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March 12, 1896.]
whose presence in the Chamber he speaks of as having been attended with inconvenience and even danger. Seeing that the number of Chinese members was limited and that they were never in a position to impose their views on the Chamber or to exercise more than รค
consultative voice in its deliberations the inconvenience and danger could not have been very great, but as they were considered undesirable members there is nothing to be said against their elimination.
The interest of M. ROLLAND's speech' lies in its general attack upon Chinese commercial rivalry. Our dear brothers "in God of the yellow race are
not welcome in Saigon, but it is admitted that they cannot be dispensed with. M. ROLLAND, however, would keep them in what he considers their proper place, as underlings and auxiliaries, and would not allow them to rise above it. Now, assuming repression to be possible, is it desirable? Do the Chinese do more harm than good to the colony by their commercial activity? In considering questions of this kind we must not allow sentiment to over- ride judgment. It is easy to understand how galling it is to an epicier to find a Chinese compradore undercutting him and taking away his trade and how natural it is for the epicier to think legislative measures should be adopted for the exclusion repression of the Chinese. But it is not only in retail trade that the competition of the Chinese is felt; they are also monopolising the trade in the export of rice to eastern ports and likewise the rice milling industry. Frenchmen do not like to think that it is the Chinese who profit most by the French domination in the colony and hence the outcry against them. But the interest of the individual is not always synonymous with that of the community and if Chinese enterprise were crushed out of Cochin-China the colony would lose a valuable factor in the building up of its prosperity.
or
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
the injury done to trade in general was so great that there would be little chance of making a bare living. We cordially agree with M. ROLLAND that the compradore ought not to be allowed to take charge of his employer's business and reduce the latter to a mere attorney, but that is a matter for the merchants individually to see to, hot one calling for repressive legislation.
Reference was made by, M. ROLLAND to the cases of Australia and the United States; where measures for the exclusion of the Chis nese have been adopted. Without offering any justification for the action taken by the two countries named it may be pointed out that the conditions there are vastly different from those prevailing in a colony of the Far East. The exclusion in the former has been enforced in the supposed interests of the labouring classes and to prevent the white race being swamped by the yellow, whereas in the case of Cochin-China it is demanded in the interests of the European trading classes alone, no scare having been raised about the possible swamping of the An- namite race, and if such swamping took place the general opinion would probably be that it was a very good thing, for the Annamites are a much inferior people to the Chinese. It is solely as a measure of commercial protection, therefore, that the exclusion of the Chinese is asked for. When Saigon was 2 free port the Frenchmen resident there grew restive under the large importation of foreign goods and complained of it in the most violent terms until the tariff general was introduced; when it was seen that the effect of that ill-judged measure was almost to ruin the trade of the port, and that it did in fact ruin a number of individuals, the complaint changed its complexion. Similar experience would follow the exclusion of the Chinese. Individual traders may think that if they could get rid of Chinese com- petition they would make rapid fortunes for themselves, but when it came to the test of experiment they would find that
YUNNAN AND ITS TRADE PROSPECTS.
"
There is little that is fresh, however in- teresting to the general reader, in the in- formation extracted by a Bangkok contem- porary from Dr. MORRISON, the Australian traveller, concerning Yunnan. The adven- turous and enterprising colonial mainly confirms what other explorers-COOPER, GILL, COLBORNE BABER, ROCHER, COL QUHOUN, and others--have narrated con- ceruing the people and resources of this most western province of China. Many years ago, prior to the Mahomedan Rebel- lion, Yunnan was a populous and wealthy province, happy in the possession of a fertile Boil, valuable mineral resources, thriving manufactures, and an abundant population. But the inhabitants were discontented with the rule of the enters of swine, and sought to set up a government of true believers of the Prophet. The Chinese Government, after a long and sanguinary struggle, the horrors of which have never been properly told, succeeded in completely crushing this insurrection and restoring not perhaps order but what they called their rule. "They "made a solitude, and called it peace." This perhaps best expresses the position, and even to the present moment this applies to extensive districts where nothing but the ruins of former towns and villages remain to attest that they were ever inhabited. The once populous province is in many parts desolate, and every city shows tokens of decay. A great portion of Yunnan is also mountainous and difficult to penetrate, a country that might be held against an enemy with great success by a really military and resourceful people. But the Yunnanese were neither, and, shut out from the sea and from communication with other countries, had no base from whence to draw supplies, and hence presumbly the reasons for their gradual destruction by the Chinese Imperial troops. The same thing is now proceeding in Kansuh, where rebellion has again lifted its head; the Mahomedans of that province are gradually being obliterated, and the movement, like that under YacoOB BEG in Kashgaria, will be crushed by weight of numbers.
