Directory_and_Chronicle_1930 — Page 1045

SAMSHUI-WUCHOW

979

A telegraph service is maintained froni Sainam. A nice building for the Post Office, situated alongside the road leading from the railway-station to the stone jetty, was completed and opened to the public on September 9th, 1921. There are no Consulates established; the Consuls within whose districts Samshui lies reside either in Canton or Hongkong.

亞細亞

DIRECTORY

ASIATIC PETROLEUM Co. (SOUTH CHINA),

LTD. Tel. Ad: Petrosilex, Tapcolo; Code: 6th edn. A.B.C.

J. H. Davy, in-charge

BRITISH-AMERICAN TOBACCO Co. (CHINA),

LTD.

Yat Kee, agents

關永三

CUSTOMS, CHINESE MARITIME

Acting Commissioner-F. H. Maas

Assistant-Hü Kam Shui

Tidesurveyor and Harbour Master

W. H. H. Kimberley

Chief Examiner-F. A. do Rozario

竿 美

STANDARD OIL CO. OF NEW YORK

記

逸 Yat kee

YAT KEE, Commission Agents

Agencies

British-American Tobacco Co. (China),

Ld.

Kam Hing Steamship Co.

Kwai Lum Steamship Co.

WUCHOW

州梧

Trú-chau

Wuchow, opened to foreign trade on June 4th, 1897, by the Special Article of the Burmah Convention, is situated on the Sikiang or West River at its junction with the Fu or Kuei (Cassia) River. By the steamer routes at present authorised it is distant about 220 niiles from Hongkong and Canton. Wuchow is the limit of navigation for ocean-going steamers; but, during eight months in the year, vessels drawing not more than 3 feet can reach Kueihsien (150 miles beyond Wuchow), and Nanning (360 miles from here) can be reached almost all the year round by boats drawing 2 ft. The population of the city and suburbs is estimated at 50,000; it is slowly increas- ing, more especially in the riverine suburbs, which comprise the business quarter. The annual inundations caused by the rise in the river-there is an average difference of 60 feet between the winter and summer levels-are a source of great inconvenience to the inhabitants and at times bring about a total cessation of business. To obviate this, the principal steamship offices, the Custom House and likin stations, together with numerous restaurants, are located on pais (houses built on pontoons), moored alongside the river bank. In July, 1924, Wuchow was visited by a very high flood- 73 feet 9 inches-which is the second highest on record. In winter the only local industry worthy of mention is boat building; when the river falls the foreshore is lined with matsheds, where native craft of all descriptions are constructed. The situation of Wuchow makes it the natural distributing centre for the trade between Kweichow, Eastern Yunnan, Kwangsi, and Hongkong and Canton. The future is full of promise, and Wuchow is sure to make a hold bid for second place as the largest trade mart in the south of China. Local merchants are making strenuous efforts to divert to Wuchow, via the Liuchow and West Rivers, the trade of south-eastern Kweichow, which is principally supplied via the Yangtsze. Attempts are being made to work the manganese, antimony, copper, and tin mines which abound in the Kwangsi Province. The gross value of the trade coming under the cognisance of the