Reginald Bate

“ For the first thirty years after the port was opened no conspicuous events occurred, but a very fair foreign trade sprang up at once, the foreign merchants' interest being chiefly confined to the carrying of the merchandise inwards and outwards in foreign bottoms. The year 1890 was marked by a very substantial growth of trade, and the ten years between 1892 and 1901 were remarkable for a series of mercantile developments perhaps unparalleled in the history of the China trade. From a commercial standpoint, Newchwang has become one of the most important of the Treaty ports. ”

“ Established in 1861, the firm can claim to be the pioneers of British trade in Manchuria. The founder, Henry E. Bush, who was the first agent in Yokohama for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, has now retired to live in comfort at Blackheath, and the task of conducting a gigantic business has been thrown on the shoulders of his eldest son, Mr. Harry A. Bush.
Even at the present day, when many large British companies are operating up and down the China coast, this business, carried on entirely by one man, more than retains its place. ”

“ The carrying trade is almost entirely in the hands of British and Japanese ships, China doing very little except through the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. Business is carried on by British, German, American, and Japanese firms. The largest trade at the present time is in the hands of the Japanese, who have their own Settlement, with special extra-territorial privileges that other powers do not possess.
Great Britain, France, America, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and Russia have each a consular representative at the port. ”