BRESLAU.
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BRESLAU.
Breslau, the second city of Prussia and the sixth in point of population in
Germany, is the capital of the Prussian province of Silesia, the south-easterly
projection of the German Empire, bounded on its eastern side by Russian Poland
and on its southern side by the Austrian provinces of Bohemia, Silesia and Galicia.
The position of the town on the Oder, at the point where that river begins to
be navigable for larger craft, has been the chief factor in the development of
Breslau into one of the greatest of Germany’s inland trading centres. Thn
development has been greatly accelerated since the transport facilities afforded
by a waterway which connects the town with the Baltic Sea (and by the Oder-Spree
Canal with Berlin) have been supplemented by the provision of railways
which make it possible to reach Berlin in five hours, Dresden in three and a
half hours, and Königshütte (the centre of the Upper Silesian black country),
in a little under three hours.
The surrounding country is almost exclusively agricultural, the nearest
town of any note as a manufacturing centre being Liegnitz, about 40 miles to
the west, where the main lines from Berlin and Dresden unite and form an
important railway junction. At Oppeln, about 50 miles south-east of Breslau,
and half-way towards Königshütte another junction is formed, from which one
line branches southward to the Austrian frontier town of Oderberg, where the
lines converge from Vienna, Buda-Pest, and Cracow. The other branch
continues south-east to Königshütte and the Upper Silesian coal and iron towns,
and is met near the junction of the German, Russian, and Austrian frontiers (Dreikaiser
ecke) by the line from Warsaw and St. Petersburg. There are five railway
stations in Breslau and these dealt with 3,272,000 tons of merchandize
(exclusive of consignments of less than half a ton) in the course of 1904. Of
this amount 2,612,000 tons represented goods entered and 666,000 tons goods
despatched. Among the former the chief articles, according to weight, were
coal and coke (1,224,000 tons), timber (225,000 tons), building stone
(193,000 tons), cereals (150,000 tons), lime and cement (73,000 tons), and
iron and steel wares (23,000 tons). The goods of which the greatest quantities
were despatched by rail were fertilizers (100,000 tons), flour and cereals (79,000
tons), and timber (63,000 tons). As regards the river trade, figures are
available for a year later. In the course of 1905, 11,182 vessels (mostly large
barges either towed or propelled by sails) arrived in Breslau carrying 456,000
tons of merchandize, and 11,093 vessels left the town with 651,000 tons ; in
addition 11,462 vessels passed through on their way up or down stream
carrying 1,606,000 tons of merchandize. The goods carried down-stream from
Breslau far exceed those brought up to the town from the lower Oder. The
former consist mainly of coal, iron, sugar and cereals, and the lattei of ores,
bricks, petroleum, cereals and fish.
The activities of the municipality embrace all the usual public sei vices,,
including the gas, water and electricity supplies. The town al»o owns about
nine miles out of a total of 33 miles of the electric tramway system, and holds
shares to the value of £325,000 in one of the two local tramway companies.
The principal theatre is also municipal property and is supported at considerable
cost, as would appear from the fact that in the three years 1901-3 the expenses
exceeded the receipts by a total of £14,000.
As a landowner the municipality ranks third among the great towns of
Germany for it owns 16,200 acres, of which some 2,000 are within the urban
area. Its revenue from this source in 1903 amounted to £25,000.
Since September, 1901, a town harbour has been in existence formed by
the construction of locks enclosing a portion of the Old Oder, which is the
largest of a number of arms into which the river divides near the city.
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