Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 952

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HANKOW

rapid expansion of Hankow, the housing problem is a serious one, and rents have increased two and three-fold since the Revolution in 1911. Plans for a railway siding. into the British Concession have been agreed upon and will probably soon be given effect to. The railway siding leading from the Peking-Hankow Railway's main line to the heart of the British Concession has been completed. This in conjunction with the siding terminating at the ex-German Bund enables the merchants to have produce transported to their very doors from the interior.

Cotton cloth mills established by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung commenced run- ning in 1892, and the ironworks at Hanyang have developed into a large and import ant enterprise employing about 4,500 men. Hangyang iron has been placed on the American market at a price which enabled it to hold its own against tlie Steel Trust product. The output of the Hangyang Iron and Steel Works in 1917 included 118,932: tons of Martin iron, 31,655 tons of foundry iron, 20,093 tons of rail steel and 40,839 tons of mild steel. In August, 1895, the Wuchang Mint was establislied. The Mint has had to be considerably enlarged in recent years to enable it to keep pace with the demand. The machinery was greatly damaged in the Revolution.

The local manufacturing industries include; besides the Government ironworks and arsenals, cotton and silk weaving. The new mill of the Hankow Dee Yee Cotton Spin- ning and Weaving Company, Ltd., which had been building for several years, was opened in January, 1920, and two others are in course of construction. A carriage and wagon works to supply rolling stock to the Yueh-Han Railway, closely allied with the Hanyang Ironworks, which is turning out bridges and girders for railways, has been established on the Hankow side of the river. The Wuchang Cotton and Hemp mills, together with the silk filature, were leased by the Viceroy in 1902 to a company of Chinese capitalists at 100,000 taels a year, for a period of 20 years. Apart from the Hemp mill, which began operations in 1904, under Japanese management, the concern is doing a flourishing business. A tannery and three flour mills were started in 1906. Other flour mills have since been erected, and the bean oil milling industry is also well established in the port. Paper mills, much damaged during the Revolution, are now working again, under Government auspices. Since the Great War a large number of workshops and factories have been established to meet the ever-increasing local demands. In Hankow itself three soap factories, seventy or eighty cotton-spinning shops, twenty sock-making concerns, six egg factories (for export) and three flour mills have started operations. The number of native banks increased from ten before the war to 19 in 1919. The Provincial, Agricultural and Industrial Bank of Hupeh, the Wu-Han Agricultural and Industrial Bank, and the Huang Pi Bank of Commerce were inaugurated in 1920.

The Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company have started a large tobacco factory. The Yangtsze Engineering Works have completed a large new blast-furance at Seven Mile Creek, and intend to put up another, which has been ordered from England. The Government Mining Bureau of Hupeh formally opened the new and valuable iron mines at Siangpeishan, near Hwangshihkang, on September 3rd, 1920. These mines are expected to rival the well-known Tayeh mines and form the security for the note issue of the Hupeh Provincial Bank. The Sui Hua Match Factory, the largest match factory in Central China, is making arrangements to increase its plant, as its products have, to a great extent, taken the place of the Japan matches which formerly held the market in this neighbourhood. The Chinese Telegraph Administra- tion have opened new offices, built of slag bricks manufactured by the Hanyang Iron- works. A large foreign style modern hospital for Chinese, built by subscription, was completed in June, 1920, in the native city.

Antimony, lead and zinc ores are crushed by machinery on the Wuchang side and exported. A large business is done by albumen factories. Several miles below the Foreign Concessions the Shell Transport Company. Ltd., of London, have oil tanks for storing bulk oil, to be tinned on the premises. Two tanks have a capacity of 2,500 tons of oil each. During the low-water season small tank-steamers bring the oil from Shanghai. The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, Langkat, also has an installation. The Standard Oil Co. had three large tanks erected at the end of 1904. Each installa- tion added another tank in 1906. An English Company commenced an export trade in frozen pork, eggs, poultry and game in 1909, the refrigerating plant costing upwards. of £30,000.

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Tea is the staple export. The net value of the trade of the port in 1920 was Hk. Tls. 169,951,530, as compared with Hk. Tls. 200,398,431 in 1919, Hk. Tls. 165,162,308 · in 1918, Hk. Tls. 170,730,067 in 1917; and Hk. Tls. 174,819,487 in 1916.