Directory_and_Chronicle_1933 — Page 902

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

818

WUHUAZAZ

The tract of land sélected 80 years ago for the Foreign Settlement was definitely ceded in 1906; and sites were allotted to the Anhwei Railway Company and to various shipping companies, each lot having a river frontage of 600 to 1,100 feet. In 1914 the Ministry of Communications took over the Anhwei Railway Company with its entire assets and liabilities. Large godowns have been built by Messrs. Butterfield & Swire on their ground in the New Settlement for storing rice, and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., have also acquired property in the vicinity. On the plots of ground acquired by the Asiatic Petroleum and the Standard Oil Companies below I Chi-Shan, a hill which forms the lower boundary of the Foreign Settlement, the former company has erected oil godowns and the latter, also, has established premises. Customs buildings on the foreshore near the Foreign Settlement were completed and occupied in 1919. The Chinese population of Wuhu is estimated at 130,706.

TRADE IN 1931

The port of Wuhu was one of those most affected by the great, flood, 48 out of the 60 districts of Anhwei province, including the city of Wuhu itself and some 300,000 mou of land in the vicinity, being inundated. Taking the whole province into considération, some 11,000 square li of land and five mil- lion people were affected. As the province is one of the greatest rice-grow- ing centres in China and depends on its harvests for prosperity, the coming of the flood was peculiarly disastrous to the trade of the port The sharp decline in the exports of wheat may best be illustrated by comparative figures for the last three year: exportations in 1929 being 489,399 piculs; in 1930, 72,739 piculs, and in the year under review, 3,574 piculs. The exports of iron cre to Japan decreased from 6.4 million piculs in 1930 to 3.8 million piculs in 1931. One staple export to show improvement was rape seed, of which a 54 per cent. increase in shipments is recorded. It is feared that with the poor agricultural results of 1931, and the further impoverishment caused by the floods, the prospects for the ensuing far are none too promising for the port of Wuhu.

The value of the trade of the port for the year 1931 was Hk. Tls. 404, 283,565 as compared with Hk. Tls. 49,471,405 in 1930, Hk. Tls. 52,404,006 in 1929, and Hk. Tls. 43,428,377 in 1928:

Directory_and_Chronicle_1933 — Page 902

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