Directory_and_Chronicle_1917 — Page 895

SHANGHAI

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Match Factories, turning out between them some 80 cases, containing each 100 gross of boxes, per day. There are also large foreign Flour Mills (for grinding native wheat, which, it is said, makes excellent flour), two Kerosene Tank Oil and Tinning establish- ments and works, and various other industries which are fast increasing in number.

No notice of the important place taken by Shanghai in the industrial progress of the East would be complete without a reference to the large engineering and shipbuilding establishments which now form a conspicuous feature in the business of the place. Already in the early 'fifties, Mr. William Muirhead, an engineer officer in the service of the P. & O. S. N. Co., had conceived the idea of starting a repairing shop. With the exception of the P. & O., 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 & 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 régime 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 & 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 large 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 in one large concern presented itself, and negotiations were commenced with Nicolson & 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 & 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 se ms 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. Outsiders soon commenced to find openings for competition, and the result was 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 ou 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 general 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.

The "Astor House" in Hongkew, and the "Palace," formerly known as the "Central," in the British, besides many other houses, give good hotel accommodation. There are six daily newspapers: the North-China Daily News, the Shanghai Times, L'Echo de Chine and China Press, morning; the Shanghai Mercury evening; and the weeklies include the North-China Herald, Celestial Empire, Ostasiatische Lloyd, The Union, Sport