Directory_and_Chronicle_1910 — Page 645

NAGASAKI

Nagasaki is a city of great antiquity, and in the early days of European in- tercourse with the Far East was the most important seat of the foreign trade with Japan. It is admirably situated on the south-western coast of the Island of Kiushiu. A melancholy interest attaches to the neighbourhood as the scene of the extinction of Christianity in the empire and the extermination of the professors of that religion in 1637. At the entrance to the harbour lies the celebrated island of Pappenberg, where thousands of Christians are said to have been thrown over the high cliff rather than go through the form of trampling on the Cross. Not far from Nagasaki is also the village of Mogi, where 37,000 Christians suffered death in defending themselves against the forces sent to subdue them. When the Christian religion was crushed and the foreigners expelled, to the Dutch alone was extended the privilege of trading with Japan, and they were confined to a small plot of ground at Nagasaki called Deshima. By the Treaty of 1858 Nagasaki was one of the ports opened to British trade on the 1st July in the following year.

On entering the harbour of Nagasaki no stranger can fail to be struck with the admirable situation of the town and the beautiful panorama of hilly scenery opened to his view. The harbour is a land-locked inlet deeply indented with small bays, about three miles long with a width varying from. half-a-mile to a mile. A reclamation scheme was commenced in October, 1897, and completed in January 1905; 147 acres were reclaimed, and retaining walls measuring nearly five miles in length have been built in front of what were formerly the foreign concessions at Deshima and Megasaki. Simultaneously the harbour has been deepened. The cost of the work was four million yen.

The town is on the eastern side of the harbour, and is about two miles long by about three-quarters of a mile in extreme width. The foreign quarter adjoins the town on the south side. The chief mercantile houses are situated on the bund facing the harbour, behind which are a few streets running parallel with it, and there are a number of private residences on the hill-side. There are English Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, three clubs (Nagasaki, Bowling and International) and a Masonic Lodge. There are several hotels, of which the largest are the Hotel de France, the Cliff House, the Hotel du Japan, and the Belle Vue Hotel. The Mitsu Bishi Company own three docks in Nagasaki, the largest of which has a length of 714 feet on the keel blocks and a depth of water at ordinary spring tides of 34ft. 6in. a shipbuilding centre the place is rapidly developing, and since 1889 several large ocean-going vessels have been launched there. The vessels built at the yard and completed for sea in 1908 included two turbine steamers of 13,500 tons each for the Toyo Kisen Kaisha; two twin-screw passenger and cargo steamers of 8,600 tons each for the Nippon Yusen Kaisha; a 23-knot turbine despatch vessel for the Imperial Navy; and a twin-screw turbine passenger steamer, of 3,300 tons, for the Japanese Imperial Volunteer Fleet. The work in hand in 1909 included eight large ships, their aggregate tonnage being 61,200. The waterworks, owing to the growth of the town, were found to be insufficient for its wants and a large extension of the works was completed in March, 1904. The reservoirs hold 405,240,000 gallons, and there are three filter beds and a service reservoir. The railway develop- ments of recent years have made it possible, with a brief sea passage of ten minutes, between Moji and Shimonoseki, to travel by rail from Nagasaki to Kobe and thence to Tokyo. The climate in Nagasaki is mild and salubrious, and there are several very popular health resorts in the neighbourhood, the most famous being Mount Unzen.

As

In 1907 the imports were valued at Yen 16,230,501, an increase of Yen 2,597,675 as compared with the figures for 1906, while exports decreased by Yen 858,800, the value being Yen 5,513,744.

Though the foreign trade has fallen off considerably, the population of the port has increased greatly. In December, 1908, it was returned as 175,936, nearly double what it was fifteen years ago. The foreign population, exclusive of Chinese, was 419. The Chinese number about 850. An English newspaper, the Nagasaki Press, is published daily.

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