8
I have had considerable correspondence with the Government of Burmah on the subject during the year, and the lieutenant-governor has expressed a desire to meet the Chinese on fair and reasonable terms if a satisfactory settlement could be reached. His Honour mainly desired from China a recognition of the claim that farmers who moved their domicile to Burmah should not by so doing forfeit the right to cultivate their original fields in China; in return for such recognition he expressed his readiness to admit that such trans-frontier cultivators should properly pay the customary land taxes to the sawbwas, and that, should they fail to do so, their land or their cultivation rights over the communal land should be subject to forfeiture. The Chinese, on the other hand, sought to secure the extinction of all rights of cultivation for people who were no longer domiciled in China. The question was complicated by the fact that in the Chinese Shan States there is an undoubted custom of communal tenure, the lands worked by the village belonging to the sawbwa, and so to his overlord, the Emperor of China. There were reasons for refusing to admit this claim in the sweeping form in which it was presented by China, but the expression of a definite opinion as to its validity has been as far as possible avoided, both in discussion and in the draft regulations which we have drawn up for the settlement of the question.
At intervals during the year I have considered this subject at interviews with the taotai and other officials, but we were unable to effect any settlement satisfactory both to the Governments of Burmah and Yunnan, and the subject was therefore brought up for discussion at the frontier meeting. In the meanwhile the Government of Burmah, hoping to clear the issues and to obtain more definite information in regard to these claims, consented to the request of the Chinese authorities that a cadastral survey should be made of all fields along the border line, either in Burmah or Yunnan, over which cultivation rights were claimed by trans-frontier farmers. The whole cost of this survey was borne by the Government of Burmah. One of the Chinese officers accompanying the party (the Lung-ling Ting) was dismissed from office for obeying the orders of the faotai and sealing the maps which were to serve as proof of the claims; the other (the assistant frontier deputy wang) offered every possible obstruction to the party, and on completion of the survey stated that the maps were incorrect. When the maps reached Tengyueh, and I asked the taotai if he would accept and scal them according to agreement, he repudiated them entirely, offering no reason for, or explanation of, his attitude. The question of the regulations and maps in cultivation were at this stage when we reached the meeting at Namkham
On arrival at the frontier meeting I discussed the question at length with Mr. Thorn- tou and Mr. Cabell, and a draft agreement was drawn up based on the recommendations of the lieutenant-governor, and conceding all that was possible to China in a generous and conciliatory spirit. On the draft being presented to the taotai he admitted the concessions, and stated, indeed, that he could find little to add to our draft; a few He stated, immaterial suggestions were made by him and were adopted at once. however, that he had no power to accept these regulations, to recognise the maps, or, indeed, to do anything towards a settlement in this long-standing and difficult question. He withdrew, however, his sweeping denunciation of the maps, and consented to outline specific lines along which he claimed that the maps were incorrect.
After careful inquiry into his points it was found that they all hinged on one difficulty. At certain places along the frontier the boundary line followed the course of river beds, and was so described at the time of the boundary commission; in the course of the cadastral survey, however, it was found that these sandy river-beds had in many instances changed their course, thus absorbing some fields, and apparently placing others on the wrong side of the frontier. The survey party had adopted, as far as their information allowed, the line of the old river-beds as the correct boundary. We pointed out to the taotai that the actual course of the river-beds at the time of the boundary commission was a question of evidence, which could and should have been obtained from the villagers at the time of the survey; that a Chinese deputy accom panied the party mainly for this purpose, and that, if he had been dissatisfied with the line taken, he had his remedy in the evidence procurable on the spot; that he had not adopted this simple procedure; and that the Government of Burmah had thus been put to much unnecessary expense and annoyance. It is a fact, however, that the question is difficult and intricate, and that the deputy in question was utterly incom- petent for the work; the actual facts, however, were put before the taotai so clearly at the frontier meeting that he certainly understood the points at issue. In spite of this he refused to accept the responsibility of arranging a settlement, and the questions of the regulations and maps in cultivation were in this position at the close of the meeting.
9
Our Plans of Settlement.
I have endeavoured to outline clearly the case work and also the cultivation question at the frontier meeting, as the Chinese attitude towards both subjects is of more than passing interest, and is likely to occupy more of the attention of frontier officers as time goes on, and it is of importance that sound precedence should be established in these early years. Until two years ago the Yunnan Government had considered a handful of frontier commandants, of little or no official status, of sufficient importance to meet the representatives of Burmah, but it is clear that they now realise the importance of frontier affairs and the need for the attendance of responsible officers.
The Burmah officers had done their best to close the affairs of the present season with a clean sheet, and on the taotai's own admission they had shown a patience, a courtesy, and a desire for conciliatory settlement which was beyond his anticipation, and was certainly beyond his deserts. It was therefore with keen disappointment that we realised that the meeting had reached its close, and that the serious cases and the important questions of the year still remained unsettled.
After consultation with Mr. Thornton and Mr. Cabell, we decided that the only possible way of forcing a settlement was by breaking up the meeting and by addressing a joint despatch to the taotai clearly defining his responsibility in leaving the frontier without effecting settlements, and the possibility of serious trouble among the border tribes which was threatened by his action. We indicated at the same time the fact that the responsibility of the Yunnan Government had been indicated by the Burmah Government's message to the Viceroy when requesting him to appoint a representative for the frontier meeting. A copy of our despatch is attached to this report (Enclosure 1.) We left the frontier without any of the usual formalities or an exchange of calls, and the taotai immediately sent a verbatim report of our despatch to the Viceroy by telegraph. I am happy to be able to report that our action succeeded entirely in effecting the desired result, though the extraordinary change of front shown by the Yunnan Government would suggest that our efforts were aided by unexpected good fortune, and by circumstances which were beyond our control, whilst events appeared to indicate though I had no direct evidence of the fact that moral pressure had been brought to bear on the Viceroy through the Wai-wu Pu at Peking.
Unrest and Boycott at Tengyueh.
After leaving the Namkham meeting I hurried back to my post, and ou arrival at Tengyuch I found a most unsatisfactory situation there. It appears that the taotai, whilst still at the frontier, had telegraphed to Yünnan-fu recommending an aggressive attitude in regard to British activity in the unadministered territory, and that the modern- drilled troops of the province had at once been mobilised, 1,000 men leaving Talifu in the direction of the border, whilst preparations were made to strengthen the depleted Tali garrison by a regiment from Yunnan-fu. The old troops from Tengyueli were being hurried into the Shan States, and all was ready for a demonstration on the frontier should it be necessary. In Tengyueh itself public feeling was greatly excited by distorted rumours of British action in the neighbourhood of IIpimaw (Pien-ma); the people were disturbed by the hurried movements of troops. Agitation had been worked up in regard to the acquirenient of the new consulate site, and a boycott of British goods, not reported officially until some ten days after the event, had already been declared, though its incidence was fortunately postponed owing to the fact that business was suspended during the New Year holidays.
I immediately sent for the sub-prefeet (ting), who had been in charge of affairs during the taotai's absence, and informed him that the situation appeared to me to be very grave, that riots might be expected unless steps were taken to allay popular excitement, that I held him entirely responsible for having allowed things to reach so serious a pass, and that I should appeal to the Viceroy direct and take other definite measures unless the position changed within twenty-four hours. The local situation borrowed for a moment a certain humour from Chinese official tactics. The taotai received news on the same day that a considerable force of British troops was mobilising on the broad grassy plain at Lweje, a post actually on the frontier between Bhamo and Tengyueh, and he apparently decided that the moment had arrived when a careful policy was at last essential and a scape-goat must be found in case of need.
* Not printed.
[1974 --
D
437
}