Directory_and_Chronicle_1907 — Page 799

708

Mrs. Beer Mrs. Blower

Mrs. Brummage Mrs. Case Mrs. Hickin

Mrs. Hill

WEIHAIWEI–KIAOCHAU

LADIES' DIRECTORY

Mrs. Larkins Mrs. Lewis Mrs. Loureiro Mrs. Matheson Mrs. Mudditt

Mrs. Ockenden

Mrs. Ramsey

Mrs. Sands

Mrs. Shand

Mrs. Stewart-Lock-

hart

Mrs. Swan

Mrs. Walter Mrs. Whittaker Mrs. Wilkins Mrs. Yorke

KIAOCHAU (TSINGTAU)

州膠 Kiáu-chau

K

Berg

Tsingtau, situated at the entrance to the Kiaochau Bay in Shantung, was occupied by a German squadron on the 14th November, 1897, in consequence of the murder of two German missionaries. It is held on lease from China for the term of ninety-nine years. The special attention of the Administration has been devoted to agricultural and mining development in the Protectorate. The local administration consists of a Council, which is composed of all the heads of the several administrative departments under the personal supervision of the Governor and three members chosen from the civil population and appointed for one year; the first is named by the Governor, with the consent of the Council, the second is chosen from among the members of the non-Chinese firms, and the third from the list of taxpayers paying at least $50 ground tax, without distinction of nationality. In addition to the above-described Council, the Governor is assisted by a School Committee, a Committee to settle the question of licenses to public-houses, another to settle the land tax, and others for pauper and Church questions. The Protectorate has developed to an unlooked-for extent under this system of administration, which has enabled all the vital questions at issue, such as legal rights, landed properties, land tax assessment, school and Church matters, to be satisfactorily settled. The object of the Administration in dealing with the land question has been to secure for every settler the lasting possession of his plot, thereby opposing unhealthy land speculation. Tsingtau, on the 22nd September, 1898, was de- clared a free port. The harbour has all the advantages of a Treaty port, and as a free port especially recommended itself as an emporium, since the merchant could there store, free of duty, his wares from abroad or his raw materials brought from the interior of China. The Chinese import duties were at first levied only on goods brought to Tsingtau by sea, when they were transported beyond the borders of the Protectorate into Chinese territory. The Chinese export duties were at first levied only on goods brought from the interior of China, when they were shipped from the German Protectorate to any other place. But in 1906 a new Convention came into force whereby Tsingtau ceased to be a free port, and the Imperial Maritime Customs now collects duties here as at all the other Treaty ports of China. But the Conven- tion stipulates that 20% of the money so collected at Tsingtau shall be paid to the Imperial German Government.

The Bay of Kiaochau is an extensive inlet about two miles north-west of Cape Evelyn. The entrance is not more than 1 miles across, the east side being a low promontory with rocky shores, with the village of Tsingtau (" green island," from a small grassy island close to the land) about two miles from the point of the peninsula. On the west side of the entrance is another promontory with hills rising to about 600 feet. The shore here is rocky, and dangerous on the west side, but on the east side is a good stretch of sandy beach. The bay is so large that the land at the head can only just be seen from the entrance (about 15 to 20 miles away), and the water gradually gets shallower as the north side of the bay is approached. Kiaochau city stands at the north-west corner of the bay. There are two anchorages for big ships; the larger and better is round the point of the east promontory, on the north side, and the other, smaller one, at Tsingtau on the south side. A new mole was "opened" on March 6th, 1904, which accommodates five vessels with berths. A second mole, connected by an

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