Directory_and_Chronicle_1929 — Page 627

TIENTSIN

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sor of a railway, which was later extended to Shanhaikwan for military purposes, and from thence round the Gulf of Liautung to Kinchow; 1900 saw this line pushed on to Newchwang. In 1897 the line to Peking was opened, and proved such a suecéss that the line had to be doubled in 1898-9. A side station for the Tientsin City was opened in 1904, and in 1905 the station was built of white sandstone bricks made at Huangtsun by an Italian called Marzoli, who had opened a brick factory on a large scale. From Feng-tai, about 7 miles from the capital, the trans-continental line to Hankow branches off. This line was completed and opened to traffic in November, 1905. In 1900 the violence of the Boxers was chiefly directed against the railways, alĺ of which were more or less destroyed, but under British, French, and Russian military administration they were afterwards all restored to their former efficiency. As usual, the railway has brought all sorts of foreseen and unforeseen contingencies with it. Farmers up near Shanhaikwan are supplying fruit and vegetables to Tientsin. An enormous trade in pea-nuts has been created. Coal has come extensively into Chinese household use; the foreign residents are developing a first-rate watering place at Pei-tai-ho on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and all the various industries of the city have been stimulated. Brick buildings are springing up in all directions and the depressing-looking adobe (mud) huts are diminishing.

Foreigners formerly lived in three concessions-British, French, and German- whieh fringed the river below the eity and covered an area of less than 500 acres. The Japanese took up a concession in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. They filled in land, laid out new streets and built a large number of houses in foreign style. During 1901 Russia, Belgium, Italy, and Austro-Hungary all appropriated large areas on the left bank of the Hai-ho as future Settlements, while the existing concessions extended their boundaries very considerably. These develop- ments have thrown all present and future landing facilities for direct sea-going traffic into foreign hands. The concessions have excellent and well-lighted roads, with an electric tramway system. The British Municipality has a liandsome Town Hall, completed in 1889; adjoining there is a well-kept public garden, opened in the year of Jubilee and styled Victoria Park. Two excellent recreation grounds of 10 acres and over have been developed, in which tennis-courts, etc., have been laid out. The various British areas-known as the British Concession, British Extension, and the Extra- Mural Area-have been amalgamated to form one Municipal Area under a Council eleeted on a broad franchise. New land regulations have come into force, and it is stipulated therein that the new Council consist of nine members, of whom five shall be British subjects. Candidates must be nominated by two electors and all electors are eligible to serve on the Council. The minimum qualification for a foreign voter is the payment of Tls. 20 per annum in respect of land-tax or the occupation of premises of an assessed value of Tls. 480 per annum, and for Chinese the payment of Tls. 240 per annum in respect of land-tax or the occupation of premises of an assessed rental of Tls. 3,000 per annum--the discrimination between foreign and Chinese electors being intended to prevent the possibility of the foreign vote being completely swamped in an area set apart primarily for foreign residence and trade.

Upon the entry of China into the Great War in 1917 the Chinese Authorities took over the German and Austrian Concessions on the 16th March of that year. In the autumn of 1920 the local Chinese authorities assumed charge of Russian Consular functions and the policing of the Russian Concession, leaving the Municipal Council, however, to continue to function in minor municipal affairs.

A feature of Tientsin which arrests the attention of visitors is the open-air storage of eargo on the British and French Bunds, which have thus become in effect a "general godown." A great deal of confusion and congestion formerly existed from this practice, but the British Municipality has since elaborated an excellent scheme whereby the Bund is divided into numbered steamer-sections and storage-spaces, and the roadway is now kept clear of cargo. The result has more than justified expecta- tions, and the orderly storage of goods in marked-off spaces not only allows a proper control to be kept over all such cargo but has facilitated communications by keeping the carriage-way clear of obstructions.

The Racecourse is situated about 3 miles to the west of the Gordon Hall and comprises a very valuable property to which about 350 mow of land have recently been added. New betting buildings of reinforced concrete, which surpass anything of the description in the Far East, were constructed in 1921.

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