Directory_and_Chronicle_1910 — Page 997

CANTON

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transhipment. The export of Sugar in 1908 was 61,938 piculs against 70,366 piculs in 1907; the import of Sugar in 1908 was 235,241 piculs. The net value of the trade of the port coming under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs during the past six years has been as follows:-Tls. 103,696,530 in 1908; 103,782,947 in 1907: 94,108,696 in 1906; Tls. 92,243,650, in 1905; Tls. 96,247,076 in 1904, and Tls. 110,559,826 (the largest on record) in 1903.

Ample means of communication exist between Canton and Hongkong, a distance of about ninety-five miles, by foreign steamers plying daily, and a large number of native craft. There is daily steam communication with Macao and regular connection with Wuchow and West River ports, and with Shanghai, Newchwang, and Kwangchauwan. The total tonnage for 1908 entered and cleared was 4,691,141. The steam-launch traffic under the Inland Steam Navigation Regulations has proved a great success, though since rules were enforced in December, 1901, compelling all Chinese launches to undergo inspection at the hands of an engineer appointed by the Customs before obtaining licenses to ply, the number of launches is not so large as previously. There is a safe and commodious anchorage within 150 yards of the river wall at Shameen. Canton was connected by telegraph (an overland line) with Kowloon in 1883, and another overland line was completed from Canton to Lungchau-fu, on the Kwangsi and Tonkin frontier, in June, 1884. The electric light and the telephone system have been intro- duced into a portion of the city. A railway between Canton and Kowloon is in course of construction. The British section of the line will extend from Kowloon Point to Samchun, a distance of 22 miles, and will be completed this year. The Chinese section, which will have its terminus at Taishatow (East Gate), will be 89 miles in length. A thirty miles section from Canton outwards is expected to be opened to traffic in March, 1910, and a through connection with Kowloon in or about July, 1911. A connection with the Canton-Hankow Railway will be made to the northward of Kowloon city. The survey by an American syndicate of a railway route to connect Canton with Hankow was made in 1899. Work upon the branch line from Canton to Samshui (about 30 miles) commenced in December, 1902, and a length of ten miles, as far as Fatshan, was opened on November 15, 1903. The line was extended to Samshui the following year. The completion of the railway to Samshui brought the West River ports within easy distance of Canton, it being now possible to reach Wuchow in Kwangsi in less than twenty-four hours. That the advantages of rapid communication are appreciated may be gathered from the fact that about three millions of passengers a year are carried on this short line. Very little freight is carried. The railway has prac tically killed the passenger traffic by steam launches to Fatshan, but an increase in the railway fares in 1908 revived it to some slight extent. Work on the grand trunk line has been started at both ends, and a section, about 12 miles long, from Canton, northward to Ko Tong Hu was rapidly approaching completion, when in October, 1904, on account of friction between the Chinese authorities and the constructor of the railway, work was entirely stopped. Then it became known that Belgian capitalists had acquired extensive holdings in the American-China Development Company, and, in consequence, a strong agitation was aroused among the Chinese aiming at the cancellation of the concession, and the construction of the line with Chinese capital only. The agitation proved entirely successful. The concession was cancelled by the Chinese Government, who paid to the American-China Development Company a sum of Gold $6,750,000 as compensation, including the cost of the works already completed. As soon as the concession was cancelled a movement was organised by the commercial men of the three provinces which the line will traverse to raise the necessary funds for its construction.

A large sum of money was subscribed or promised by Chinese at home and abroad on condition that there would be no official control of the railway. This attitude on the part of the merchants naturally brought them into serious con- flict with the provincial authorities, but they successfully urged their claims to freedom from official interference, and construction work is now in progress under the direction of a Chinese engineer. The first section of the line-from Wongsha to Kongtsun,

a distance of 17 miles, with three intermediate stations-was opened on July 17th, 1907, and in December 1908 a further section to Yuntam 44 miles from Can- ton, was opened. Good progress with the work continues to be made. Owing to the difficulties experienced in getting the Chinese shareholders to pay up the calls on their shares as they fell due, the government resolved at the end of 1908 to raise a foreign loan. A Chinese-owned line from Canton to Whampoa and thence to Amoy has been projected and surveys have been made. The capital of the company is 40 million dollars, but only about one-fifth has been paid up or promised. A concession for a line from Macao to Canton was granted in November, 1904, to a Sino-Portuguese syndicate after

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