Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 730

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

CHEFOO

675

It was always intended that the Chefoo-Huanghsien-Weihsien railway should proceed pari passu with the breakwater. The outbreak of war, however, brought negotiations to a standstill, but it is hoped that attention will now be again given to the project. Another pressing need in Chefoo is a good water supply. As a measure of famine relief a mud road from Weihaiwai, suitable for motor-trucks except in bad weather, was started in 1920, and efforts are being made to obtain permission for the Chefoo Harbour Improvement Commission to build some 250 miles of roads for the development of the immediate hinterland of Chefoo, on which the port's future is believed mainly to depend. The Governor recommended that the necessary authority be given, and the scheme is approved by Peking, the money to be provided by Chefoo. There are some points, however, still to be settled.

An enterprise was established a few years ago by a wine company of sub- stantial standing; the soil of the locality lends itself to such an industry, and the future success of the proprietors of the first Far Eastern wine-growing con- cern is a matter of considerable interest. Chefoo is noted for its large and increasing fruit-growing industry, supplying Shanghai, Vladivostock, Kobe and other Eastern ports with foreign fruits, which grow well with care and attention in that part of Shantung-the native fruit-growers having received foreign instruction-so that which was at first a hobby is now a paying industry. Other very important industries are the manufacture of foreign silk and hand-made silk laces, which in the hands of foreigners promise to assume large proportions. Silk thread and silk twist are largely made and exported from here to France and America. Chefoo uses a large percentage of the cocoons from Corea and Manchuria that come to China, A Silk Improvement Commission was established in 1920 and has bought a property known as "Père Maviel's estate" for the purpose of opening a college for women as well as for men. There is a large trade in hair-net making. English firms send out the hair, which is sent into the interior of the province and made into nets by children. A company began the erection of a plant for refining salt in 1920. Chefoo was connected in 1900 by telegraph cables with Tientsin, Port Arthur, Weihaiwei, Tsingtao and Shanghai.

The Commissioner of Customs, in his report for 1921, says: "Bare living expenses for both Chinese and foreigners are probably higher here than in any place in China." The price of land has risen very rapidly of late and a fall is expected. A great deal of building has been done; the price of foreign-style building has doubled in two years and is said to be much above that of Shanghai.

The net value of the trade of the port for 1921 was Hk. Tls. 55,575,867, as compared with Hk. Tls. 37,838,877 in 1920, and Hk. Tls. 37,683,137 in 1919.

Chefoo is two days' journey from Shanghai, and communication is maintained by the Indo-China Steam Navigation Co., the China Merchants' S. N. Co., and the China Navigation Co. Chefoo is an important port of call for large numbers of regular line and tramp steamers, being in the line of communication between Indian, South China, Japanese, Korean and Manchurian ports and the ports in the north. During the season from March to December as many as 20 to 30 steamers per day often enter and clear the port. The port supplies Vladivostock and Siberia with upwards of 100,000 coolies annually; the coolies leave for Vladivostock during the spring months, and those returning reach Chefoo in the latter part of the year. This movement of coolies furnishes business for numbers of steamers.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 730

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