Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 814

SWATOW

頭汕 Shan-tau

Swatow, which was first thrown open to foreigners by the Treaty of Tientsin, is situated at the mouth of the river Han, near the eastern border of the Kwangtung province, in lat. 23 deg. 20 min. 43 sec. N., and long. 116 deg. 39 min. 3. sec. E. It is the shipping port for the city of Cha'o-chow-fu (officially re-named Cha'o-an-hsien by the Republic), 25 miles inland, and Sam-Ho-Pa, forty miles farther up the river.

Swatow is built on the northern bank of the Han, which forms part of an alluvial plain through which the branches of the river flow. The shore on the opposite side is bold and striking, the hills stretching away to the coast and forming what is known to sea-going people as the "Cape of Good Hope."

as the "Cape of Good Hope." Pagoda Hill rises at the opposite side; and in a direct line from this lies the large island of Namoa.

The first foreign trading depôt in this locality was inaugurated by Bradley & Co. at Namoa, where vessels used to anchor, but it was subsequently removed to Double Island, which is situated just inside the river and is four miles from Swatow. Foreig- ners here made themselves notorious in the early years of the settlement by the kidnap- ping of coolies, and so strong was the feeling shown against them by the natives that no foreigner was safe far from Double Island, while they were strictly forbidden to enter Swatow, and it was not until 1861 that they could do so. In 1862 the lease of a piece of land was applied for and granted to the British Government on the north bank of the river about a mile from Swatow, but so strong were the demonstrations of the populace against it that the matter fell through. Foreign residences, however, commenced to spring up here and there, and many of them are consequently some- what scattered, though the majority are in or near the town of Swatow. The yearly increasing traffic of the port led to much overcrowding on the narrow strip of land on which it is built, and since February, 1877, no less than 21 acres have been reclaimed from the sea, the greater part of which is now covered with shops and houses. A Bund Construction Bureau has been established for the avowed purpose of building a bund 80 feet in width from the Native Custom House on the west to the old fort on the east, the normal line determined by the Customs Marine Department's Surveyor in 1917 being taken as the outer limit. The funds required to meet the cost of construction will be derived from the sale of unreclaimed foreshore lots contained within the bund and of property to which no valid title is held; also from the taxation of land unreclaimed at the time of the bureau's establishment. The bureau, moreover, reserves the right to construct an electric tramway on the bund and to erect wharves. Up to the present its chief activities have been confined to a survey of the locality and to the sale of foreshore lots. Street widening operations were begun in January, 1922, but were subsequently interrupted for lack of funds and, though work was resumed in 1923, the project is not likely to be completed for some years.

The climate of Swatow is reputed to be very salubrious. The town, however, has suffered from typhoons on many occasions. Many thousands of lives were lost and very extensive damage to shipping and property was caused by one of these terrible storms which, accompanied by a tidal wave, struck the port on the night of August 2nd, Seismic disturbances, also, lave frequently been felt here. The most serious was that on February 13th, 1918, when, it is computed, over 2,000 people were killed and several thousand injured, while the damage to property was immense. The native population of Swatow is estimated at about 200,000 inhabitants.

1922.

A Chinese syndicate, with a capital of $3,000,000, obtained the nccessary sanction for the construction of a railway from Swatow to Ch'ao-chou-fu, and work was commenced on the line in 1904. The line, which is 28 miles in length, was opened to traffic on November 25th, 1906. The contractors were Japanese, who supplied all material, the rails and engines coming from America and the carriages from Japan. The construction of the line has brought about a great inflation of land values.

Swatow has an electric light plant of its own, and on account of the cheap price at which the current is supplied this method of lighting is finding favour with the Chinese, and, to some extent, replacing the use of kerosene lamps. A new waterworks was completed early in 1914, the reservoir being at Kia-kun, about eight miles inland. In the middle of 1919 a telephone service was introduced.