AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[August 7.]
SECTION 4.
505
No. 1.
Mr. Bax-Ironside to the Marquess of Salisbury.(Received August 7.)
(No. 161. Confidential.) My Lord,
Peking, June 13, 1899.
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Consul at Canton, reporting on French proceedings at Kuang-chou-wan, illustrated by a sketch map.
I have, &c.
(Signed) H. BAX-IRONSIDE.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul Mansfield to Mr. Bax-Ironside.
(No. 25. Confidential.) Sir,
Canton, May 30, 1899.
I HAVE for some time been trying to get some information as to the doings of the French at Kuang-chou-wan, and have at last gathered a few items from the owner of a large steam launch which is now flying from here under the Inland Waters Regulations. I inclose a sketch map taken from the Admiralty Chart and other sources to illustrate my remarks. The dotted red lines show roughly the ground at present occupied by the French, but there are indications that very considerable extension is shortly contemplated. The civil officer in charge is M. Louis Massé, lately "Administrateur des Affaires Indigènes" at Vinklong, Cochin China. As is generally the case in French Colonies, there is much friction between the Military and Civil Administrations. M. Massé has just started on an expedition nominally for surveying purposes right across the Peninsula to Umpo (An-pu). He is accompanied by 150 men and 2 field guns. This bears out a remark which was dropped by the French Consul in conversation with me that they had or were going to extend their territory across the Peninsula. I asked him if they were going to take the whole Peninsula and Hainan, but he said "No;" that these places were of no value. It seems, therefore, very probable that their objective is the whole of the coast line of Kuang-tung from Umpo to the Tonquin frontier with territory stretching north to the West River, possibly as far as Nanning-fu. M. Doumer, the Governor-General of Indo-China, is expected in Kuang-chou-wan with the Admiral this week, and I am told an additional force of 500 men is due there shortly. The present force is said to be 3,000 men, French and Annamese, and they are encamped on Nan Chou Island, at Sha Ton, a small town near the entrance of the river or inlet which forms the commencement of the boundary between the Kao Chou and Lei Chou Prefectures, and elsewhere. The feeling among the natives towards the French is extremely hostile, and the latter have the greatest difficulty in obtaining labourers.
There is no town of importance in the territory so far occupied, and no foreign bottoms ply to the port except men-of-war and the large steam launch from here. Negotiations are going on to subsidize this launch, so as to establish regular communication with Macao or Hong Kong.
The prefectural city of Lei Chou, which is so far outside the French territory, lies some 15 miles up a navigable river, and is a town of some 5,000 inhabitants. The river has been surveyed by the French. There is a fair amount of trade which is carried entirely in junks, the principal articles of export being dunnage mats, used for packing sugar, and grass cloth, the rhea grass for which is grown in the neighbourhood. Cattle, pigs, and ponies are raised in the Peninsula, which has good grazing grounds, and to my surprise, I was informed that sheep also flourish there. Some time ago, I was informed that the natives of Lei Chou were very anxious that the port should be thrown open and that it was proposed that some of the Notables should present me with a petition on the subject offering every facility to foreigners who would go there. The petition has not, however, made its appearance. The idea was, no doubt,
[2140 c-4]