The slow process & recovery is finding another manifestation at Tsingtao where the Japanese have succeeded in raising the Chinese Customs cruiser Haiching which was the principal component of the boom blocking the harbour, and have announced the re-opening of the wharves hitherto used exclusively by the Japanese military. Normal harbour operations are now possible and steamers up to 4,000 tons are able to use the harbour which means that the Dairen-Tsingtao Shanghai vessels will be able to proceed to the inner harbour and maintain communications the failure of which threatened to isolate the city at one juncture. Shantung's export trade finds a convenient outlet at Tsingtao and anything that can be, done to expedite its resumption is useful not only to Tsingtao but to other ports as well, especially Shanghai, which formerly regarded the Shantung port as a source of food supplies, while conversely Tsingtao will also be able to ease its own food situation through Shanghai. It was reported a few days ago that considerable quantities of foodstuffs such as rice, flour and sugar have reached the port and prices consequently registered an appreciable drop. Shanghai and Tsingtao enjoy a common bond of relationship for the Shantung port is the nearest "seaside lung" for jaded residents and there are many people who are looking ahead for some place to pass the brief summer spell which was rendered practically impossible last year owing to the hostilities. There are also large property holdings by. Shanghai people who have purchased or built summer homes in Tsingtao and they, too, will naturally view the change in the situation with a good deal of pleasure. The number of Chinese shops which remain closed is surprisingly large in spite of Chinese capacity to react to anything like normal conditions and this is difficult to explain in view of the comparative quiet which the city has enjoyed, The "Tsingtao Times" ascribes this to lack of confidence although law and order has been well maintained since the Japanese assumed control. The journal suggests that if the Japanese would give early publicity to their intentions regarding the city it would do a great deal to help merchants in solving their problems. The latest news constitutes a hopeful indication of these intentions in regard to the Shantung port.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.