Directory_and_Chronicle_1903 — Page 462

EASTERN SIBERIA

VLADIVOSTOCK

This port, on some charts still called Port May, lies in latitude 43 deg. 7 min. N. and longitude 131 deg. 54 min. E., at the southern end of a long peninsula reaching into Peter the Great Bay. Of the ports in East Siberia, it is by far the most important both as a military and commercial centre. Vladivostock is one of the most magnificent harbours in the East. From its peculiar long and narrow shape and the once supposed hidden treasures in the slightly auriferous soil of its surrounding hills, it has not inappropriately been called the Golden Horn. The entrances to the harbour are hidden by Dundas Island, which divides the fairway into two narrow passages. This fine sheet of water first runs for about half a inile in a northern direction and then suddenly bends to the east for a distance of about one mile. On all sides it is surrounded by hills, low on the southern and higher on the northern shore, and which slope sharply down to the water's edge. These hills, once verdant with foliage, have been completely denuded of trees by reckless felling. The harbour, capable of accommodating an almost unlimited number of vessels of deep draught and large capacity, affords a safe anchorage. It is usually icebound in January and February, but steamers can almost always find their way in with the assistance of an ice-breaker. There is a floating dock capable of taking in vessels up to 3,000 tons, and a fine graving dock was opened on the 13th October, 1897. The dimensions of this new dock are:- Length over all, 625 feet; length at bottom, 555 feet; breadth, 120 feet; breadth at entrance, 90 feet; depth, 30 feet.

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The port, the chief naval station of Russia on the Pacific, is commanded by an Admiral appointed from home, and there is also a military Governor, residing at Vladivostock, who is in command of the forces spread over the South Ussuri district. The municipal affairs of the town are managed by a Mayor and Town Council elected by and from among the Russian civil community. 1899 the Commercial Harbour-Office was opened. The town is built on the southern slope of the hills running along the northern shore of the harbour, and handsome brick residences have been erected in recent years, replacing the older wooden structures, The entire area, with the exception of some unoccupied lots intervening here and there, is covered by buildings; and the town is well laid out with wide but ill-kept roads. The sanitary arrangements are bad, though the town is fairly healthy. Mo conspicuous among the buildings are the government offices, the post and t de, ph-office, municipal house, the barracks, the railway station, the mus ur t ssian church, the Governor's residence and that of the Admiral Commanding, wool is surrounded by a Public Garden, while the houses of the more affluent mere.. e well and substantially built. In the Public Garden the naval band p's

werk during the summer. There is a Naval Club, to which civilia marineeti ! as non-voting members, four or five hotels, a high oriental gyi nasium and school for boys, an institute for girls, and military, tals. There are monuments of Admiral Nevelsay Zavoysco. The ion of about 30,000, most of whom are of European extraction. incipally in the hands of Germans and Chinese and the port is one of ine

Brkish, German and Japanese steamers doing most of the carrying trie, an th .rt : the terminus of the Russian Volunteer Fleet. A large garrison is maintained, and the total number of troops in Vladivostock and the neighbourhood is believed to ameant to not much less than 100,000, but exact figures are not obtainable In June, 1891, the Czarewitch cut the first sod of the Vladivostock sec- tion of the Siberian Railway and the railway extends to Chabarofsk, and a branch to Charbin in Manchuria. The accommodation and service are very good, and the fares very reasonable. There are commercial agents for the United States, Italy, Belgin Japan, and China.

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