Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 805

WUHU

A395.

open mines in several districts. A number of smaller companies are operating at present with the sanction of the above Corporation, to whom they pay a royalty. Two companies representing foreign capital--the Yangtsze Land and Investment Com- pany, Limited, and the I Li Coal and Mining Company, Limited-have purchased a number of the most valuable mining properties in the immediate neighbourhood of Wuhu. The Yu Fan Iron Mining Company completed a mountain railway, about five miles long, from their mines to the river bank at Tikang, a small port 30 miles up river from Wuhu, in 1918.

The tract of land selected 30 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. 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. Two new moter roads were- formally inaugurated on June 24 and 25, 1933 respectively-one between Wuhu and Nanking and one between Hsuancheng and Changsin.

TRADE IN 1932

With the opening of the year the full effects of the disastrous flood of the previous summer began to be felt at Wuhu. More than half of the 26 natives banks and a number of the larger shops had gone into liquidation, money was scarce, unemployment was rife and increasing rapidly as factory after factory was forced to close down. The value of cargo imported at Wuhu direct from abroad declined from 1.9 million Gold Units in 1931 to 1.4 million in 1932. American kerosene oil, which is by far the most important item, fell from 2.8 to 2 million gallons; a decrease that was only to be expected in view of the lower purchasing power of a people living through the after- math of a great flood. Hongkong sugar, the second most important import staple,. fell from 69 thousand to 61.7 thousand piculs. The higher duty rates on foreign sugar are blamed for this decrease in the imports of native sugar.

Direct exports to foreign countries declined from a value of 1.3 to 0.9 million Haikwan taels. Exports of iron ore to Japan were only very slightly less than in the previous year although the mines at Tichiang and Mangan- shan suspended work during the first half of the year owing to the Sino- Japanese trouble. Owing to the failure of the 1931 crop on account of the flood, an embargo was placed on the export of this commodity, and the restric- tion was not lifted until the authoritics could feel assured that the 1932 crop would be exceptionally good. In consequence, the rice trade was at a com- plete standstill for the first eight months of the year, and, when the embargo was withdrawn, heavy local taxation and high freighting costs countered any attempt to compete with the low-priced rice obtainable in South China from Indo-China and Siam.

Industrial development was badly hit by the flood and its aftermath of general financial stringency, many factories having to close down.