Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 794

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SHANGHAI

Whangpoo Regulation" with plans and estimates for a period of ten years involving a total outlay of six million Taels, which was approved by all concerned but could not be started owing to lack of funds. A practical scheme for the carrying out of Mr. von Heiden- stam's project was ultimately evolved by the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. This was based on the levying of 3 per cent. Conservancy tax on all Customs duties and 1 per mille of value on duty-free imported or exported goods, the administration to be carried on by a Board consisting of the Shanghai Cominissioner for Foreign Affairs, the Commissioner of Customs and the Harbour Master. After lengthy negotiations. during 1911 and 1912, this scheme, with some minor amendments, was approved by the Government in April, 1912. The scheme was put into operation on May 15th, 1912, according to Mr. von Heidenstam's project. A new parallel jetty on the eastern side of the former Outer Bar, training-works in the Upper River, and the dredging of some 7,000,000 cubic yards, mostly at convexes and in the Astræa Channel, have been. executed. The former Outer and Inner Bars, where only 16 and 14 feet of water were available in 1907, have thus been eliminated, and the shallowest reach in the whole. river is now over 24 feet deep over a width of 600 feet in the narrowest places. I11 1915 and 1916 the narrow reach at the Chinese City at Nantao was widened by dred- ging, and a new bund, which is later to be lined with pontoons and godowns, was created for the Chinese City. Towards the end of 1916 the Board acquired the first in- stallation of its own dredging plant, consisting of one powerful bucket dredger, one pumping plant for pumping dredged material from the barges into reclaimings ashore, and several sets of tugs and barges to form the necessary transport fleet. A second similar unit was acquired in 1923, and two large grab-dredgers and a small bucket- dredger have been added. Many riparian reclamations have been, and are being, exe- cuted by the Board for frontagers. Detailed hydrographic observations of the river are made continuously and an investigation of the Yangtsze estuary has been carried out. The income of the Board through the new tax amounted to some 944,000 taels during 1923, and the work is now proceeding satisfactorily. At the end of 1921, Mr. von Heidenstam's project, started in 1912, had been practically completed, at a cost of about five million Taels, as against the estimate of six millions. The second ten-year work programme mentioned below was then adopted and includes an effort by dredging to obtain still greater depths in the navigable channel.

Mr. von Heidenstain and two eminent consulting hydraulic engineers, at home in a report entitled "The Future Development of the Shanghai Harbour," dated April, 1918, and addressed to the Board, strongly urged an investigation of the possibilities of developing Shanghai as a first-class port for deep draught steamers. The Consultative Board and the various Chambers of Commerce gave their whole-hearted support to the proposal of these engineers, and a full and complete investigation of the technical factors of further developing Shanghai as a first class port was carried out by the Board during 1919-1921. The programme included the investigation of all possible solutions and the submission of the results to an International Committee of Harbour Experts. Several reports on physical and engineering data were issued by the Conservancy Board, including a statistical survey ("The Port of Shanghai ") and many valuable reports on the hydrology of the Yangtsze estuary and Hangchow Bay, as well as a series of maps of the approaches to the Port. Several schemes for the development of the harbour were also drawn up and presented to the conference of the Harbour Experts.

The Committee, which met at Shanghai in October, 1921, arrived at a definite con- clusion and submitted a report to the Whangpoo Conservancy Board containing their final recommendation for the future development of the Shanghai Harbour both with regard to navigational accommodation and terminal facilities. They advised that the approaches to Shanghai through the South Channel of the Yangtsze should be deepened by dredging so as to accommodate within a few years ships with a draft of 33 feet. Furthermore, they recommended that public quays and moorings should be provided with a commercial dock on the left bank of the Whangpoo as near Shanghai as practicable, and mail steamer accommodation near the mouth of the river, also on the left bank. The Committee recommended the expansion of the present Board into a Harbour Board with more extended powers in order to carry out the proposed works and to administrate the port as a whole. The recommendations of the Committee, with some amendments, were forwarded in 1922 to the authorities concerned, with the approval of all the Foreign Chambers of Commerce and Councils.

While the development on a large scale of Shanghai Harbour is still the subject of discussion between the Foreign Ministers in Peking and the Chinese Government, a