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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10315, 29 May 1896, Page 4

UNKNOWN

thftt a BjH^B^RB9BSSP ti ' D X ' rom BKSB^HbBS&W* 001 Shanghai H^^H^^HHEHl^ a ys : — " HereraßmHflßHßp Shanghai nnd j^^HßH^^^^Hßpe Will prove aomSßßß^Hßwcading the account HHBBQaHKI bnt we leit port In my last letter HSH^HHpe Tientsin-Pekin ratlwith. Work on on March 15ib, and |^HBB^K(>iicd thla month for ths BHBHHr section. Li Hung Chang ni '"tt at Shanghai prior to HmQO" for Europe' JUEK SHANGHAI. is BiLuated at the extreme corner of the province of BBKi, and at the junction of the HRR po and Woosang rivers, and disB^ftirom the eea abont 40 miles aod 14 Bes up the liver above Woosung village. mx the mall steamers lie at Woosung, Ejleaß the tldu is exceptionally high or Bhey ate drawing very little watnr. The average depth nf wnter on the bar at Woosung at spring tides la about ISfb to 20f 6. This bar la - the only drawback to the entrance to Sb.augb.ai, the rivet elsewhere being wide and deep, and admirably buoyed and lighted. The Chinese authorities refuse to dredge the bar or let anybody else do It for them. They regard it as the heaven-sent barrier; in faot they often refer to it by that name. As it Is at present it is a nuisance, beoauae vessels have to wait for the tide. The river is very Btrongly fortified at Woosung, bat, like every other fort, the guns ate neaiecied. Shanghai means 'upper sea," and became a thitd-rate city in the fourteenth centnry. The walls, which ate about 3| miles in chcaib, with seven gates, were erected at the time of the Japanese invasion ia the latter part of the sixteenth oentuty, Theae walls ate built of bricks aud etonea, and are 15ft thlok and 20ft higb. Beautifully built, it is really « marvellous piece of work, and mast have taken years to complete. Inside the wnlls are several historic temples, the beat being the " Ningpo Joss House." The streets are exceedingly narrow and dirty. The foreign settlements ate outside tho walls. The JFrenca Concession extends from the walla t« the Yang-klng-pan creek. The British concession was formerly between the Ybdr klne-pan and the Soochow creeks, Vint ia 1863 the American settlement of Hongkdw waa handed over to tbe English, and U now under their jnrledictloo. The Defence 6ieek— now ft narrow waterway, which was constructed by ths foreigners daring the Taiping rebellionforms the western boundary. The only important buildings worth notice in Frenoh Town Bra fehe Municipal Hall, with a handsome statue, erected to the memory of Admiral Protect, who was killed when dlreobing an attack on Nan-yao in 1862, and the French Consulate, wbloh, after extensive alterations, was reopened last ■year. In English Town the buildißga are ttnily very fine, and are a credit to the citizens, and 1 think that the settlement hag fairly earned the repubablon of being the '".Model City" of the East. The English have certainly shown good judgment in Wying out their town. Ail tbe streets ran north and Bouth, easb and west. They ara kept sorupuloualy clean and In splendid order. None of them are under a chain in width ;' the Bund being twice that width. All thfl streets ara lit with electric light. The principal Inlldings are the Maaonlo Club, the Hongkjng Bad Shanghai Bank, the Chartered Bank, and the Mercantile Bank of India, KttßseH's buildings, and the Customhouse, with Its tower and clock. Theße ate all on the Bund. In Nanking-road is the Engineers' Institute In the Sooohow load ara the German, Dinlsb, and Japanese Consulates, and the Meroantlle Marine Officers' Association. Foochowioad la the principal Chinese business etreet, and it is a pity that the Bireet is not wider, because traffic. Is always Slocked. The Hospital la In Hongkew, facing the Soochow creek. It eeemsstrange to have it right in the centre of a thickly populated town. Small-pox, cholera, and ather Infeotioua diseases are treated In It. All the nnrses ate French Bisters, and 4hey ate very kind and patient. On the opposite side of the creek, and almost fiaclng the' hospital, Is the British Con. aulate. This is a very plain but handsome bnlldlng, ana the grounds are very nicely planted and laid oat. Acfooh tbe road ate the publle gardens, which, thongh .small, are splendidly kept, and. almost Biiy sort of plant is to be found there. The'B are Bevsral large aamnierhonaes In the wounds, and In the centre is the band rotunda, Here Id the summer months the public band plays every Evening, except Sunday. 