CO129-224 - Foreign Office - 1885 — Page 449

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the south-west provinces, always provided that the new Treaty is honestly carried out, and that the reduction in taxation is real and not nominal.

I conclude, therefore, that if things remain as they are at Pakhoi, and the Tonquin railway is built, this port may as well be closed, but; as I said before, our commercial con- 446 dition may be improved, either by the construction of a rival railway, or by the reduction of taxation, or, what is the same thing, the issue of transit passes, which the inland authorities will respect. We have been so accustomed to look on railway enterprise in China as visionary, that the idea of constructing a railway from this seems about as hopeful as the scheme of flooding the Sahara, A short time ago, Hsü, the late "Foreign Business Deputy," assured me most positively that the High Provincial Authorities had the construction of a railroad in contemplation here. I pooh-poohed the notion, but he became all the more persistent, and begged me to report it to you. I wrote the draft of a despatch doing so, but before sending it, I went to call on his successor, Wu Weiyuan, and found Hsu Weiyuan with him. I broached the subject of railways, but Hsu had by this time changed his tone, and merely said that it would be a very good thing for Pakhoi if one could be made, but that he was too small an official to make any positive statement. It may be that he was afraid to speak out in the presence of his colleague, who professed utter ignorance of the matter; but his change of manner confirmed me in the view that his former assertion was merely romance, and so I tore up the report which I had prepared. Individually, I have no expectation of a railway, though I would thankfully be dis- appointed.

The abatement of charges on exports and imports, especially on the latter, is a more hopeful business. Mr. Herton assures me that though only three inward transit passes were issued by the Customs last year, yet the report that the Li-kin authorities had been called on to make good his claims (although he has not yet received the money) will cause transit passes in future to be valid, and that when this is once effected, yarn and T-cloths, kerosene and matches, will go up country in quantities. M. Schouburg too, his only rival, a German, has started in business on August 1, with the express intention of profiting by this improved state of affairs. I wish them the success which they anticipate with all my heart, but more capital than they can cominand must be embarked in the trade, before it will assume its proper dimensions.

I will now make a few remarks on the geographical part of my subject. I do not inclose a Map of the country, as I presume the Legation is well supplied in that particular. The map I principally use is Mr. Pirie's valuable Map of the Kwangsi Province, to which I have the honour to refer you. Practically, there are only two roads out of Pakboi: one viâ Lieu-chou to Yü-lin, the other to Nan-ning, which may be reached in two ways, either viâ Lieu-chou, Ling Shan-hsien and the West River, or by crossing the bay to Ch'iu-ch'ou, and then going direct to Nan-ning. The latter is rather shorter, but is the more expensive route. The Yu-lin road is comparatively unimportant. Cassia and aniseed come down that way, but Yu-lin is a complete terminus for imports, as Hsun-chon Fu and Wu-chon Fu, the next districts, are supplied from Canton, and the country further north-Kuei Lin Fu, the provincial capital-divides its trade between Canton and the Yang-tse ports. Nau-ning, on the other hand, instead of being a terminus, is a distributing centre. merchants come or send to Pakhoi on one side, and trade with Yünnan on the other. The route from Nan-ning onwards is up the Tso Chiang, past T'ai Ping Fu. I have a list of balting-places between Pakhoi and Yunnan Fu, but none of them are to be identified by Mr. Pirie's Map. They are doubtless the smallest hamlets, chosen in order to avoid li-kin stations and customs barriers.

Its

The Yu-lin road need not be considered. This road trends eastward, and such as it is, it belongs to Pakhoi, and nothing can interfere with it. The route to Nan-ning and on to Yünnan is on a different footing, for a road into Yünnan from Ha-lung Bay, if it can be made as the crow flies, would be only half or two-thirds of the distance from Pakhoi to the same place. The physical difficulties I know little of, except that the country traversed If by M. Aumoitte seemed by no means well calculated for railway construction. M. Dutreuil de Rhin's map, published under the authority of Admiral Jauréguiberry, may be trusted (it is most incorrect on the China side), There is already a road running from the coast up to Langsun, interrupted by no large rivers or mountain ranges, and following the course of the River Tam. A road, rail, or otherwise could apparently be made on this line, reaching the Yunnan frontier, and branching off at intervals to the the Kuangsi boundaries. Of course the most natural and directest way into Yünnan is up Song Koi or Red River, but I fail to see how this can be combined with a road to Kuangsi, which has no river communication with Tonquin.

Next, as to the natural productions of the two provinces in question. Yunnan seems to have three very valuable products-native opium, tin, and copper. The gold, silver,

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