Directory_and_Chronicle_1926 — Page 713

CHEFOO

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44th, 1921. The breakwater is 2,600 feet long, the height from the base of the founda- 1 on mound to the top of the parapet is 51 feet, and the width of the base of the founda- I on mound ranges from 117 feet to 133 feet. A railway track has been laid over the mole. September, 1921, great damage was done to the Bund along the east beach by of storm of unusual violence accompanied by spring tides.

It was always intended that the Chefoo-Huanghsien-Weihsien railway hould proceed pari passu with the breakwater. The outbreak of war, however, verought negotiations to a standstill. 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 o obtain permission for the Chefoo Harbour Improvement Commission to build some 50 miles of roads for the development of the immediate hinterland of Chefoo, on which he port's future is believed mainly to depend. The Governor recommended that the necessary authority be given, and the scheme was approved by Peking, the money to pe provided by Chefoo. The difficulty of raising the necessary funds, however, has prevented a start being made. The Chefoo-Weihsien motor road was opened to traffic In 1923 and, although very unsatisfactorily metalled, is nevertheless very popular. So great indeed, is the need at Chefoo for quick communication with the surrounding districts that the number of passengers carried over this new road by the Chefoo- Weihsien Motor Road Co.'s cars is increasing daily.

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. 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 Marge 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 1924 was Hk. Tls. 32,115,044, as compared with Hk. Tls. 44,524,148 in 1923, Hk. Tls. 45,416,429 in 1922, and Hk. Tls. 55,575,867 in 1921.

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.