Directory_and_Chronicle_1919 — Page 701

SHANGHAI

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on both sides, have rounded corners with a wide sweep, and the engineers, in planning the road, have made every arrangement possible for the accommodation of extensive traffic. In the straightening of the road the windings of the former creek are abolished. It may be mentioned that there is no tram line on Avenue Edward VII., the French tram company having removed the loop section which ran from the French Bund along the old Quai de Yang-king-pang and through Rue Montauban to Rue du Consulat. Instead, a double line is run from the Rue du Montauban corner down Rue du Consulat to The Bund. A new delimita- tion of the French Settlement was also undertaken during 1914, and the French author- ities were given full control of the roads that have been built beyond the old boundary. Six new bridges were erected in 1901 to connect the extended Settlements. There are 50 bridges within the Settlements, the number having been considerably reduced owing to the demolition of the bridges over the Yang-king-pang and the Defence Creek. A new steel bridge over the mouth of the Soochow Creek was completed in 1908, replacing the wooden

"Garden Bridge" erected in 1873. It has two equal spans of 171' 24", the width is 60 feet with a carriage-way of 36 feet 9 inches; the gradient of the ap- proaches is 1 in 30; the headway above high-water from 6′ 6′′ to 11′′. several good driving roads extending into the country, two leading to Sicawei, a distance of about six miles, and one to Jessfield by the banks of the Soochow Creek, for five miles, with an extension measuring some thirteen miles to the extreme limits of the Shanghai hsein district and now called the Rubicon. Another broad thoroughfare, Yang- tzepoo Road, runs by the side of the river for five miles, which it is intended ultimately to extend to Woosung. The termini of Jessfield Road and Yangtzepoo Road now mark the limits in their separate directions of the Foreign Settlements. The land for a new road from Sicawei to Jessfield was acquired in 1905. Several other roads have been proposed, but although foreigners are prepared to pay high prices for the land the opposition of the officials has hitherto prevented their construction. Now, however, by the granting of the extension of the Settlements the Municipal Council has the right to build and police roads in certain adjacent districts. In 1917 the roads maintained by the Council measured 130 miles, and the footways 112 miles. At the time the Taipings approached Shanghai, some roads for the passage of artillery were made by the British military authorities at the expense of the Chinese Government, one of them extending for seventeen miles into the country; but, excepting those close to the Settlement, they have now been turned into ploughed fields. The foreshore in front of the Settlement has been reclaimed, raised, turfed, and planted with shrubs, and forms a spacious and delightful promenade. The trees planted some years ago having now attained a good height, and several more imposing buildings having been completed, the English and French Bunds form a magnificent boulevard.

Many foreign houses, some with several mow of garden ground, have been, and more are still being, erected near the outside roads, especially on the Bubbling Well, Sicawei, and Sinza Roads, which are the main outlets from the settlement, and from which most of the other roads branch off. These roads are planted with trees on both sides, forming fine avenues of five to six miles in length. Building activity of late years may be described as remarkable and unparalleled in the history of the port. The number of new buildings erected in 1914 totalled 8,824, in 1915, 6,892, in 1916 6,767 and in 1917 3,926. These included mills, godowns, shops, offices and Chinese and foreign residential premises. A small but well laid-out and admirably kept Public Garden was formed about 1868 on land recovered from the river in front of the British Consulate. It has been considerably extended in area by reclaiming the foreshore, and a further extension of five and a half mow by diverting the Soochow Creek was completed in 1905. A general Public Garden, intended for Chinese, eight mo in extent, by the bank of the Soochow Creek, was opened in December, 1890. A Park measuring 364 ft. by 216 ft. is laid out in Hongkew. The Public Recreation Ground has also been thoroughly drained, turfed and laid out, in spaces not devoted to sport, with flower-beds. A large extent of ground has been acquired near Jessfield for a decorative park and botanical garden.

Immense sums have been wasted in various attempts to drain the Settlements, principally from the want of skilled direction; but the great difficulties in this matter arising from the low-lying and level nature of the ground have now been fairly overcome, though very much work of this nature has still to be undertaken in the recently-acquired area. The Settlements are well provided with telephonic fire alarms. The desire of the Municipal Councils to keep the monopoly in their own hands