Directory_and_Chronicle_1935 — Page 357

NAGASAKI

was

At the end of the sixteenth century, when the nations of Western Europe were vigorously competing for the trade of the Far East, Nagasaki-then a fishing village--was set aside by the Japanese authorities as a place of foreign residence. It speedily became the chief trading port of the country. When the Christian religion was banned in 1637 and only the Dutch were allowed trade privileges, a small island in Nagasaki harbour called Deshima allotted to the Dutch merchants as a trading station and place of residence. During the persecution which culminated in the expulsion from Japan of foreign Christian priests, the city was the centre of the anti-Christian opera- tions conducted by the Japanese government. By the treaty of 1858 Nagasaki was one of the ports opened to British trade on the 1st of July in the follow- ing year...

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On entering the harbour of Nagasaki no stranger can fail to be struck with the admirable situation of the town and the beautiful panorama of hilly scenery opened to his view. The harbour is a land-locked inlet deeply in- dented with small bays, about three miles long with a width varying from haif- a-mile to a mile. A reclamation scheme was commenced in October, 1897, and completed in January, 1905; 147 acres were reclaimed, and retaining walls. measuring nearly five miles in length have been built in front of what were formerly the foreign concessions at Deshima and Megasaki. Simultaneously, the harbour was deepened. The cost of the work was 4,000,000 yen. A wharf to accommodate two vessels of 8,000 tons has been constructed by the muui- cipality and is used by the vessels engaged in the express service between Shanghai and Kobe. The town is on the eastern side of the harbour and the foreign quarter is on the south-east. The foreign consulates and chief mer- cantile houses are situated on the bund facing the harbour, behind which are a few streets running parallel with it, and there are a number of private residences on the hill-side. There is a Roman Catholic cathedral and two large parish churches; Anglican and Nonconformist services for foreigners are held on alternate Sundays at the Seamen's Home. There are two clubs (Naga- saki and International) and one foreign hotel, the Hotel du Japon The Mitsubishi Company own three docks in Nagasaki, the largest of which has length of 714 feet on the keel blocks and a depth of water at ordinary spring tides of 34 feet 6 inches. As a shipbuilding centre the place has rapidly developed in recent years; in addition to large ocean-going passenger and freight steamers, a battle-cruiser of 27,500 tons displacement and a battle- ship of over 30,000 tons displacement have been constructed there. Nagasaki gained considerable importance as a base for steam trawlers, but the vessels were all sold to foreign governments for war service during 1918. The in- dustry has been restarted on a smaller scale but most of the trawlers now use Shimonoseki as a base. The Municipality has erected a large fish market a wharf near the railway station. Four reservoirs supply the city with water. The railway development of recent years has made it possible, with a brief sea passage of ten minutes between Moji and Shimonoseki, to travel by rail from Nagasaki to Tokyo, via Kobe, in 27 hours. The climate of Na- gasaki is mild and salubrious, and there are popular health resorts in the neighbourhood, the most famous being Mount Unzen, on which a nine- hole golf course was laid out in 1911, and which, since 1923, has been gradually improved; another course has been laid out at Isahaya, a small town about one hour by rail or motor-car from Nagasaki.

The population of the port has increased greatly during recent years. In the census taken in 1933 it was returned as 213,800 nearly double that which it was 30 years previously.