Directory_and_Chronicle_1904 — Page 536

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 mile 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 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 dock are:-Length over all, 625 feet; length at bottom, 555 feet; breadth, 120 feet; breadth at entrance, 90 feet; depth, 30 feet. In the course of the next few years two large docks will be opened especially for naval purposes.

In

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. Most conspicuous among the buildings are the government offices, the post and telegraph-office, municipal house, the barracks, the railway station, the museum, the Russian church, the Governor's residence and that of the Admiral Commanding, which is surrounded by a Public Garden, while the houses of the more affluent merchants are well and substantially built. In the Public Garden the naval band plays twice a week during the summer. There is a Naval Club, to which civilians are admitted as non-voting members, four or five hotels, a high oriental lyceum with a gymnasium and school for boys, an institute for girls, and military, naval and civil hospitals. There are monuments of Admiral Nevelsay Zavoysco. The town has a population of about 30,000, most of whom are of European extraction. The retail trade is principally in the hands of Germans and Chinese and the port is one of importance, Russian, British, German and Japanese steamers doing most of the carrying trade, and the port is the terminus of the Russian Volunteer Fleet. A large garrison is maintained, but exact figures are not obtainable. In June, 1891, the Czarewitch cut the first sod of the Vladivostock section 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 great Britain, the United States, Italy, Belgium, Japan, China, France and Holland.

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