'Paring the months of May and June the h<MM3 are 5 till 7 p.m., and from July till November 9 till 11 p.m. The publiosubacrliiß cflum of money, and the council supplement thjs by a grant to the band's fupds. A» tlxe Bonthern entrance to the gardens is the moujiment areoted to the memory of tbe offiosrs aud men who fell during the Taeping rebellion. At the northern eniuanca is the Margery monument. Near the gardens, at the foot of Nanaing road, Is the Sir Hairy Parkes' monument. Adjoining the European gardens are tbe Chinese publle gardens. Aiong the Bubbling Well road are two privately owaed Chinese tea gardens ; these oatdo anything I have ■ever before seen for Extravagance, with i Sower beds made to ropresent animals, ionntains, statues, arohes, and jnkes. To Cain entrance to these gardens & European • haa to pay the small anm /of 30 cents (about 04). The racecourse is situated at the corner of Defence oreek and Babbling Well road, Only the email Mongolian ponies are rafltfd in China, ail other breeds being barred. These ponies are from 11 to 12J hands hieh and very wiry. They must be wonderfully «tiong beoause no other class of horse is workea. All the watercartß •are drawn by these animals, and they are certainly not slow. Opposite the raceoourso Is the Shanghai Home Bazaar, a very large brick building, In Snangalroad Is the Trinity Cathedral (Anglican). It Is built of red brick and stone from the design of Sir Gilbert Scott. It is Gothic jn design, and baa a spire 160 feed high. The settlement haa a Bplendid water supply. The water 1b obtained from the river, and after being filtered ib Is stored in large concrete tonka until It Is pumped to the waisr tower In Klangae-road. The whole plant belongs to a private company. Large additions are just being carried out by tbe Gas Company, the gas at present being supplied Is very poor. The Electric Light Company has removed to larger premises where an extensive plant of the latest type' la erasted. The old machinery la to ho removed to the new premises when the company will be able Co supply all private dwellings, if leqoired. The Chinese own a large steamship company, the headqnattexß being at Shanghai. The shareholders ara the membsrs of the Government and theii (friends, no foreigners baiag allowed 6c Sioia shares. They own large threa-story ■"go-downs," and extensive wharves in all the chief ports. They manage thelt own business with the exception of having a superintendent to keep the boats in order. All the officers and engineers on iheir boats are Europeans, who are well p.ild and found In nil requirements, This company supplies all tbe troopships and 1 carries all the tribute rice to Tientsin. Its river boats are like floating palaces. There are also two other coasting lines which fly the English flag, the China Navigation and the Indo- China Company, owned by English shareholders. Both these IMb named companies nave reoeived eleven ' and five new boats ie» epeotlvely, which pud them abead lv numbers of tbe China Merchant Company. There are also several other smaller lines on the coast composed of Danish, Gorman, Swedish, and Dutch rattletraps. All these boats are loaded and, unloaded by Chinese labor. Only (heavy cargo is hauled up by the anaoblaary. Stages are rigged up for the Slghter «argo. There are generally between 260 and 300 coolies employed when «he ship is fail. I have seen 12,000 bags of rice, each weighing li piceuls (2001 b) put into a vessel In si? hours. Each bag was handled sbgly, and had to be carried a distance of over 300 yards, As each man came ap the gangway be threw his tally stick In a basket and received from tb'S overseer four oash (average 1000 cash to a dollar). The coolies keep ia Indian .file, to eaoh man carrleß an equal number.

rho tribute rtee in brought down the river torn np oountry in rice boate to the China Merohants' Company's wharves. Some of Iho oountiry people have never before been In Shanghai or seen a steamer or European. They crowd like baea on the company's steamers, oad wander atonnd the 3hip seeing all that la to be eeen. Every advantage is token of a hole to look Into the engine room. The Greatest pozzies to them ate the pninps and the eleotilo light. Should the weather ba excessively hot wa are obliged to have our ineala on deck under the awniogß, Then they get an opportunity of eeetng Europeans petting their ;" chow. ' They watch every movement, and pass all aorts of exolamatlons. Io aeemß very strange to have your movements watched bo, but after a while thia feeling passes away. After being a Bhort time in China I can fully understand why the people are so curious. They are kepb ground down by tho mandarins, who refuse to allow any new idea to be brought into the country uulesß they set a bif; squeeze. They toll all aorta of lies, aud the peoplo take them for the truth. Some idea of the traffic in the Eo«llsh settlement! may be taken from the following :-Datiog the month of February 485 carriages and 599 ponies were licensed, and 3379 jlnricshaa and 3245 wheelbarrow licenses taken out. All licensee have to be renewed each month, A " ricsha " license costs two dollars, A "rloaha" is a miniature gig, and has a hood on a bamboo frame, which can be übllised to protect tho oconpauc from the rain or the excesiiive heat in cummer. A prop at the back prevents tho " ticsha " rom tiltlDß backwards. The ooolie takes his place between tba light shafts, and rnns with hie fare to any place wanted. How they can keep runnjng for miles without a stop puzzles every newcomer. It b calculated that after five years of this work the coolie has to abandon the "ricsha" for the wheelbarrow. The charges are 20 cents tor the first hour and 10 cents every subsequent hoar, Besides this list, should the journey only be short, there are three, five, and ten