23rd December.
Great Improvements Needed.
One who has not visited Tientsin for a couple of years will be greatly impressed, on returning, by the great changes that have taken plice. He will be hearing about them all the way up the coast, but they cannot be fully realised till he is right among them and sees them with his own eyes. Little disierence is noticeable when the bar iz reached. The same dificuliies of lighterage and approach to Vieutsin that have tied the souls of travellers fur several years past still exist. The party of which the writer was one was extremely fortunate in that a Customs tug came alongside very soon after the anchor was dropped, and the captain very ly consented to take us on shore, so that we reached Tientsin the same day. ' Others have been detained on the bar for a full week, and steamers have been delayed over two weeks in some & It is hoped that there will be improvement in the bar when the scheme for river improvement is finished.
Much has been written about the inconvenience of getting to and from this place, but so long us the ste"mer companies are so absolutely" indifferent to the comfort and convenience of their passengers, the subject doubtful if another port can be found in the well be kept before the people. It is civilised world, situated approximately jen tsin is, where nothing is done to facilitate passengers and their luggage in reaching the port city. Instead of a tug bein; vided whereby passengers, with their baggage, can be taken to Tientsin with the minimum of worry, danger, joss of time, and expense, absolutely no provision is made; they must take their chance of sampan of tug; and it is easily to be seen that the souuler they are off the better pleased the other parties are. This cannot be charged to cheap fares, for the rate from Shanghai to Tientsin is far from low, compared with rates at other places in the world. It appears to be chargeable to (a) love of taels, including unwillingness expend a slight extra sum for expenses, and (b) indiilerence to others and to di as they would be done by. The travelling public is willing to pay remunerative rat dit should be provided with proper f ties for lauding and embarking. ing the port city, as with the ocean lines at Shanghai, for example, it is time some consideration was shown to the guests of the steamers. I have heard of cases where much as £20 had to be paid for a sampan to take a small party ashore, although their tickets are supposed to carry them to Tangku; and it is little short of an outrage that they do not carry them to tientsin, Arrived at the landing near the railroad station, the real China part of the business begins, if one is fortunate enough to meet with a kindly-disposed tug-captain, who will take one ashore; otherwise it begins at the bar. When the Chinese were in charge of the railway—previous to the troubles -it was possible to get the station-master to send man to take charge of the transfer of baggage, for which a reasonable charge was made. It would naturally be supposed under British rule, for the accommodation of travellers as well as the military, and as mess, equal or greater facilities Would be provided. There is nothing of the sort. The coolies are a little less aggressive possibly; for the baggage is dumped on soil that is under one tig (Russau, I believe), across which it has to be transferred to the station, which isunder the British flag. If one does not know and is not careful, the things will be dumped at the edge of the station yard, and another set of coolies have to carry them tothe side of the car; and if not on the look-out, itis not certain that the stuff will be put on the car.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.