Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 824

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CANTON

Customs before obtaining licences to ply, the number of launches is not so large as previously. There is a safe and commodious anchorage within 150 yards of the river wall at Shamcen. Canton was connected by telegraph (an overland line) with Kow- loon in 1883, and another overland line was completed froni Canton to Lungchau-fu, on the Kwangsi and Tonkin frontier, in June, 1884. An agreement was entered into with the South China Wireless Co., a British concern, in the latter part of 1923, for the installation of a powerful wireless station, to give a continuous commercial service with Hongkong and Shanghai and communication with Peking, Japan, the Straits Settlements, etc. The electric light and the telephone system have been introduced into a portion of the city. Through railway communica- tion between Canton and Kowloon was established in October, 1911. The British section of the line extends from Kowloon Point to Lowu, a distance of 22 miles. The Chinese section, which has its terminus at Taishatow (East Gate), is 89 miles in length. A connection with the Canton-Hankow Railway has long been contemn- plated. The survey by an American syndicate of a railway route to connect Canton with Hankow was made in 1899. Work upon the branch line from Canton to Samshui (about 30 miles) commenced in December, 1902, and a length of 10 miles, as far as Fatslian, was opened on November 15, 1903. The line was extended to Samshui the following year. The completion of the railway to Samshui brought the West River ports within easy distance of Canton, it being now possible to reach Wuchow, in Kwangsi, in less than 24 hours. That the advantages of rapid communication are appreciated may be gathered from the fact that about 3,000,000 of passengers a year are carried on this short line. There is very little freight traffic. Work on the grand trunk line was started at both ends by the American concessionaires, and a section, about 12 miles long, from Canton northward to Ko Tong Hü, was rapidly approaching completion when in October, 1904, on account of friction between the Chinese authorities and the constructor of the railway, work was entirely stopped. Then it became known that Belgian

Belgian capitalists

capitalists had acquired extensive holdings in the American-China Development Company, and, in consequence, a strong agitation was aroused among the Chinese aiming at the cancellation of the concession and the construction of the line with Chinese capital only. The agitation resulted in the concession being cancelled by the Chinese Government, who paid to the American- China Development Company a sum of Gold $6,750,000, as compensation, including the cost of the works already completed. As soon as the concession was cancelled a movement was organised by the commercial men of the three provinces which the line will traverse to raise the necessary funds for its construction. A large sum of money was subscribed or promised by Chinese at home and abroad on condition that there would be no official control of the railway. The first section of the line-from Wongsha to Kongtsun, a distance of 17 miles, with three intermediate stations- was opened on July 17th, 1907, and in December, 1908, a further section to Yuntam, 44 miles from Canton, was opened. The railway is now completed as far as Shiukuan (Chiuchow), 140 miles from Canton. On the whole, the traffic is satisfactory, but the railway cannot be expected to pay well until it has been carried to Hankow or Shanghai, when it should be the most important and most profitable section of the railway system of China. The total length of the line in the Kwangtung Province will be 209 miles. Owing to the difficulties experienced in getting the Chinese shareholders to pay up the calls on their shares as they fell due, the Government resolved at the end of 1908 to raise a foreign loan. A Chinese-owned line from Canton to Whampoa and thence to Amoy has been projected and surveys have been made.

In accordance with stipulations in the Supplementary Commercial Treaty between Great Britain and China, concluded in 1902, the various barriers er artificial obstructions to navigation in the Canton River were in 1905 partially removed, thus rendering the approaches to Canton safer and easier for shipping, and simplifying work in connection with the proposal to improve the accommodation for shipping in the harbour. Extensive wharves and godowns have been erected at Pak Hin Hok on Honam Island, about two miles below Shameen, which enable ocean-going vessels of considerable draught to proceed up to Canton. During recent years large bunding operations have been carried out along the Front and Back Reaches, and a considerable amount of building has been done on the Shameen, where there are now very few vacant lots.

Owing to the disturbed state of China, a British force of about 300 troops from Hong- kong was quartered on the Shameen at the end of 1911, and, with big guns, maxims, barbed-wire entanglements, sand-bag fortifications, etc., the Shameen had the appearance