Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 907

WUHU

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50 miles distant. Another canal runs inland for over eight miles in a south-westerly direction to Taiping-hsien, an extensive tea district. This canal, which is only navigable in the summer, passes through Nan-ling and King-hsien, where the cultivation of silk is carried on, and may some day be of importance. The silk districts of Nan-ling and King-hsien are situated within 50 miles of Wuhu. Besides the canals leading to Ning-kuoh-fu and Taiping-hsien, there are two others communicating with Su-an and Tung-pó.

It will be seen from the above enumeration of the facilities for water carriage from Wuhu that it is calculated to prove an emporium for commerce. The value of the trade of the port for the year 1921 was Hk. Tls. 32,992,971, as compared with Hk. Tls. 40,144,619 in 1920, Hk. Tls. 47,688,790 in 1919, Hk. Tls. 28,875,629 in 1918 and Hk. Tls. 19,447,194 in 1917. Coal may some day become a considerable article of export from Wuhu, both native and foreign capital having been directed to the great coal-fields of the province. The China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company are interested in several coal dis- tricts and have expended large sums in the opening of their mining property; the output has thus far been small, owing to the lack of proper machinery and manage- ment. The Chin Kang Company, a wealthy native syndicate, have a Government permit to open mines in several districts and have been prospecting with a view to developing their property in the near future. A number of smaller companies are operating at present with the sanction of the above Corporation, to whom they pay a royalty. Two companies representing foreign capital-the Yangtsze Land and Investment Company, Limited, and the I Li Coal and Mining Company, Limited- have purchased a number of the most valuable mining properties in the immediate neighbourhood of Wuhu. The Yu Fan Iron Mining Company completed a mountain railway, about five miles long, from their mines to the river bank at Tikiang, a small port 30 miles up river from Wuhu, in 1918, and they commenced to ship ore in October. Wuhu is the distributing centre for most of the rice harvested in Anhwei province, and merchants from Canton, Swatow, Ningpo and Chefoo are established here to obtain supplies for their home markets. There is a large trade in timber, but that, like all other trades, is in the hands of the Chinese. There is a steam flour mill, a soap factory and a brick and tile manufactory. The soap does not sell well. The preservation of egg yolk and albumen is an industry which was started in 1897, and has been carried on with several changes of proprietorship. The Yu Chung Ti I Spinning and Weaving Joint Stock Co., Ltd., a factory owned and managed by local Chinese, started operations in December, 1919, and its 10,000 spindles should help to develop cotton growing in the district. The Ta Ch'ang Match Factory, a new Chinese concern with an equipment capable of manufacturing 2,000 gross of inatches a day, began operations in March, 1921.

The town is fairly well built, with rather broader streets than most Chinese cities possess, and is tolerably paved. The tract of land selected 30 years ago for the Foreign Settlement was definitely ceded in 1906, and sites were allotted to the Anhwei Railway Company and to various shipping companies, each lot having a river frontage of 600 to 1,100 feet. In 1914 the Ministry of Communications took over the Anhwei Railway Company with its entire assets and liabilities. Bunding operations have progressed satisfactorily, and the place has taken on a decided air of prosperity. The roads - in the Foreign Settlement are well laid out, forming a good promenade for those who care to avail themselves of walking exercise. Four large godowns have been built by Messrs. Butterfield & Swire on their ground in the New Settlement for storing rice, and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co. have also acquired property in the vicinity. On the plots of ground acquired by the Asiatic Petroleum and the Standard Oil Companies below I-Chi-Shan, a hill which forms the lower boundary of the Foreign Settlement, the former company has erected oil godowns and the latter, also, has established premises. New Customs buildings on the foreshore near the Foreign Settle- ment were completed and occupied in 1919. Nevertheless, the Foreign Settlement is still waste land for the most part. The Trade Report for 1912 alluded to the need there was of broadening its road connections with the business centre of the town and of construct- ing a wide bund along the port's river front. There is no immediate prospect (wrote the Commissioner of Customs in 1920) of expanding to serviceable dimensions the connecting roads that now exist, bounded on both sides as they are by shops and dwelling-houses for a great part of their length. A bund road along the foreshore would appear to be not only a more feasible proposition, but one, also, that offers far greater advantages to both trade and shipping. A scheme for the levy of wharfage dues to pay the cost of constructing such a bund was elaborated in 1915 and has since been approved by the mercantile classes whose business must be taxed to finance it. It

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