. Calendar

Directors-J. Stewart, A. D. Startseff, W. W. Dickinson, J. Wilson, W. C. Anderson

W. H. Forbes, secretary, Tientsin J. W. Stavers, captain s.s.

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"Chin-

A. Young, capt. s.s. “Kaitai" H. J. Macrae, superdt. engineer A. Crawford, engineer

J. Cromarty,

do.

PEI-TAI-HO

Pei-Tai-Ho is a watering place on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, which the energy and enterprise of the foreign communities of Tientsin has called into existence within the last few years. It lies some 22 miles S. W. by W. from Shanhaikwan, where the Great Wall meets the sea, in latitude 39 deg. 49 min. N., longtitude 119 deg. 30 min. E., and is distant from Tientsin by railway 157 miles. Nine miles distant is the harbour of Cheng Wang Kow, which the Chinese Imperial Government has declared its intention of making a Treaty Port. It is hoped by the aid of foreign money that, Cheng Wang may be made into an ice-free deep-water safe harbour, giving access in all weathers to great ocean- going steamers all the year round, but works of very considerable magnitude and expense will be necessary before this issue is reached The hinterland is rich in coal and iron, and has good railway communication with Tientsin and Peking; there is little doubt that if harbour facilities were given Cheng Wang would soon become a very important emporium. The land round about has all been taken up by a close Chinese syndicate, and as the success of the place might militate against the interests of Tientsin and Tongku, it is not likely to meet with much encouragement there. The boundaries of the Treaty Port have been extended along the foreshore of Shallow Bay for nine miles, and are then spread out as to include the 3 or 4 square miles on which the foreigners have settled at Pei-Tai-Ho. The fact that the watering-place lies within the port limits gives legal title to all land purchase, and will ensure some sort of foreign Municipal control in the near future. An attempt is now being made to obtain this from the Imperial Government; meanwhile, the foreign community has made temporary arrangements and has submitted to voluntary taxation for combined sanitation.

Pei-Tai-Ho at present is accessible only by rail from Peking, Tientsin, Taku and Newchwang, though the journey extends over two entire days from the Manchurian seaport. The railway station lies from four to six miles from the various settlements, and the journey is made by chair, donkey, or walking. Carriages cannot be used, as the roads are like those which General Wade superseded in the Scottish Highlands. There are six miles of beach of every possible variety, and the bathing is excellent from the middle of May to the first of October. The country rises at once from the shore to undulating uplands; most of the houses are at an elevation of fifty or a hundred feet above sea level. At the west end the country is diversified by the Lotus Hills, a series of granite rocks which come close to the sea, and are an off-shoot from the Pittal Hill twelve miles inland. The Lotus peaks rise to about 400 feet. The soil is chiefly a sand formed by disintegrated granite; it is very dry, fertile and non-malarial. The water is excellent, but it is feared that the large access of foreigners and their careless Chinese servants may issue in well-contamination if precautions are not promptly taken. In 1896 there were about twenty tenements, in 1899 about one hundred; in July 1899 the population was slightly over four hundred, chiefly from Tientsin, Peking and the mission stations of Chih-li. There are three major and two minor settlements; West Shore, Rocky Point and East Cliff being the designatories of the former. Most of the Tientsin and Peking laymen are at West Shore; it has the advantage of proximity to the Lotus Hills and the Station, and has more pleasing scenery near at hand. Its demerits are a somewhat tame beach-nothing but sand-and inferior bathing. The latter is due to stinging medusæ or jelly fish, and to the nearness of the River Tai which often discolours the water. Both demerits have however been exaggerated The missionaries are chiefly at Rocky Point; there they have an Association which regulates their land tenure, sanita- tion, Sunday observance, etc. A strong body of laymen has now settled to the west of this 'Association' settlement, attracted by the central position, better beach and bathing. The East Cliff was originally a mission investment, but is now a general settlement; it is furthest away from the station and has inferior bathing (one place excepted) but on