Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 997

WUCHOW

921

passenger accommodation can also be obtained. Up to the end of 1917 the British West River Steamship Co. operated the passenger steamers but they did not pay and were sold to a Chinese Company. Messrs. Banker & Co. have two regular vessels plying on the West River, and have recently placed a new vessel on the run-the Kong Ning-which flies the British flag, is manned by British officers, and has first-class passenger accommodation. During the last few years a large native passenger trade has sprung up between Wuchow and up-river towns: launches leave daily during the summer months for Konghau, Kuaiping and Kueihsien, and a fleet of motor boats make regular trips to Nanning. Attempts were made during the year 1916 to obtain a regular motor-boat service between Wuchow and Kweilin, the old provincial capital, and have now met with success. Under normal conditions there is every reason to suppose that in the future a trip to Kweilin by motor-boat to visit the Ming Tombs nay form a part of the West River tourist's itinerary. The floods in 1914 were the highest on record, the water in the river rising to 73′ 3′′, but they were eclipsed by the 1915 floods, which rose to 79' 6", causing widespread ruin. The lowest winter reading was 2.5 deg. below zero in December, 1902. In winter the only local industry worthy of mention is boat building; when the river falls the foreshore is lined with matsheds, where native craft of all descriptions, from a huge salt junk to a diminutive sampan, are constructed. Wuchow itself offers few attractions to the tourist, but the river scenery on the way up, especially between the Shuihing and Takhing Gorges, where the stream winds in and out among the green hills to form a succession of apparent lakes, is extremely picturesque, and has not altogether unjustly been compared to the Rhine. Wuchow is connected by telegraph with Hongkong, Shanghai, etc.; and the Chinese Post has established postal communication with the principal towns in Kwangsi.

DIRECTORY

A-si-a

ASIATIC PETROLEUM Co. (South China),

LTD.

W. A. Nowers, local manager

J. Hoek veen

和天 Teen-Woo

BANKER & Co., Merchants and Commission

Agents Pontoon

—

Shipping Office: Banker's

Geo. Banker

Pang Shui-ming, signs per pro.

Agency

Commercial Union Assurance Co., Ld.

CONSULATES

官事領國比大

A Tai-peh-kwok Ling-sz-kun

BELGIUM

Consul-Residing in Hongkong,Offices:

Alexandra Building

GREAT BRITAIN

Acting Consul S. Wyatt-Smith Constable J. Groves (absent)

CUSTOMS, MARITIME

Commissioner - C. E. Holworthy Assistants-S. A. Konovaloff

Medical Officer-R. E. Beddoe

Tide-Surveyor and Harbour-master-

W. O. Lloyd

Examiners-A. G. McLoughlin, E. J.J. Elmquist, F. E. Samuelsen, E. A. C. Friedrichsen

Tidewaiters - E. S. Antunes, A. E. Cooper, E. E. Clark, C. E. Huguen- in, M. Arakawa, V. M. F. Collaço

POST OFFICE, CHINESE

Postal Commissioner-T. N. Manners

(Nanning, Kwangsi District)

Acting Postmaster--Fok Sik-cheung

李美 Mei.foo

STANDARD OIL CO. OF N. Y.-Tel.Ad: Socony

W. H. Evans F. L. Reed