Directory_and_Chronicle_1917 — Page 1107

PAKHOI

海北 Pak-hoi

Pakhoi is one of the ports opened to foreign trade by the Chefoo Convention in 1877. It is situated on the Gulf of Tongking in long. E Greenwich 109 deg. 7 min. (106° 47′ of Paris), and lat. N. 21 deg. 29 min. The British Consul hoisted his flag on the 1st May, 1877, a French Consulate was established in December, 1887, and a German Consulate in November, 1902, and the foreigners were well received by the natives and continue to be respected. Pakhoi is the port for the important citics of Limehow and Chinchow, whence considerable quantities of foreign piece-goods, etc., were formerly distributed over the country lying between the West River and the seaboard, but now that the West River has been opened to steam navigation a part of the trade has been diverted to that route. The trade of Pakhoi is a declining one although in 1915 there was some improvement, the net value being Tls. 3,053,361 as compared with Tls. 2,200,417 in 1914, Tls. 2,770,288 in 1913, Tls. 2,536,195, in 1912, Tls. 2,457,588 in 1911, Tls. 2,655,519 in 1910 and Tls. 3,002,911 in 1909. The prosperity of the port has been steadily decreasing since 1888 and the downward tendency is almost inevitable; the opening of the West River Ports and the French free port of Kwang- chowwan dealt a staggering blow to local trade from which the port has never recovered. The Chinese town is situated on a small peninsula, and faces nearly due north. It stands at the foot of a bluff nearly forty feet high, which deprives it of the south-west breeze in summer, while in winter it is exposed to the full force of the north-east monsoon, which very often blows so hard for several days that it materially interferes with the loading and discharging of steamers in the harbour. The bluff, or the plain above the town, is level for miles, which makes riding both on bicycle and on horseback a decided pleasure. The foreigners almost exclusively live on the bluff, which in former years was only dotted by a few European buildings, but is now ornamented with many. From the bluff an extensive partly-cultivated plain develops, over which some sport is obtainable-snipe, plover, quail, and pigcons being found in large numbers, but duck and other water-fowl are not numerous. The climate is considered to be very salubrious. The estimated population of the port is 20,000. No port in China is more easily approached and entered than that of Pakhoi. The landmarks are conspicuous and unmistakeable. The channel, marked by a couple of buoys, is wide and deep and has no hidden danger to be avoided. The anchorage is a mile and a half from the Customs House. There is good landing at high-water, but at ebb tide only for small boats. The construction of a railway by a French Company from Pakhoi to Nanning was authorised a few years ago, but the work on the project has not yet been commenced. More recently the leading Chinese residents of Limchowfu, the chief city in the Pakhoi district, have formulated an ambitious scheme of railway construction spreading out to Western Kwangtung and Kwangsi, with lines to Kweichow and Yunnan, but the realisation of this project is probably as distant as the other. A free school for the teaching of the French language to Chinese, a free hospital for the treatment of Chinese patients and a Post Office have been established by the French Government. In 1906 a police force was established by order of the provincial government of Canton. In 1907 the local merchants established a branch office of the Canton Chamber of Commerce.