1933

SHASl
851
Matheson & Co., and a number of newly^eFected, Chinese houses were burnt by the
mobs, kerosene oil being used to feed the conflagration, and the foreign residents
were driven out of the port, narrowly escaping with their lives. The Custom-house was
re-opened on the 1st July of the same year. In August, 1898, an area 3,800 Chinese
feet in length, by 800 to 1,200 in < breadth, lying along the riverside below the town,
was assigned to Japan as a Japanese Concession. The British Consulate was withdrawn
in January, 1899^ British interests'being placed under the care of the Consul at Ichang.
Calling steamers anchor ill the' river, which is very swift during the summer, and
discharge and load :at pontoons, but some bunding work,fcommenced in December,
1904, and finished In April, 1905, provided berths for three hulks, with jetties. Un¬
fortunately, in 19(1)8 this bund for over two-thirds of its length went bodily into the
river owing: to the'action of: the s Water (joining from inland carrying away sand from
beneath the stone-work. The net value; of the trade of the port coming under the
cognizance of the .'Foreign Customs was Hk. Tls. 18,651,178 in 1931, as compared with
Hk. Tls. 2i;486,583in 1930, Hk. Tls: 34,355 862 in 1929, and Hk. Tls. 38,910,321 in 1928.
The bulk of the carrying trade was, until the 30th of May 1931, carried on by junks, under
the control of the Sllativejfpustoms under the Foreign Customs supervision. These
Native, Custom^, however, we re abolished on the 1st June 1931. In December, 1913, a
contract was entered into between the Chinese Government and the British firm of
Pauling & Co. for the construction of a railway from a point opposite Shasi to Singyifu
in the province pi, Kweichoyt rfa Changteh and Kvveiyang, with a branch from
Chan'gteli to Changsha. ' Good progress was made in tjje survey of this projected
railway until the outbreak; of .the European war and epnsegijeii^ vneeessity for a
temporary cessafion, of operations led to the recall of the engineers. It is reported
that so many lakes and morasses lie in the direct survey of the SLasi -Changteh section
that a detour to the'%ekt, ;tbrough'tnore producti ve country, >may be necessary. A
telephone service was* intrtidueed" in March, 1921. A'motor service between Shasi-
Hsiangyang was started in 1924. The Mao Yeh & Co. installed in May 1930 a machine
to supply‘Shasi public with ice and electricity. The Hankow Press-packing Co.
{Shasi Branch) started operations in September 1929, while the Shasi Cotton Testing
Department of Hankow Bureau of Inspection and Testing for Commercial Com¬
modities, a governmental organ, commenced work in October 1929. The Sahsi Cotton
Weaving and Spinning Factory was informally opened in May 1931 with a capital of
$1,000,000. The Air-mail and passenger service between Shanghai and Ichang via
Shasi was commenced in Ypril 1931. Flights p-e irifde |hree times a week. The river
rose to 35.3 feet 9th Augufst, 1*931 (the highest bvated mark on record), but no damage
was done to lives and property in Sfiasi.
Trade in 1931
Shasi was -too efficiently garrisoned throughout.?193q..: to 'be in much danger
of capture but the town was under continual threat of attack by Red and
bandit forces and the whole! district which Shasi draws upon for export pro
ddets avas overrun by hordes of: bandit and communist auxiliaries. Even if
the unprecedented disaster of the flood had not turned the situation from
bad to worse, if is doubtful if any rbAdvaV of trade' bbuld have come about
during the year under review. As it, wk^sj all hope of a' befter year’s busi¬
ness'was. Ipst when most of the cotton crop, the mainstay of the port, was
, .seem to be,, destroyed after the bursting of the dykes around Shasi, Hosueh,
and fliungan. Only .about; 20 per oenL/of the whole crop‘was saved, and
cotton seed was of course corresponpLingly affected. The rice crop fortunately
■escaped to ,a large, extent,; and the harvest was excellent. A cotton-spinning
factory, the construction of which was commenced in 1930, was completed and
•came into, operation during- the year ; and an. bid flour mill that has recently
been reorganised, also started production, operating: at a profit on a daily
outturn of 500 bags of flour, mostly for consumption1 within the district
and at Ichang. In addition to these two new enterprises, work was begun
: on the brddtibn of ;a new eiebtrib light And poever plant. The mbtor-bns ser¬
vice to1 Siarigyang could not be tesftiped,. as the road was1 unsafe oh kccount
•of bandits, but the presence of troop's along the rotte to Hosueh has enabled
: the service on this long stretch of‘road fp b’e restarted. The establishment
of a Government wifeless, station and/p'f a1 branch office of the Bank'Jof
China has added somewhat ‘ to the advantages of7'tfie pbid.