Jan. 21, Ix view of the failure of at least one previous scheme for the development of Woosung as a port it is not surprising to find traces of scepticism in many quarters with regard to the new venture described by us on Wednesday. Scepticism must be prevalent in China so long as government remains not only inept as to its particular functions but antagonistic to reasonable enterprise, and equally so. long as another important feature of Chinese commercial life prevails. This latter may roughly be described as parsimony in capitalization of large undertakings. In certain respects the Chinese lack breadth of commercial vision, notwithstanding their worldwide fame as business men, and we find proof of this especially in the way they run their modern plant, industrial or municipal. A certain length they go with pronounced success, but in too many cases do we then find a failure to pay the money necessary for expert advice and management, an overloading of machinery, a tendency to keep things together with tintacks and bits of string, with a finally fatal result. The consequence is that, when any big scheme is mooted, encouragement is ut forthcoming as it otherwise would be. It. is only natural, accordingly, to find less interest manifested in the Woosung scheme than might have been looked for, but given certain conditions, by no means difficult of attainment, we believe that not only will foreign interest be forthcoming but tangible support in the shape of capital to forward the scheme.
The great essential to our mind for the success of the undertaking is that Mr. Chang Chien and the other promoters should reach an understanding with the other authorities functioning on the banks of the Huangpu for the creation of one central port suthority. It is futile to discuss Woosung og a rival to Shanghai for the reason that Woosung is to be part and parcel of the Greater Shanghai as our farsighted engineers see it. We need only consider the development of the Thames, the Tyne, the Mersey and the Clyde to perceive that within the next generation the port of Shanghai will extend down to Woosung on both banks of the river. The creation of a dozen different authorities, each with the inordinate jealousy of one another which small bodies possess, is not going to assist this process, although even under such ~conditions it is certain to come. If full advantage is to be taken of the natural advantages of the place, and full power to be exerted in overcoming its difficulties, these various' bodies must be merged in one authority, controlling conservancy work and shipping. We see what has happened in the shipping quarter of Shanghai through haphazard development. Access to the waterfront is impeded by private ownership, and riparian sites, invaluable for wharfage purposes, are here and there occupied by mills whose location could without much inconvenience and expense to themselves be two or three hundred yards inland. All of this means that we are not getting the advantage we might out of our river. What the promoters of the Woosung scheme have to consider is whether they are to be satisfied with a repetition of this or when ther they can improve upon it and bring their proposed port into line with modern conditions.
Where the great ports at Home are at an enormous advantage is that they own the river front: the docks and wharves along its length belong to the people and are controlled by some civic authority—harbour board or otherwise. We have nothing of that sort in Shanghai, where the Municipal Council has possession of only a few jetties, and neither do they have it at Woosung. Land along the river front there was purchased privately many years ago, and additional lots have in more recent times been acquired by firms of various nationalities. And unless some measure can be devised to counteract it, these plots of land will be used as' the sweet will of the owner dictates—to tha best advantage of his pocket and with small regard for the general good of the port. This, however, a power-
prevent. Backed by all ful central pert authority cou nationalities, and especially the Chinese, it could say: Where you have put up mills already they may stay, but for the rest we will have wharves and warehouses on our waterfront and behind them abroad arterial road providing free access. Thus, and thus only may you use your property."' Approached in a spirit such as this the Woosung development scheme would not only receive every encouragement but, we believe, an additional impetus through the investment of foreign capital, for the "believers in the Greater Shanghai are by no means few. It is not, however, a haphazard Shanghai in which they believe, but something which can only be achieved by the creation of the central port authority on which we have laid stress. There seems no sound reason to consider it, outwith the scope of practical politics, and it will be the best augury for success if the development company put it, as they certainly should, in the forefront of their programme.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.