Directory_and_Chronicle_1918 — Page 588

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HAKODATE

of Hakodate is healthy and bracing. The hottest month is August, but the thermome- ter there rarely rises above 90 degrees Fahr.; in the winter it sometimes sinks to 18 degrees. The mean temperature throughout the year is about 48 degrees. The population of Hakodate is about 90,000. The number of foreign residents comprising American, British, French, and Chinese is about 350.

The foreign trade of the port is sinall, but has been steadily growing during the last few years with the exception of 1915 when there was a considerable shrinkage in imports. The value of the imports in 1915 was yen 399,318 and exports yen 4,791,279. In 1916 the imports were Yen 815,831 and the exports Yen 4,951,8 1. The agricultural resources of Yezo have been to some extent developed under the auspices of the Kaitakushi, or Colonization Department. The rich pasture lands are well adapted for breeding cattle. In the valuable and extensive fisheries on the coast, however, the chief exports of the future from Hakodate are to be looked for. Increasing quantities of dried fish and seaweed are exported annually, mostly to China. The mineral resources of Yezo are large, and may also some day yield a valuable addition to the exports of this port. About a million and a half tons of coal are annually taken from 41 mines, and the output of the eighteen sulphur mines amounts to about 250,000 tons a year. Manganese is produced to the extent of about five thousand tons a year from five mines between Hakodate and Otaru, and an important export business in this com- modity seems to be developing. Copper has not figured in the export returns since 1904, though some is inine in the island. Timber has during the past few years formed the chief item in the export list, and now represents in value just about half the total. A decrease in the orders for sleepers for Chinese railways, etc., however, caused a sus- pension of felling and sawing in the winter of 1914. Washing for gold dust has been carried on in Kitami, and the belief is entertained that with proper machinery the gold mines of Hokkaido inay be worked with fair profit. Silver, manganese, sulphur and magnetic iron are also obtained. The kerosene wealth of this district is considerable, and it is even stated the prospects are not inferior to those of Echigo. The places where oil is said to exist are numerous. At Nukimi-Mura on Soya Strait in the extreme North-oil wells were discovered long ago, and have been worked by hand for some years. The oil, in fact, overflows into the sea, and in stormy weather boats take refuge at Nukimi-Mura, as the sea is rendered smooth by the oil. Oil also exists at Nigori- Kawa, near Hakodate; at Kayamagori, near Shiribeshi; at Itaibetsu, on a tributary of the Urin River (output 800 gallons per day); at Kotamimura and Tsukisama Mura (Imperial property), near Sapporo; and near Abashira, where the wells are considered rich Hakodate is connected with the capital by telegraph, and a line of railway (157 miles) connects Hakodate with Otaru. A. railway from Otaru to Sapporo, 22 miles long, was opened to public traffic on the 28th November, 1830, and has since been carried on to Poronai, where are some large coal mines, the total length of the line being 56 miles. A branch to Ikushumbetsu, seven miles, has since been laid and another line from the coal mines to Muroran, a port on the south-east of the Island, a distance of 143 miles, was opened to traffic in July, 1892. At the station of Oiwake, from which point there is a branch line to Yubari (26 miles), the Tanko Tetsudo Kaisha established ovens for the manufacture of coke. There are now 936 miles of railway in the Hokkaido. The Hakodate Harbour Improvement works were completed in 1900, and a patent slip capable of taking vessels up to 1,500 tons was also finished. There is also a dry dock to accommodate ships up to 10,000 tons at ordinary spring tides, and at highest spring tides the dock is capable of receiving the largest battleships in tlie Japanese Navy. At Otaru a massive breakwater, about 3,500 feet long, has been con- structed.

In August, 1907, half the city of Hakodate was destroyed by a fire. The number of houses destroyed in the conflagration was ascertained to be 8,977, rendering about 60,000 persons homeless. All the foreign residents with the exception of the American Consular Agent were burn out, saving nothing, and the total loss was estimated at not less than 50,000,000 yen.