Directory_and_Chronicle_1924 — Page 963

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

SHASI

889

the development is likely to be slow. On the 9th and 10th May, 1898, a serious anti- foreign riot occurred at Shasi. The Customs Office and the residence of the Com- missioner, the Customs boats, the premises of the China Merchants' Company and their hulk, the office of the Foreign Board, the Japanese Consulate, the premises occupied by the native agents of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., and a number of newly-erected Chinese houses were burnt by the mobs, kerosene oil being used to feed the conflagration, and the foreign residents were driven out of the port, narrowly escaping with their lives. The Custom-house was re-opened on the 1st July of the same year. In August, 1898, an area 3,800 Chinese feet in length, by 800 to 1,200 in breadth, lying along the riverside below the town, was assigned to Japan as a Japanese Concession. The foreign commerce is mostly in Japanese lands. The British Consulate was withdrawn in January, 1899, British interests being placed under the care of the Consul at Ichang. Calling steamers anchor in the river, which is very swift during the summer, and discharge and load at pontoons, but some bunding work, commenced in December, 1904, and finished in April, 1905, provided berths for three hulks, with jetties. Unfortunately, in 1908 this bund for over two-thirds of its length went bodily into the river owing to the action of the water coming from inland carrying away sand from beneath the stone work. The net value of the trade of the port coming under the cognizance of the Foreign Customs was Hk. Tls. 11,193,503 in 1922, as compared with Hk. Tls. 7,780,037 in 1921, and Hk. Tls. 7,567,551 in 1920. The bulk of the carrying trade is, however, carried on by junks, which do not come under the control of the Foreign Customs. In December, 1913, a contract was entered into between the Chinese Government and the British firm of Pauling & Co. for the construction of a railway from a point opposite Shasi to Singyifu in the province of Kweichow via Changteh and Kweiyang, with a branch from Changteh to Changsha. Good progress was made in the survey of this projected railway until the outbreak of the European war and consequent necessity for a temporary cessation of operations led to the recall of the engineers. It is reported that so many lakes and morasses lie in the direct survey of the Shasi-Changteh section that a détour to the west, through more productive country, may be necessary. The P'u Chao Electric Light Co. suspended business in August, 1921. A telephone service was introduced in March, 1921.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1924 — Page 963

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