Directory_and_Chronicle_1936 — Page 888

A494

HOIHOW

the port of Hainan and it is now being connected by good motor roads with all the principal towns in the island and, when financial conditions permit, the harbour may be improved. A motor road girding the island is almost completed.

As regards health, there is less fever in Hoihow than anywhere else in Hainan. There is excellent water to be had by the sinking of artesian wells, and several are already in existence both in the foreign Quarters and in the Chinese City. The water in the actual wells at Hoihow is brackish, partly from seawater that filters into the wells and partly from the alkiline condition of the soil.

The trade of Hoihow remains more or less stationary. The native commercial com- munity of Hoihow is one that is always being drawn in different directions by op- posing interests. There is a Chamber of Commerce, which works in conjunction with the Five Guilds, representing the merchants of Canton, Swatow, Kochow, Fuh- kien and Hainan.

No foreign settlement has been formed at Hoihow for the very excellent reason that there is no space for such a settlement, unless the foreigners concerned were to see their way to disburse large sums of money in reclaiming the swamp on the verge of which the town of Hoihow stands. From Hoihow itself a tongue of dry land, known as the Tê Sheng Sha, or Victory Spit, runs westward for a distance of about a mile until it loses itself in the morass which there encompasses it on three sides. This strip of dry land is very narrow and has been entirely taken up. The consequence is that any future development, if any, must be out into the marshy ground that borders the Victory Spit.

With the exception of the Roman Catholic Orphanage, erected in 1895, the American Presbyterian Mission Hospital and doctor's residence, the Customs Indoor and Outdoor Staff quarters, the French School for Chinese, the French doctor's re- sidence, and the French Hospital, the houses occupied by the foreign residents are Chinese converted into European habitations by alterations and improvements. H.B.M. Consulate obtained a site after 14 years' negotiations, and a Consulate building was erected in 1899. This was closed in 1925 and the property sold to the Chinese Government in 1927; towards the end of 1897 a piece of land was granted, and a French Consulate has been built on the Northern side of the river and facing Hoihow town. Since the beginning of 1899 a free school has been conducted by the French Government for teaching the French language to the Chinese, and an officer from the Tonkin Medical Staff was detailed to this port for the purpose of giving the natives and others free attendance and medicine. The foreign residents in Hainan number about 60 including children. A large export trade in pigs, poultry, eggs, bullocks and provisions is carried on with Hongkong. There has been some talk among the natives of opening mines, constructing railways, and bringing out timber from the virgin forests of the interior. It has been noticed that some people are be- ginning to explore the island, and the Commissioner of Customs is of opinion that the searchlight of modern civilisation will reveal much that is of value to science as well as to commerce. "Perhaps," he added, "when this is accomplished it will be seen that this 'Island of Palms' is not the least rich nor the least fertile of China's possessions." A Company with foreign capital has recently started to plant up jute and if the initial experiment is successful quite a large industry may develope. The island of Hainan is described as a terra incognita to the world.

V

Besides, the military Wireless Station, the Board of Communications have a com- mercial station operating at Hoihow. A harbour light, and a light at Lamko (western entrance of the Hainan Straits) were opened in 1894; also one at Cape Cami on the lower tip of the peninsula in 1895. An Aga Lantern apparatus was installed on the West Fort close to the city at the commencement of 1916. The approach to the har- bour badly needs dredging, but is not likely to be dredged until the native merchants of Hoihow develop a more public spirit, and conditions in China improve generally.

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