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 the 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, Fuchiatien and district was equivalent to an annual production of 500,000 tons. A contract has been signed for the erection of grain elevators on the American plan; these will be a great boon to merchants. There is a sugar factory as Ashiho 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 has recently shown marked development. The net value of the trade of the district, as shown by the Maritime Customs returns, was Hk. Tls. 39,276,918 in 1923 as compared with Hk. Tls. 45,377,930 in 1922, Hk. Tls. 45,210,453 in 1921 and Hk. Tis 25,989,216 in 1920. The Harbin Municipality have a number of plans for improving the town. Drainage has received considerable attention of late and large sums have been expended on this and on road-improvement. The telephone system is automatic, and excellent, and managed by a special department of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The population of Harbin with Fuchiatien is given as 211,237. The Pinchiang villages contain 74,147 people, according to a recent census. Fuchiatien has 89,017 inhabitants according to the above census. The palatial new building of the Hongkong and Shang- hai Bank is evidence of the importance attached by the Bank to its Harbin branch. Private enterprise and the Chinese Eastern Railway have done a good deal in the direction of town improvement. The tramways, promised for the last three years, have not yet been laid, and the project hangs fire.
AMERICAN-ASIATIC UNDERWRITERS
N. N. Yakoonikoff, manager
Agents for
"Hartford Fire Insurance Co.
Fireman's Fund Insurance Co.
DIRECTORY
Great American Insurance Co.
Globe & Rutger's Fire Insurance Co.
Netherlands Lloyd, Ld.
ANGLO-FRENCH STORE, Wine and Provision
Dealers, Chemists and Druggists-53,
Kitaiskaya Street; Tel. Ad: Anglofranc
ANGLO-SIBERIAN CO., LTD., THE
司公油火亞細亞商英
Ying-shang A-si-a-huo-yu-kung-sze
ANGLO-CHINESE EASTERN TRADING CO., ASIATIC PETROLEUM Co. (NORTH China),
Bean Merchants
R. M. Kabalkin, manager
LTD., THE-Tel. Ad: Doric
L. Parbury, manager
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