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LUNGCHOW
beautiful and runs through very mountainous areas, in which are a number of rock caves, formerly the habitat of natives indigenous to the neighbourhood. Telegraphic communication exists with Canton and other places on the West River, with Mêngtsz in Yunnan vid Posé, and with places in Tonkin. The Chinese Post Office temporarily maintains their mail service between Lungchow and Langson in Tonkin by regular couriers instead of by motor under contract as before owing to the irregular running of trans-frontier motor cars, and sends mails to Nanning daily by a motor driven mail-car run by the Lungchow-Nanning Public Road Control Bureau since December, 1932. An
1932. An establishment of the Chinese Maritime Customs is maintained at the port where foreign interests are in the charge of Consuls resident on the West River and in Hongkong. There was a Catholic Church on the South side of the Tso-chiang, the small Orphanage established by the Emanuel Mission in the suburbs outside the East Gate having been removed to Hong Kong since February, 1930. The Consulate, Cus- toms buildings and Missionary Church were completely looted and badly damaged during a Communist uprising in February, 1930. Through the prompt action on the part of the Kwangsi troops under General Wei Yun Tsung to restore peace and order in the district towards the end of 1930, the city of Lung- chow, though practically deserted after the communist uprising, has gradually returned to its former prosperity, with a large population and a number of new shops. The trip up from Nanning usually takes from three to four days, and that down to Nanningabout 30 hours, according to the water in the river, the level of which is liable to very sudden fluctuations during the rainy season of July and August. It has been known to rise as high as 75 feet, when the iron suspension bridge across the river is only two feet above the flood. Motor boats carry most of the cargo from and to West River ports, whilst frontier trade is carried by small junks and rafts, and by carts on the overland routes which usually travel in convoys of some number as in Tonkin. The River scenery between Lungchow and Nanning with its succession of gorges and rapids is well worth seeing but accomino- dation for Europeans on the motor boats is not of a luxurious type though each vessel has one special cabin for official travellers. The climate of the port is damp and very hot for some eight months of the year, but the winter is cold enough to be very pleasantamid such picturesque surroundings.
TRADE IN 1936
During the year under review Lungchow failed to recover to any appreciable extent its former importance as a centre for the distribution of goods to neighbouring districts. The Customs valne statistics were as follows: direct foreign imports, $49,000 as against $52,000 in 1935; direct exports of Chinese produce abroad, $177,000 as against $58,000; and domestic trade, $289 as against $645. The figure for foreign imports is an indication that Chinese manufactured goods are rapidly displacing foreign articles, while the increase of $119,000 in the export trade was the result of the addition of antimony ore to the list of Chinese produce exported abroad. In the month of May Customs stations were established at Lungpang and Pingmeng for the main purpose of collecting Customs export duty and surtaxes on antimony ore transported out of the country through these two points. The total quantity exported during the period May to December was 12,046 quintals valued at $119,634. The aniseed crop having been excellent, total shipments by motor-boats under Inland Waters Steam Navigation Regulations to down-river ports but not shown in the Customs statistics are said to have amounted to about 15,000 quintals. No doubt this was of financial aid to the rural populace in the district, and it is reliably reported that the volume of trade done during the year was on a larger scale than that of the previous year. No further advance in highway construction was reported during the year nor industrial development of interest. The thrice-weekly air service between Canton and Lung-. chow via Wuchow and Nanning was regularly maintained by the South-western Aviation Corporation till the middle of November, when the number of runs a week was reduced to one. On the 10th July the service was extended to Hanoi to link up with the service to Europe via Bangkok. An aeroplane, which clears from Canton on Friday, now makes Hanoi its terminus, stopping at Lungchow the same morning and again on the following day on its way back to Canton. Various municipal reforms have been carried out in Lungchow city.
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