cent stages A Mexican dollar is worth on the average 2a 2d English money, so 4 cent can be reckoned equal to a farthing. Should the rider wish to turn up any street he has juei to toaoh the coolie on the left or right side as the case may be. Nobody ever thinks of walkiug. Now, taking the averago number of "ricshas" at 3000 mouth v. uiid uckouint; that the C-Olle enroe 25 cents a day, we find that the travelling public spend 22,500 dollars a month, or 270,000 dollars a year on "rlcsba' hire alone. Taking into iicconnt the amount paid for wheelbarrows aud oerrhges, say 130,000 dollars, the public of Shanghai must spend over 400.000 dollars a yf.ttr iv fares, The ocly drawback to these "rlcfthaa" is that as boou 113 a traveller mnkes his appearance he is surrounded by a hord of coolies, each yelling to take his "rlesha." Should the stranger pay the coolie a little extra he is immediately told that it) la not enongb, and he generally pays 200 per cent too much, The best way is to take back what) you have given him and then return b»>f . Then he finds he is not dealing with a new chum, and after being laughed at by the crowd for "loosing fare "he retires. The Municipal Halt Is in Fooobow-road, and has only jast been completed. It Is also the bead- quarters of the Police Department. It is an exceptionally pretty building. In the npstaira portion are the rooms for the central force. The Council has also two other large stations where the men live, One is in Afanklog-road and fihe other in Hongkew. The force consists of Europeans, Sikhs, and Chinese, each under their own officers, and the wbole under an English superintendent. The entire force is armed with tho Lee-Mitford rifle, and pirades weekly for instruction. There are also, for the defence of Shanghai, Beveral volunteer rifle companies and a battery of field artillery. When the line from Foochow to Shanghai is completed the trade of the port will be exceptionally large. There aro at) present running, day and night, several cotton and silk filature mills, and some six more are is coarse of construction. The price of land near these mills has gone qp considerably, and as the proposed railway will pass near them nobody is inolined to sail, Shanghai is well off for dry docks, where the largest mail boat can be taken in with safety. Three are owned by the Old Dock Company, whose shops are in HoDgkew, while the New Dock Company own the largest one, and baa besides by far the best shops and machinery. The nlltnate of Shanghai is healthy taken all roacd, and I would certainly recommend anybody who is visiting (he Far East to Bee the place.. PORT ARTHUR. Fort Arthur is situated almost at the extreme end of the Llau-tai-ahan Promontory, and distant from Shanghai some 560 miles, The entrance is about 200 yards wide, bat very deep, Once inside yoa find yoareelf in a very large bay, Burroacded by high hills. We all expected to see thg place in rnina after whao we had seen in the papers about the Japa blowing up the forts, dock, &o. The Japa hare ppt destroyed a single tiling. The Chinese bad a large transport qu the stocko all ready for riveting. This has been taken down and shipped to Japan. AH the machinery of .English make baa been taken out of tbo taming and boilermaking shops, and all French material lefb. A lot of rails for a railway and thousands of tona of coal had also disappeared, - . AH the "guns that were Id the forts have been taken ont, bat their foundation? aw All the Chinese have to do now is to buy new guns am} the forts will be exactly the same as belore the Japs entered. All the officers, &0., with the exoeptlon of myself and anojher of bur boat were in Port Arthur the night before the Japs attacked the place, and they all agree that the place never before looked so olean. The whole place has been swept up, and all tho scrap iroD, old tins, &c, taken oat of the workshops and placed in heaps on the wharves. Several of (he shops have been painted inside. My lirni uonyiefipn la that the Japs thought they were going to hold the place for come time, and that the Chinese paid up too soon for them to dismantle anything else. AH the electric ligbt machinery bad been loopenod in lta foundations ready for taking away. A few pieces of braoawork in connection with the boiler mountings were missing, bnt this must be put down to the Chinese soldiers who, as Boon as the Chinese took over the port, started to lift and throw down anything that could be sold. When ths Jap handed over the port to the captain of the Cblapsa gunboat, they gave an inventory of everything that was left and what had been taken away. We arrived at Fort Arthur on the 29th of March, aud nobody would tbink the Chinese bad ever lobD the place. All tba forta were decorated with thousands of flags and banners and manned with soldiers: all unarmed. To the rjghb as you go Id, is the basin reserved tor the navy. This basin is enoloaed go all aides, with the exception of a narrow entrauoe, by a neatly constructed Btone wall, and has been dredged oat inside to 30 feet. Around the basin are the workshops in connection with the Naval Department). The dock is built of atone and ia c little over 