Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 756

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SHANGHAI

despite the heavy motor traffic. With the introduction of trams the whole track of the Maloo, one mile in length, was laid with Jarrah hardwood blocks, and the section of Nanking Road between Kiangse Road and the Bund was paved with the same material. Owing to the nature of the ground, expensive piling or concrete foundations are necessary before any building over one storey in height can be erected, and all stone has to be brought from a long distance. The Soochow Creek, between the British Settlement and Hongkew, is now crossed by nine bridges, seven of which are adapted for carriage traffic.

Many foreign houses, surrounded by gardens, have been erected near the outside roads, especially on the Bubbling Well, Avenue Haig, Yuyuen, Great Western and Sinza Roads, which are the main outlets from the Settlement, and from which most of the other roads branch off. These roads are planted with trees on both sides, forming fine avenues of five to six miles in length. Building activity of late years may be described as remarkable and unparalleled in the history of the port.

TRADE AND COMMERCE

Shanghai is the great emporium for the trade of the Yangtsze and Northern and Corean ports, and to some extent for Japan. The total import and export trade of 1868 amounted to sixty-five million taels. It steadily increased each year until 1881, when it reached Hk. Tls. 141,921,357, but afterwards showed a great declinc, the total for 1884 having been twenty per cent. less than that for 1881. There was, however, a rapid recovery up to 1905.

The gross value of the trade of the port in 1929 was Hk. Tls. 1,472,613,676, as compared with Hk. Tls. 1,465,407,174 in 1928, Hk. Tls. 1,262,663,393 in 1927 and Hk. Tls. 1,469,893,484 in 1926.

Mr. H. D. Hilliard, the Statistical Secretary of the Chinese Maritime Customs writes in retrospect of the year 1929:-

In spite of the good prospects and optimism that prevailed at Shanghai during the early part of 1929, from a commercial point of view the past twelve months cannot be said to have been satisfactory. As the year progressed, optimism faded, failures of harvest were rife, and droughts and famine devastated wide areas. Spas- modic outbreaks and constant threats of war, with its inevitable complement of interference with trade by land and river, tended to unsettle markets and to shake commercial confidence. As final factors came the sudden and unprecedented fall in the value of silver and the sensational slump on the New York and local stock markets. The only relief to this gloomy retrospect was the real estate market, which experienced one of the most satisfactory periods of trading on record. The total tonnage of vessels entered and cleared amounted to 35,869,560 tons, an increase of approximately 1.25 million tons over the figures of 1928, making yet another high record. The most noticeable drop-over 800,000 tons-is found in the Chinese figure, which represents a low record, and it is interesting to note that the steady increase of the German flag has again continued. Much of the improvement in the cotton piece goods trade recorded in 1928 was maintained, and, apart from a week's break in the sales in December, the auctions were carried on continuously throughout the year, though at one time the weekly quantities were reduced. The year witnessed tremendous building activity, especially in the Foreign Settlements, and importations of Oregon pine constitute a record over all previous years, but the end of the year saw dealers with the heaviest stocks this market has ever lield, the reason probably being that freight rates have, since early autumn, been exceptionally low. Although the period under review was one of the worst that has been experienced in the woollen goods trade, it is interesting to note that there is an increasing demand for woollen underwear and other articles of attire, and if this demand continues to increase by leaps and bounds as it has been doing in the past few years, the value of this trade will soon become quite substantial. Business in artificial silk as a whole was unsatisfactory, since even a slight improvement on the European markets which took place in the spring could not be sustained during the second half of the year. During the first three or four months fresh orders for paper were being placed fairly regularly, but since then very few orders of any size have gone through, and until the end of the year new business was practically non-existent. Competition in the dye trade. was even keener than heretofore. A new feature was the much-heralded importation of small lots of the more valuable dyes, such as are used in print-works and machine dye-houses, but at the moment this forms but a negligible part of the total import.