Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 797

CHINKIANG

江鎮

Chin kiảng

The port of Chinkiang, which was opened to trade by the Treaty of Tientsin, is situated on the south bank of the Yangtsze River, about 150 miles from its mouth, and near the entrances of the southern and northern sections of the Grand Canal. Formerly this position gave it great importance, and it was at one time believed that the port must eventually become a serious rival to Shanghai, but the neglect of the inland waterways, and especially of the Grand Canal, which is closed to steam traffic for some months during each year, either because the water is too shallow or because the wash from launches during the high water season would injure the embankments, is causing the trade to be diverted to Pukow, Tsingtao and Nantung- hsien. A further reason for the decline in importance of the port is the silting up of the harbour. The Chenjenchow Spit to the west of the harbour continues to increase slowly, and two additional spits, one stretching north-west from Consular Bluff and one stretching north-west from Silver Island Bluff, are now forming.

Chinkiang is one of the pleasantest ports on the river. It is now within five and a half hours railway journey of Shanghai, which enables necessities to be delivered promptly, while the Shanghai papers are received the same afternoon.

The sur- rounding country is very pretty and contains fair shooting. Road development is proceeding apace and motor cars are steadily increasing in numbers.

The former British Concession was formally handed over to China on 15th November, 1929, and all undertakings of the former British Municipal Council, such as electric light and waterworks plants, have been taken over by Chinese companies who now supply the concession with electric power and water from their installations in the city.

The work of road development here was suspended for some time in the early part of 1932 on account of the Sino-Japanese strife at Shanghai. The northern section of the Chung Cheng Road starting from Ta Shih Kou passing through Kao Chiao and the old north gate to Pei Ku Shan has now been completed and the whole Chung Cheng Road from the South Gate Railway Station to Pei Ku Shan is available for motor traffic. The mud bed of the road from Ta Kou Men entrance to the southern section of the Grand Canal as far as Shih Fu Chiao has been filled in but the face of the road has not yet been paved on account of lack of funds. That part of Chung Shan Road from the West Gate Railway Station to Kwang Chang, a distance of nearly 3,000 feet, has just now been completed and made available for motor traffic. From November 1932 buses engaged by the Provincial Construction Bureau for the public began to run between the city and Chu Jung, the fare being $1.29 per adult.

TRADE IN 1932

The total value of trade passing through the port during the year reached Hk. Tls. 12,603,269 (not including foreign imports from Chinese treaty ports) as compared with Hk. Tls. 16,275,293 (excluding foreign imports from Chinese treaty ports Hk. Tls. 4,157,322) in 1931 and Hk. Tls. 18,760,703 (excluding foreign imports from Chinese treaty ports Hk. Tls. 8,418,831) in 1930. The disastrous flood of the preceding year, the depression caused by the outbreak of hostilities at Shanghai, the fall in the price of rice thereby reducing the purchasing power of the agricultural population coupled with the collapse of the native banking system by which local trade was being nurtured, everything combined to produce unfavourable conditions in spite of the fact that peace prevailed at Chinkiang during the year.