Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/101

Rh increasing in circulation. It should be mentioned, however, that side by side with this literary activity so characteristic of the new spirit was revealed a jealous adhesion to the old economic ideals. In 1876 an attempt was made to establish a steam cotton mill company at Shanghai for the purpose of manufacturing cotton piece goods from native grown cotton of a similar quality and weight to the goods manufactured by the Chinese. The scheme at the outset received the support of influential natives. But after a time the Cotton Cloth Guild took the alarm and instituted in the native press a crusade against the project. The idea was circulated that the hand cloth trade would be immediately ruined if the mill started working, and when the apprehensions of the native community had been sufficiently aroused the Guild passed a resolution to the effect that no cloth made by machinery would be permitted to be purchased. About the same time that this declaration was made there appeared on the scene a well-known native resident named Peng with a project for prosecuting a Chinese Joint Stock Company with the same object. It was stated at the time that this gentleman obtained one of the prospectuses of the British Company, and after altering it to suit his purpose presented it to the Superintendent of Foreign Trade as a venture deserving of support. His scheme was approved by the authorities and was duly launched with a respectable native backing. In 1879 the foundations of the mill were laid and an agreement was entered into with a British merchant for the supply of the requisite machinery for an eight hundred loom mill. But the enterprise, owing to the incapacity of the directorate, soon got into difficulties, and operations were suspended for two years. At the expiration of that period a new company was formed under the patronage of the Government, and Peng was removed from the chairmanship of the directorate, and Tai, another influential resident and an expectant Taoutai, appointed in his place. In the reorganised company the capacity of the factory was reduced to two hundred looms, and orders for the machinery were placed in America. Meanwhile, the original contract was annulled, Tai paying the stipulated forfeit of fifteen thousand taels. It is unnecessary at this point to follow the fortunes of the venture further. The facts as they stand are sufficiently complete to illustrate the point which was being emphasised—that the traditional Chinese exclusiveness was taking the new form of an endeavour to supplant the foreigner in his own sphere.

Shanghai all this time was developing rapidly into the fine city it ultimately became. In 1873 the report of the British Consul embodied the enclosed table showing the value of the assessments of land and houses in the settlement and the number of inhabitants:—

As an indication of the progress made in the years which followed the issue of this table, it is to be noted that in February, 1881, the Chamber of Commerce published a report which gave the estimated value of property in the united settlements at £14,250,000. Trade all the time was increasing with great rapidity. More than three-fourths of it was with Great Britain, and the bulk of the shipping which entered and cleared the port was British. Germany at this time was practically nowhere. Indeed, she seemed to be actually slipping behind in the race. Of 4,248 vessels which visited the port in 1878 only 154 were German, and the Acting Registrar of shipping in his report for the year spoke of German interests as "steadily declining." He added: "Of the many famous German business houses which used to do a large business here, only one or two remain." Twenty years later a very different tale was told, and to-day no one speaks of German commercial decay in the Far East.

The rapid development of Shanghai, and with it the increase of the European population, suggested the desirability of a reform of the municipal constitution. The discussions on the subject led to the appointment, towards the end of 1879, of a committee, with Mr. F. B. Forbes as chairman, to consider the question. A report was forthcoming suggesting various changes, the result of which, if carried out, would have been to increase the electorate from 403 to 508, and to swell the number of resident voters from 255 to 360. The report was considered at a ratepayers' meeting in March, 1881, and approved. Subsequently, the revised regulations were sent to Peking for ratification by the foreign ministers; but for some reason or other the requisite assent was withheld at the time. Not until November, 1898, after a fresh demand had been made by the ratepayers, did the diplomatic body at Peking pass the new constitution. In addition to the reforms recommended by the committee of 1879, a number of changes suggested by widened experience of municipal administration in the settlement were introduced. The principal of these had reference to the compulsory acquisition of land, promotion of sanitation, and the regulation of building operations. There was also a provision for the appointment of a Board of Land Commissioners to safeguard the interests of foreign renters and native owners. These reforms, it should be stated, applied only to the joint British and American settlement. The French concession has its own municipal constitution, which, in its present form, dates back to 1868.

The later history of both Hongkong and Shanghai is so largely covered in other portions of the work that it is only necessary to touch upon the more prominent points. At Hongkong, after Sir John Pope-Hennessy's troubled regime there was a brief interregnum, during which Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Marsh, the Colonial Secretary, officiated. In March, 1883, Sir George Bowen arrived to take charge of the administration, and directed the affairs of the Colony on healthy progressive lines for close upon three years. When he left Hongkong, on December 19, 1885, Mr. Marsh again temporarily assumed the control of affairs and continued to discharge the duties until his retirement in April, 1887.