Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 753

HARBIN

Harbin, the junction of the railways from Irkutsk to Vladivostock, and from Harbin to Kwangchengtze, where the latter joins the Japanese line to Dalny, has been made the seat of a Chinese Maritime Customs House to control the railway traffic by means of sub-stations at Manchuria Station on the western frontier and Suifenho (Pogranit- chnaia) on the eastern frontier. Its situation on the railway is within comparatively easy land communication with large grain-producing districts as yet but sparsely populated and far from being fully cultivated, though development is increasing. It is on the banks of a river navigable for large but shallow-draught steamers, and is in direct and uninterrupted communication for six months during the year with the fertile land about Petuna S. W. and of Sansing N. E.; also with vast districts watered by the Amur River and those on the banks of the less important Ussuri River, near Habarovsk. Possessing advantages such as these, Harbin promises eventually to become one of the greatest trading centres of China when the present disturbances in the surrounding country cease. The country around is a bean-growing country par excellence. North Manchuria being also essentially a wheat country, it follows that the flour industry at Harbin is a flourishing one, though less than formerly owing to restrictions on import into the Priamur. The estimated daily output of the milling industry in 1920 in Harbin, Fukiatien and district was equivalent to an annual production of 500,000 tons. The erection of grain elevators on the American plan would be a great boon to merchants. There is a sugar factory at Asiho on the railway, 26 miles east of Harbin, with a capacity of some 300 tons of beetroot daily, which it is intended to increase to 400 tons. The timber trade showed marked development in 1920. The Harbin Municipality have a number of plans for improv- ing the town, and a loan of some Roubles 3,000,000 has long been in contemplation, the proceeds of which are to be applied to drainage, waterworks, tramways, electric lighting of streets, improvement of telephone system, erection of a market building, town hall, etc. In 1919 the population of Harbin was estimated at 130,000, a figure considerably in excess of the pre-war population of any city in Siberia. This high figure was due to a sudden burst of prosperity and to the constant influx of refugees, and it resulted in a veritable building boom.

AIVASOFF & PENKLO, LTD. D. Govetsky, manager

DIRECTORY

AMERICAN-ASIATIC UNDERWRITERS

N. N. Yakoonikoff, manager

Agents for

Hartford Fire Insurance Co. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. Great American Insurance Co. Globe & Rutgers Fire Insurance Co. Netherlands Lloyd, Ld.

AMERICAN COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL DRUG CO., Chemists and Druggists- Main St., Fu Chia Tien

AMERICAN RUSSIAN TRADING COMPANY, Im- port and Export Merchants-98, Bul- varney Prospect; Teleph 873; Tel. Ad: Amrustraco

AMERICAN COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL Co., LTD., Import and Export Merchants, Engineers and Contractors, Insurance Agents-Head Office: Harbin, 13, Samannaya Street; Tel. Ad: Amtor Agents for Andersen, Meyer & Co., Ld. For other agencies see Andersen, Meyer & Co., Ld., Shanghai

Charles Richter, resident director

and vice-president

Edwin Thacher, general manager

Carl Fick, actg. manager

M. Wolf, actg. accountant

S. Isakoff, assistant

M. Izdebsky, do.

M. Zelikman, do. I. Kolesmkoff, do. G. Gaufmann, do. M. Muskrijin, mechanic

with full Chinese staff)