Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 439

1

TIENTSIN

A41

grounds of 10 acres and over here 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 amál- gamated to form one. Municipal Area under a Council elected on a broad franchise. New land regulations have come into force, and it is stipulated. therein that the new Council consist of ten members, of whom five shall be British subjects and five shall be Chinese. Candidates must be nominated by two electors and all electors are eligible to serve on the Council. The mini- mum qualification for any voter, irrespective of nationality, is the payment of Tls. 200 per annum in respect of land-tax or rental assessment tax or the occupation of premises of an assessed annual rental value of Tls. 600.

A feature of Tientsin which arrests the attention of visitors is the open-air storage of cargo 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-sec- tions and storage-spaces, and the roadway is now kept clear of cargo. The result has more than justified expectations, 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 of about 1,227 mow of land. New betting buildings of reinforced concrete, which surpass anything of the description in the Far East, were constructed in 1921.

In spite of the general trade depression, the Chinese Government Tele- phone Administration registered an increase both in activity and in revenue for the year 1930. An extension of lines was made in the west end of the na- tive city in May, and another was made in the Hopei district in December. There was a partial change to automatic machines, which are greatly appre- ciated by the subscribers. At present there are 11 long-distance lines operat- ing between Tientsin and places as far afield as Peiping and Shenyang, while a relay service was established between Tientsin and Antung, Dairen, Port Arthur, and Japan.

TRADE IN 1932

The following extract is taken from a review of the trade of Tientsin for the year 1932 by Mr. H. G. MacEwan, the statistical secretary of the Chinese-

Maritime Customs:-

In the face of a grave national crisis, it was generally forecast that Tien- tsin, the most important market near the Manchurian border, would receive a serious set-back to its trade. After the close of the year, with complete statistics available, it can be seen that this prediction was correct, since, although revenue advanced by 1.7 million Haikwan taels, the value of trade declined slightly in the case of direct foreign imports and more seriously in the case of both exports abroad and coastwise.

:

The import section of the trade of the port was augmented for a time during and following upon the period when business and river traffic was in- terrupted at Shanghai owing to the hostilities in that area, considerable quantities of foreign goods being diverted to Tientsin for distribution in the regions south of the Yellow River. This section of trade was also unusually. augmented by the very heavy importations of foreign wheat anl kerosene.

The export section of trade was extremely disappointing. Prices offering were excessively low, and foreign markets did not build up large stocks of any produce, preferring to purchase on a hand-to-mouth basis Local indus- tries suffered much from the loss of their Manchurian markets and had to adopt retrenchment, policies in almost all cases, while only one or two new enterprises were ventured upon. The returns show a general increase in all