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country are undoubtedly rich. Its copper mines have been famous for generations, and though worked in a very primitive fashion have long been the chief source of supply for the greater part of the Central Kingdom both for the currency and for other purposes. Yunnan also possesses some fairly rich gold mines, worked also on unscientific lines, but turning out 2 considerable quantity of the precious metal, some of which is manufactured into jewellery, while a good deal of the ore finds its way to Peking. The deposits of rock salt are very extensive. The mines and the mode of working them are described by Mr. BABER in his account of his journey through Yunnan. Other minerals are found, and with any incentive to discovery there is no doubt further resources would be opened up, Meantime the people have no stimulus to exertion, for there are no markets available to them at which to dispose of their produce, and the local authorities place obstructions in the way of mining enterprise. There is practically no capital in the country, and there is no organization for the development of its resources. copper mines are worked to a certain extent, but the output might be vastly increased, if there were any inducement to do so. Similarly the tea production in the Puerh district might be greatly extended, but the distance from any market and the cost of transit discourages planting. Until there- fore the means of communication are improved and there is some influx of popu- lation from other provinces it is unlikely that there can be any great recovery in Yunnan of its older prosperity.
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Yet though Ichabod is written on the ruined cities of Yunnan, and their resuscita- tion is likely to be exceedingly slow owing to the naturally inaccessible nature of the country and to the distance from any populous state or province, there is hope of a slow revival both of population end trade. This is retarded in great measure owing to the malarial character of the climate in many of the marshy plains. LAGREE, the gallant French explorer, and WAHAB, COLQUHOUN's companion, fell victims to it. It would seem as though, when the country lapsed into wilderness, the climate experienced a change for the worse. COLQUHOUN and other travellers speak of the sickly nature of the climate; in some districts there is, we are assured, hardly a sound or Lealthy person of any age to bo seen. But this does not apply to the whole province, for there are more salubrious parts, where man and beast thrive and cultivation of the soil is most successful. The natural resources of the
The
As a present market for Western goods Yunnan offers a very limited field. The wants of the people are easily supplied by home-made goods. A limited "demand for foreign goods prevails, which might of course be considerably in- creased, and which the French are trying. to stimulate from Tonkin, while British traders send their wares to Bhamo, whence a certain proportion penetrate into Western Yunnan, But there need be no rivalry, for it is not worth any very great effort. If France.secured a complete monopoly of the trade of the province it would not exceed that of Tonkin, and that is not likely, for from Mengtzu is a far cry to Tali-fu. Pro- bably France may obtain the advantage in the east of the province, but Western Yunnan will, when railway communication is established, draw her supplies of foreign goods through Burmah. If the West River is opened to foreign trade and steamer navigation permitted as far as Nanning-fu, foreign goods would to some extent find their way into Yunnan by that route. the whole possible foreign trade of Yunnan would be a mere bagatelle to the total trade of China. This province is at once the most remote and the least populous in the Empire. It is naturally rich, as we have said, but it is extremely malarious in wide districts, and therefore most unsuitable for foreign residence. Probably there is no portion of the Celestial Empire which really offers such slight inducements to the enter- prising foreign trader. It possesses, how- ever, the attraction that the little known and therefore mysterious must always have for the traveller. Like the bleak and in- hospitable plateaux of Thibet, it still offers the charm of novelty, so for a while it will continue to be talked of and written about as a possible El Dorado by travellers and engineers until the last illusion has been dissipated by its thorough exploration. The French are believed to hanker after this province as a
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