Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 737

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SHANGHAI

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lived at Namtao, a suburb between the city and the river, the British Consulate being in the city. In two years a few houses were built in the Settlement, and by 1849 most foreigners had taken up their residence in it. By that time twenty-five firms were established, and the foreign residents numbered a hundred, including seven ladies. In that year an English Church was built, and on 21st November the foundation of the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Tungkadoo was laid. The French were, in 1849, granted the ground between the city walls and the British Settlement on the same terms; and, in exchange for help rendered in driving out the rebels who had seized the city in 1853, got a grant of the land extending for about a mile to the south between the city walls and the river. They have since, by purchase, extended the bounds of the Concession westward to the "Ningpo Joss House," a mile from the river. Negotiations were instituted for an extension of the Concession to Sicawei, a village chiefly occupied by the Jesuits and their converts, situated at the end of the French Municipal Road and five miles from the French Bund, but in this the French were only partially successful, a small extension as far as the Old Cemetery being granted them in 1899. In the later fifties the Americans rented land immediately north of Soochow Creek, in the district called Hongkew, so that the ground now occupied by foreigners extends for nearly eight miles on tlie left bank of the river. Including the creeks there are now fifteen miles of the Settlement with water frontage.

By the land assessment made in 1907 on land in the Central District the assessment was on an area of 2,224 mow, Tls. 77,205,106. This showed an increase of 156 per cent. over the value in 1902 of Tls. 30,086,586. The Northern District, area 2,127 mow, was assessed at Tls. 23,146,844, increase of Tls. 13,432,310, or 138 per cent. on that of 1902; the Eastern District, 5,753 mow, at Tls. 24,306,233, an increase of 933 per cent., and the Western (foreign residential) District, 5,538 mow, at Tls. 26,389,074, against Tls. 8,081,572 at the previous quinquennial period, an increase of 226 per cent., a total on 15,643 mow of Tls. 151,047,257, against Tls. 60,423,773 on 13,126 mow in 1902, equal to 150 per cent. for the whole Settlement (exclusive of the French). The assessment of the British and Hongkew divisions, respectively, was in 1880 Tls. 6,118,265 and Tls. 1,945,325, total Tls. 8,063,590; in 1890 Tls. 12,397,810 and Tls. 5,110,145, total Tĺs. 17,507,955. The totals in 1907 were thus nearly twenty times those of 1880 and over eight and a half times those of 1890. The assessment for 1924 was--for the Central District, Tls. 108,350,800; Northern District, Tls. 38,596,300; Eastern, Tls. 53,501,900; Western, Tls. 37,779,400, on which-after deducting rebates on ground occupied by churches, cemeteries, and municipal properties amount- ing to Tls. 9,657,900—a tax of 7/10ths of one per cent. was levied, estimated to yield, net, Tls. 1,600,000. One piece of land in the Nanking Road, assessed in 1867 at Tls. 4,000 per mow, the then basis of assessment on the best Bund lots, in 1899 at Tls. 13,000, and in 1903 at Tls. 27,500, was sold later for Tls. 85,000 per mow. During the land boom in 1921 a piece of land near the Bund sold for the high figure of Tls. 300,000 per mow, which, at the exchange of the day on which the deal was closed, represented approximately £300,000 per acre.

The total number of foreign houses in the four divisions of the General Concession on 31st December, 1923, was 4,021 assessed at Tls. 11,851,174, against 3,119 assessed at Tls. 4,809,155, and 2,472 assessed at Tls. 3,235,311, on the corresponding dates in 1910 and 1905. On 64,979 native houses the assessment was $16,260,090 against 52,008 assessed at $8,332,449 in 1910, and 45,328 assessed at $6,830,461 in 1905. In addition, six per cent. (half rate) is now collected on 1,267 foreign houses assessed at Tls. 1,350,718 and 2,165 native houses assessed at $192,196 outside the Settlement limits, but supplied with water by the Shanghai Waterworks Co., with electricity, or with telephones. For 1923 the land of the French Concession was valued for assessment at Tls. 40,000,000; the rental assess- ment of foreign houses at Tls. 1,316,500, and of native houses at Tls. 2,541,650. The British and French Settlements, exclusive of the extensions acquired in 1899 and 1901, are now all built over, and the vacant spaces in Hongkew are being rapidly covered. The Captain-Superintendent of Police in a late report said that nearly the whole area may be described as densely populated: how crowded few residents can have any conception." Many of the best foreign houses, both in the Settlements and outside roads, are now occupied by Chinese retired officials and merchants.

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A greatly enlarged boundary for the Settlement was granted in 1901. The area within Municipal limits is now 8 square miles, or 5,584 acres, with a population of 152 per acre.

There are in the whole Settlement and outside roads (exclusive of the French) nearly 6000 occupied European houses, and approximately 70,000 occupied Chinese houses. There are 140 miles of roads and 637,562 feet of footways, and con- :siderable additions, in the extension, are planned. It is of interest to note that in