A further step in the scheme for the commercial development of Woosung will be the opening of the Woosung Commercial Port Bureau, with head offices at Woosung and a branch office in Shanghai. According to the Chinese press, this establishment will be formally opened on February 12. Present information is that the promoters, a powerful Chinese syndicate, will as far as possible conduct operations on lines similar to those adopted at Pukou.
The prime mover in the scheme, Mr. Chang Chien, of Nantingchow, has been appointed Director of the Port, his appointment presumably cing an acknowledgement of official interest in and support for the scheme, which at present, however, is a purely private enterprise. Mr. Chang Chien is a very well known and influential Chinese who has been particularly active in various industrial enterprises. In his own city of Nantingchow, he has been chiefly responsible for the construction of some 50 miles of good modern roads, a number of mills, and other industrial works contributing much to the development of the place.
ArerNaTive SCHEMES, The Woosung scheme at present exists in outline only and a great deal of preliminary work remains to be done. There are two plans under consideration. The first is the development of river frontage covering some 4,000 mow to the right of the Woosung military road, beginning at about two miles from The Point and extending to the second concrete bridge. This piece of foreshore, situated at a bend in the river, does not give natural deep water facilities and its development for the purpose of providing wharfage and other necessary accommodation would involve a great amount of labour and expense.
The alternative scheme under consideration by the syndicate is to build wharves, ete., at a point just below Woosung city, there being ample deep water facilities xt this point, with the railway close at hand.' Details in respect of both proposals are being gone into by Mr. Sydney J. Powell, consulting, engineer, with whom the syndicate has for some time past been in consultation and who has now been appointed engineer-in-chief for the scheme.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.