If junk and cargo boat traffic were on the increase at Shanghai, the position of things in the Soochow Creek might be serious enough to call for more attention. Through this channel as big a volume of goods trade as ever is said to pass, but a difference must be drawn between the volume of trade and the boats carying it. It is quite probable that a few steam launches and lighters are now doing the work which formerly employed many junks and heavy sampans.
Those acquainted with the subject believe that as the number of these launches has increased the junk and sampan traffic has very largely diminished, and it is only natural that it should, but unfortunately no statistics can be brought showing this to be the case. There are, however, sure indications. For one thing, the building of junks in Shanghai, which was formerly a flourishing industry giving employment to many yards on the Pootung side, has to a considerable extent vanished, in its stead having grown up the business of building steam: launches. The Chinese have taken up quite successfully, and several yards are now in full operation. This undoubtedly shows the tendency for the steam-launch to take the place of the junk, and correspond ingly, the more roomy lighter for the cargo boat. The displacement must of necessity be very slow, possibly hardly perceptible from year to year, but the signs are that it is all the time taking place. Concurrently with this is the fact that with many launches plying to the different wharves the Chinese are using them more and more in place of the old sampan, and as time goes on it is expected that the number of boats on the river will decrease in proportion as the swifter and more serviceable launches and motor boats can undertake the plement of junks must grow Jess and less, but so gradual is the diminution that yeara will elapse before any perceptible alteration can be seen.
That the present tendency is for gradual decrease in the amount of native shipping in port—junke, sampans, ete.—must not lead to the conclusion that this applies to more extended area. The canals and waterways of the country are too extensive and valuable for this form of conveyance ever to be superseded, For the slow movement of cargo these have been found unrivalled in Europe, and while there be a diminution in the number of junks seen in Shanghai, they will still command a big trade elsewhere.
An indication has been given of the growing use of the steam-launch, This may be taken as perhaps no more than a transitory st and in Shanghai as well as where signs are that the motor launch will have a notable future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.