Directory_and_Chronicle_1921 — Page 690

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TIENTSIN

and from thence round the Gulf of Liau Tung to Kinchow; 1900 saw this line pushed on to Newchwang. In 1897 the line to Peking was opened, and proved such a success that the line had to be doubled in 1898-9. A side station for the Tientsin City was opened in 1904, and in 1905 the station was built of white sandstone bricks made at Huangsue by an Italian called Marzoli, who had opened a brick factory on a large scale. From Feng-tai, about 7 miles from the capital, the trans-continental line to Hankow branches off. This line was completed and opened to traffic in November, 1905. In 1900 the violence of the Boxers was chiefly directed against the railways, all of which were more or less destroyed, but under British, French, and Russian military administration they were afterwards all restored to their former efficiency. As usual, the railway has brought all sorts of foreseen and unforeseen contingencies with it. Farmers up near Shanhaikwan are supplying fruit and vegetables to Tientsin. An enormous trade in pea-nuts (with Canton) has been created. Coal has come extensively into Chinese household use; the foreign residents are developing a first-rate watering place at Pei-tai-ho on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and all the various industries of the city have been stimulated. Brick buildings are springing up in all directions and the depressing-looking adobe (mud) huts are diminishing.

The

Foreigners formerly lived in three concessions, British, French, and German, which fringed the river below the City and covered an area of less than 500 acres. Japanese took up a concession in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. They filled in land, laid out new streets and built a large number of houses in foreign style. During 1901 Russia, Belgium, Italy, and Austro-Hungary all appropriated large areas on the left bank of the Hai-ho as future Settlements, while the existing concessions extended their boundaries very considerably. These developments have thrown all present and future landing facilities for direct sea-going traffic into foreign hands. The concessions have excellent and well-lighted roads, with an electric tramway system. The British Municipality has a handsome Town Hall, completed in 1889; adjoining there is a well-kept public garden, opened in the year of Jubilee and styled Victoria Park. An excellent recreation ground of ten acres has been developed, in which tennis-courts, etc., have been laid out. The various British areas known as the British Concession, British Extension, and the Extra-Mural Area-have been amalgamated to form one Municipal Area under a Council elected on a broad franchise. New land regulations have come into force, and it is stipulated therein that the new Council consist of nine members, of whom five shall be British subjects. Candidates must be nominated by two electors and all electors are eligible to serve on the Council. Voting is to be on a sliding scale; the minimum qualification for a foreign voter being the payment of Tls. 20 per annum in respect of land-tax or the occupation of premises of an assessed value of Tls. 480 per annum, and for Chinese the payment of Tls. 240 per annum in respect of land-tax or the occupation of premises of an assessed rental of Tls. 3,000 per annum--the discri- mination between foreign and Chinese electors being intended apparently to prevent. the possibility of the foreign vote being completely swamped in an area set apart primarily for foreign residence and trade.

The expeditions of the Allies in 1858-61 greatly enhanced the importance of the city, as it then proved to be the military key of the capital and an excellent base. It was here on June 26th, 1858, that Lord Elgin signed the treaty which was to conclude the war, but which unhappily led to its prolongation. The famous temple in which the treaty was signed, about a mile distant from the West gate, was destroyed by British shells in July, 1900.

Upon the entry of China into the Great War in 1917 the Chinese Authorities took over the German and Austrian Concessions on the 16th March of that year, and both districts are now entirely removed from foreign control. Under the. new administration the areas concerned are kept in excellent condition and the upkeep of roads and side-paths is provided for. General Yang I-teh, well known for many years as the Chief of Police in the Tientsin City, is directly responsible for the maintenance of law and order, and the police arrangements are said to be adequate and efficient. A feature of Tientsin which arrests the attention of visitors is the open air storage of cargo on the British and French Bunds, which have thus become in effect a "general godown." A great deal of confusion and congestion formerly existed from this practice, but the British Municipality has recently elaborated an excellent scheme whereby the Bund is divided into numbered steamer-sections and storage-spaces, and the roadway is now kept clear of cargo. The result has more than justified expectations, and the orderly storage of goods in marked-off spaces not only allows a proper control to be kept over all such cargo but has facilitated communications by keeping the carriage-way clear of obstructions.

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