A matter which is seriously exercising the minds of residents in the Western District outside the boundaries of the International Settlement is the invasion of factories. One notable case is the project to build a paper mill on Tunsin Road, There are all manner of objections to this invasion, not the least of which is the fact that the presence of such a mill in a residential area is not only an inconvenience and a blot on the landscape, but a\very serious threat to the health of people living in the surrounding district. Thus there is a Chinese village on the banks of the creek near which the mill is being erected and their interests will be very seriously threatened. In the manufacture of paper Calcium Chloride and Calcium Hypochlorite, Aluminium salts, dyes all find their ways into the waste waters which will be discharged into the creek. Waste waters from the dyeing of paper will interfere with the domestic use of creek water while the farming population will also be unable to use it because of the harmful effects it will have upon their crops, so that the spoiling of the creek water will directly and indirectly have a deleterious effect upon the lives of the villagers, who have undoubted rights to some consideration at the hands of the authorities controlling the area. It has also to be remembered that there is a very large number of foreign residents living there and while the same considerations do not apply there are others which make it eminently necessary that industries such as papermaking should be barred from the district. Factories have no room in residential areas, because of the noise of the machinery, evil smells, coolie population housed in dormie tories, podlers, hawkers, tea houses, soup kitchens and all the other concomitants with the entrance of factory workers into the district. But not only these, there are other reasons why the western areas should be closed to factories.
Serious danger of infection arises from the stocks of waste paper, old newspapers, and rags, especially the latter, when collected in the interior where diseases are so often endemic. In the preliminary processes of paper-making the rags have to be beaten in order to get rid of foreign materials the dust being blown into the air and scattering sources of infection all over the surrounding area. Evil odours from the boiling of the rags in alkali, and the liberation of chlorine in the paper-making process, while the use of low quality Chinese coal will liberate sulphurous fumes into the atmosphere. All this is no figment of imagination, as, those who have had the misfortune to have lived in highly industrial towns fully realize. Indeed, even in Hongkong certain areas are reserved for objectionable industries, which cannot be established elsewhere. It was hoped, as the tendency to go west of Shanghai for residential purposes grew, that the district would be kept free from industry and its accompanying nuisances. The fighting which took place last year seems to have persuaded some Chinese that they will not go back north of Soochow Creek, but will find other, and perhaps, safer areas wherein to reestablish their businesses. It is but natural that this should occur, but reflection should serve to show that there is comparatively little likelihood of such. fighting ever taking place around Shanghai again, and that, when the ultimate fate of Shanghai is decided upon, 1t will be possible to re-establish industries in the only really suitable districts—those north of Soochow Creek. Every factor indicates that this is the only logical thing to do. Close proximity to the railway and the waterways, reducing handling charges of the products to a minimum, is not the least of the economic reasons why industry should remain in the district which it originally chose. It is because of this that this journal ventures to suggest that the promoters of the present scheme are not entirely wise in the selection of the site upon which they intend to operate, and that they would be better advised if, even now, they decided to go where they ought to go, namely, to the Chapei and Yangtszepoo areas.
It is unfortunate that the Municipal Council has no jurisdiction over the district in question, or that the native authorities exercising control apparently have no power to establish by regulation zones in which there shall be no factories, The French authorities years ago established the zone around the French Park as a residential area, and the results have undoubtedly been good. It seems desirable that the authorities in control of the environs of Shanghai would show a completely modern spirit, if they, even at this late hour, decided upon regulations designed to prevent the invasion of the residential areas by factories. Residential areas are just as necessary to a great city as its industries, and it will be a tragedy if the amenities of districts in which rural charm, such as it is around Shanghai, is to be wiped out by the gaunt factory, and its evil effects upon the surrounding countryside. It is conceivable that factories along the south side of the Soochow Creek should be permitted, and for a certain distance inland, but the areas should be strictly limited in order that, where residences have been permitted to accumulate, the surroundings should retain their original qualities which enticed the builders to erect the very delightful homes which may be found there, "It would indeed be unfortunate if in the years to come Shanghai finds itself completely surrounded by factories, There are very few cities in the world wherein no arrangement has been made for the establishment of residential areas. In many cases it is true these have been established as the normal result of residential trends, but there are also many instances where authorities, acting with plenty of foresight, have prevented the deterioration of such areas by the enforcement of appropriate regulations, It would be an excellent gesture on the part of the authorities responsible if they would undertake the enactment and enforcement of such regulations, for it would preserve an area which the foreigners have developed, and make sure that to the west of Shanghai there would be a lung operating at all times in favour of the health of the whole community.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.