Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 724

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

656

NEWCHWANG

The country in the immediate vicinity of the port is flat and unpicturesque in the extreme, and the town itself has nothing in the way of attractions for the traveller. The climate, from the foreigner's point of view, is one of the best in China, the sum- mers being comparatively cool, while the winters are cold and bracing. The hottest. summer temperature rarely exceeds 85° (Fahr.), but cold blasts from the North pull down the "mercury" in winter months often to 10° and 15° below zero (Fahr.). The river is generally frozen over for three months of the year, but navigation is practically suspended for four months, from December to the following April. Formerly New- chwang was shut off from the rest of the world during winter, but the advent of rail- ways has changed all this. The Government Railways of North China, through their branch line from Koupangtzu, maintain daily communication with Tientsin, Peking and Mukden; and the South Manchurian Railway, through its branch line from Tashih- chiao, maintains daily communication with Dalny, Port Arthur, Mukden, Tiehling and Changchun. At the latter place the Chinese Eastern Railway connects for Harbin and Europe by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The Chinese population of Yingkow is estimated at 52,000 and the foreign popula- tion numbers about 3,000, a large proportion being Japanese.

The value of the trade of the port during the year 1918 was Hk. Tls. 29,988,161 as

Hk. compared with

Tls. 28,829,499 in 1917, Hk. Tls. 31,479,156 in 1916, Hk. Tls. 40,395,539 in 1915 and Hk. Tls. 37,395,530 in 1914. Until a few

Newchwang back

had the monopoly of years

the trade of Manchuria,. but now she has powerful competitors in Harbin in the North and Dalny in the South. In spite of the competition she is holding her own, owing partly to the cheaper rates on water-borne produce from the hinterland, and partly to the reluctance of the Chinese merchants to leave an old-established business centre with all its vested interests. The chief articles of export are agricultural products-beans, millet, maize, etc., and their by-products beancake, bean oil and samshu, with a fair amount of bristles, ginseng, native medicines, wild and refuse silk and skins and furs thrown in. Another article of export has lately arisen in Fushun coal, and the South Manchurian Railway, finding the cost of laying down the coal at Newchwang is cheaper than at The Anshan Steel Works Dalny, is developing the export trade from Newchwang. promise also, to become an important addition to local industry, the annual out- turn to commence with being estimated at 160,000 tons. The mining zone covers about ten square miles and borings have proved the existence of one hundred million tons of ore with a purity of from 40 to 60 per cent.

The greater part of the export trade here is with Japan and the Southern Chinese ports, but some direct shipments of beans and beancake were made to Europe. Details of a scheme for the improvement of the Upper Reaches of the Liao River and the deep- ening of the Bar at its mouth were under consideration for over two years, and a preliminary Agreement-embodying regulations for the financing and operation of the scheme-signed in July, 1911, by the Consular Body and Taotai, was for some time afterwards the subject of negotiations between the Diplomatic Body at Peking and the Chinese Central and Provincial Authorities. The scheme was eventually ratified in the course of 1914, and Conservancy works were begun in 1915. If China does not want Newchwang to become a mere annexe to Dairen, existing merely to carry off such heavy cargoes as coal and other minerals that do not pay to send by rail to Dairen, then she must drop the laisser aller policy that has hitherto prevailed and give serious attention to the vital question of conservancy.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 724

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