PORT ARTHUR. 309 



Pesth firm, to give light to the future citizens and 

 drive the motors at the dock workshops, were erected, 

 and, lo and behold, the order was fulfilled ! It next 

 became necessary that people should be induced to 

 occupy the new town, and Dalni was made a free port. 

 Port charges were likewise introduced at Port Arthur 

 on all trading vessels that entered that harbour ; but in 

 spite of everything Dalni has up to the present failed 

 to vindicate its right to the title of a successful com- 

 mercial town. The greater part of the town in fact is 

 at present composed of the administrative quarter built 

 and reserved for tenancy by the government and muni- 

 cipal officials and employees, the ground marked out 

 for residential and commercial quarters remaining for 

 the most part unclaimed and unbuilt, the reason being 

 the absence of any real development of commercial 

 activity with the interior, such trade as there is being 

 bound up with government contracts or based upon the 

 market afforded by the naval, military, or railway 

 elements. 



Port Arthur is, of course, essentially a naval base, 

 and on my arrival I found everything given up to 

 naval and military preparation. Gangs of coolies could 

 be seen at work on fortifications on the hills which 

 surround the town, and all building and commercial 

 activity had been turned into government channels, 

 the building and fitting of government stores occupying 

 the attention of the authorities. The harbour is not a 

 very large one, and is in places extremely shallow, 

 though this defect has now been remedied to a certain 

 extent by extensive dredging, and I saw one large dry 

 dock which looked capable of accommodating large 

 vessels. In another direction I observed the work- 

 sheds which had been built for piecing together de- 

 stroyers ; but on the whole the traveller will not dis- 



