Directory_and_Chronicle_1939 — Page 265

EASTERN SIBERIA

VLADIVOSTOCK

Vladivostock is the chief town of the Maritime Province, which, together with the Habarovsk, Nicolaevsk, Amour, Zeia, Tchita, Sretensk, Kamcliatka, and Saghalien Provinces forms the "Far Eastern Region" of Siberia. The administrative centre is at Habarovsk.

The port of Vladivostock, lies in latitude 43 deg. 7 min. North, longitude 131 deg. 54 min. East, at the southern end of a long peninsula reaching into Peter the Great Bay. Of the ports in East Siberia it is by far the most important. It has one of the most magnificent harbours in the East. From its peculiar long and narrow shape and the once supposed hidden treasures in the slightly auriferous soil of its surrounding hills it has not inappropriately been called the Golden Horn. The en- trances to the harbour are hidden by Russian Island, which divides the fairway into two narrow passages. This fine sheet of water first runs for about half a mile in a northern direction and then suddenly bends to the east for a distance of about one mile. On all sides it is surrounded by hills low on the southern and higher on the northern shore; these hills slope sharply down to the water's edge. Once verdane with foliage, they have been completely denuded of trees by reckless felling. The harbour, capable of accommodating an almost unlimited number of vessels of deep draught and large capacity, affords a safe anchorage. During the winter months it is kept open by ice-breakers so that steamers can always find their way in without difficulty. There is a floating dock capable of taking in vessels up to 2,000 tons, and a fine graving dock of the following dimensions :-Length over all, 621 feet; length at bottom, 564 feet; breadth, 118 feet; breadth at entrance, 90 feet; min. depth, 29 feet. There are also two large docks built especially for purposes of the State war fleet, but merchant vessels are now permitted to dock in them. Thanks to assistance from the railway authorities in the form of revised freight rates and efforts to employ a maximum number of cars during the last two years, shipments via Changchun to South Manchurian ports assumed dimensions indicating that an outlet via Vladivostock is not vital to the prosperity of North Manchuria.

A large import business was formerly done, the main lines being cotton goods, iron, machinery, flour, fresh and potted meat, boots, and tea for transportation into the interior. The municipal affairs of Vladivostock were managed by a Mayor and Town Council elected by and from among the Russian civil community. In the Autumn of 1922 the Soviet Government at Moscow extended its authority to Vladivostock. The town is built on the southern slope of the hills running along the northern shore of the harbour, and handsome brick residences have been erected in recent years, re- placing the old wooden structures. The entire area, with the exception of some unoccupied lots intervening here and there, is covered by buildings, and the town is well laid out with wide but ill-kept roads. The sanitary arrangements are bad, though the town is fairly healthy. Most conspicuous among the buildings are the government offices, the post and telegraph offices, municipal house, the barracks, the railway station, the museum, the Russian church, the residences formerly occupied by the Governor and by the Admiral Commanding (the latter residence is surrounded by a public garden), while the houses formerly belonging to the more affluent merchants are well and substantially built. There are two or three hotels, a university, several schools for boys and girls, and military, naval and civil hospitals. In June, 1891, the late Tsar cut at Vladivostock the first sod of the Siberian Railway, which was com- pleted in 1902. The port is the terminus of the great trunk line from Moscow, and there are steamship services to Japan and Shanghai.