Directory_and_Chronicle_1909 — Page 958

SHANGHAI

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repairing shop. With the exception of the P. & O. S. N. Co, which then ran a fortnightly mail service from Hongkong, there was no regular line of steamers trading with the port, and the visits of coasting steamers were few and far between. Still, as the northern terminal port in China, occasional jobs came in. After the opening of Tientsin and the northern ports, and more especially after the opening of Japan, the business commenced to increase, and room was found for another small establishment to begin, Messrs. Nicolson and Boyd. Towards the end of the sixties Mr. Muirhead retired owing to failing health, and his business passed over to his former competitors. Meantime as a number of sailing ships then entered the port, many of which came from the United States, two enterprising American shipwrights, S. C. Farnham and C. P. Blethen had started, in connection with the "Old Dock," a general shipbuilding and repairing establishment under the style of S. C. Farnham & Co., and this from small beginnings rapidly grew in importance. The opening of the Suez Canal enormously increased the number of steamers visiting the port, and the Japanese daimios of the old regime were seized with a general desire to become steamer owners, so that the trade got a considerable fillip, and in the way of docking and repairs a large amount of local business commenced to spring up, and competition finally became strong. About 1890 both the old partners in S. C. Farnham and Co. having died, their successors conceived the idea of converting the old business into a limited liability company, and this was finally accomplished in 1893. In 1892 another limited liability company, the Shanghai Engineering and Dock Company entered the field, and com- menced to build a larger and more commodious dock than had up to that time existed in the place. They had, however, under-estimated the cost, and the new dock having met with a mishap, the Company found itself in financial straits. Overtures were made, with the result that the two concerns amalgamated. Finding themselves now in possession of nearly all the docking facilities of the port, the idea of combining all one large concern presented itself and negotiations were commenced with Nicolson and Boyd, the partners of which, finding that they would now have increasing difficulty in carrying on in face of the superior advantages possessed by their competitors, consented to an amalgamation; and the style of the new combination was changed to S. C. Farnham, Boyd and Company, Limited, with a nominal capital of upwards of five and a half million taels. Practically the new firm had the complete command of the market, possessing all the dry docks, and all the machine shops of any size. The capital, it was generally considered, was too large; at all events it seems to have tempted to over-speculation, and, as not infrequently happens in similar cases, there was found a disposition on the part of the business to go elsewhere. This led to more or less complaint on the part of the shareholders. Out- siders soon commenced to find openings for competition, and the result has been the winding up of the old company, and the formation of a new one in 1906, under the title of the "Shanghai Dock and Engineering Co., Limited." By another company the dock owned by the Chinese Government at the Arsenal at Kao- ch'ang Miao has been acquired under competent European management, and forms a formidable competitor; while one or two private firms have started to undertake ship- building and engineering on a large scale, and with well equipped works. From the well appointed yards of the Dock and Engineering Co. several steamers, both river and sea-going, have of late years been turned out, up to a tonnage of fifteen hundred to two thousand, with engines complete, which in their gencral style are fully equal to European-built vessels, and on account of saving the heavy expenses of steaming out, have proved satisfactory to their owners, so that steel and iron shipbuilding may be considered as one of the regular industries of the port. Shanghai bids fair to soon outrival Bombay as the largest manufacturing centre in Asia.

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The "Astor House" in Hongkew, the "Palace" formerly known as the “Central” in the British, and the "Hôtel des Colonies" in the French Concession, besides many second-class houses, give hotel accommodation equal to that of any port in the East. There are five daily newspapers: the North China Daily News, The Shanghai Times, and L'Echo de Chine, morning; the Shanghai Mercury and the China Gazette, evening; and the weeklies include the North China Herald, Celestial Empire, Ostasiatische Lloyd, The Union, Sport and Gossip. There are upwards of a dozen native daily papers, the leading ones being the Shun-pao, the Hu-pan, the Sin-wan-pao, the Shi Po, and the Universal Gazette, the latter representing the Reform movement. These are sold at the prices of ten and eight cash, equal to about a farthing. Some of them have a circulation of 10,000 per day. In one matter, that of postal accommodation, Shanghai is over-supplied, much to the disad- vantage of the resident community, there being British, French, American, Japanese, German, Russian, and Imperial Chinese Post Offices. The latter was organized by, and