400 yarda in length, but the other .dimensions I am unable to give. One set of pijmps will empty ths dock in five bonre. A duplicate set of pumps is provided, so that in caae of emergency it can be emptied sooner. Steam jor these pumps la generated in five large locomotive boilers. All this gear had bean painted by the Japs, and it certainly does eeeni strange for them to have taken such care of their enemy's goods. On the other aide of the dock |b the fitting shop, aud here again everything has been scraped and cleaned. In tblß shop alona I connted 60 vices, so it will be all once seen tUsfi the works are on g large scale, The shear lefjs are oapabio of ljftlng J5 tons, and ara provided with tjoe bept machinery for lifting heavy weights.. All thepe works were carried on pnder European management. I could only find one fort thaji bprp traces of bombardment, and that wbb near Tallewan Bay. Ac the very putside only three ahella struck this fort, sod then the brave Chinkles mnat have skipped, All the earthworks, trenches, &c., that were thrown np for protection are intact, and I was unable to find one single place, during my four days' travels, that had been damaged. The forta are a great distance apart, and tho place being laid ont on jsuch a large scale, some thotaands of infantry would be requijeijl to guard the valleys, One of our party bad a camera with him so S3 t,o get as many views as we conld of the place. The soldiers at first thought it was a machine gun, and wherever It wbb pointed would olear out. After a while they began to tbrnw atooea, bat we were not to be bluffed, tjll &t last an officer came

hurrying up to na and asked onr baaineaa aud names. I may state - here that only Btenmora ou Government business ore allowed in Port Arthur, bo Europeans very seldom gob a chance ot seeing the place. Dn all we cnnld, we conld not satisfy the officer ou the reason of ns wanting to take views. At laab another of our ship's officers happened to come up, aud was recognised, us ha was on tho transport service iiintos! the whole war. We were made hemttlv welcome and invited into the officera 1 quarters We now fnnnd that our friend— who spoke English fluently — was a lieutenant in the navy, and waa on one of the boats during the attack on Port Arthur, and afterwards lieutenant on tho KangChi, which waa captured at Wal-hal-wei, and afterwards handed over to the Cbineße to convey Admiral Ting ' aud his officers bodies to another port. lie was very bitter against ths Chinese generally, and being oEkert whether he did nob coneidnr himself a Chinnman, sold, "Oil, no, I waa only brra in China, and was brought up in England and America, where I attended tno Naval Colleges. ' He knew oil abont the latest European squabbles, and naked na could we give him any Iftte pipers flii iilnu is that until power in tnk«n on; of tbe mßndarlna' hands, in will be uielets ex peeling any reforms in Cbina, Tho men in Port Arthur, fee a&id, mnde no tccret of the faot that they would not fight utile^a they Te3fived their back pay, amounting in some Instances to five months. Thla is one reneon why the officers did the " dis> appearing trick" in toon aa the enemy appealed. Had the Guvemnifnt bßheaded every officer that was in Port Arthur they would have tendered tho country a great boon. The money waa sent from the Treaeuty to pay the men, bnt the mandarinß stuck to the lot. Tho ( fßcers would put the men who were owed the moat money where thpy were likely to be annihilated. Each fort was in charge of n mnnditrin, and each fort had different men In it than the other, bo the jaalousy that exited between them can be imagined. The Canton men wonld any. "Tnank goodness those Honnm nigppra are gett'ng a doing, we can do better than them,' find the Ningpo people would say " Oil let's hope tho^e Ciw'on r.ignea are annihilated," When the time came bo light the men would not mpporf. each other. The lieutenant tolling up that at at) Wei l>il-wei> the C'.iiaesn cfnctrs on the fleet kepti down b-lcw, nnd told the men to (,"> " top aldu " a: (i fi.e uti the en* my. That the men wore nut r.fraid to fight U proved by the >v<;ythey mpported the few Jnropean officers that were on the men of war. in fucb doing anything they were to d by them. Ao aotm ftn the aoldlers were to ba reviewed by LI Hung Chang prior lo ihe wnr, tho mnnduilna gob all the coolies they could, and pnt a uniform ou them* no as to make up the number they were being paid for. There is nob the elighte.it donbt that there waa not hnlf thn pnmber nf trorps thpra F.bnnld have been in Port Arthnr, 'The Manderin "Kung," whn waa sentenced to ha beheaded for the lojs of that place, paid so much money to bo allowed to live for another yoar. Now he has managed to buy hta liberty altogether, and go scot free ! Port Arthur, in the hands of a European Power, mighb be considered o great stronghold, but aa it ia at present it Is net enough. To move I rasps about a great distance baa to ba covered with no shelter. At present infantry conld march in with ease via Tahlwan Bay, while an attack by sea would be ju3t the other way. In tact, all the Chinese strongholds, could be taken fro.n the rear.