CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900 — Page 498

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7010

's Document is the Property of Her Britannic Majesty's Government 91

CHINA TRADE.

CONFIDENTIAL.

12003 [March 19.] &

REGE 17 APR 00

SECTION 1

No. 1.

Sir C. MacDonald to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received March 19.)

Peking, January 19, 1900.

(No. 14.) My Lord,

I HAVE the honour to forward herewith to your Lordship copy of a despatch from Mr. Litton, Her Majesty's Acting Consul at Ssumao, inclosing some notes on the Upper West River and Mongtze, together with a sketch map of the districts referred to.

(No. 2.)

Sir,

I have, &c.

(Signed) CLAUDE M. MacDONALD.

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Acting Consul Litton to Mr. Baz-Ironside,

Ssumao, October 28, 1899.

I HAVE the honour to submit some notes on the Upper West River and Mengtze.

I am forwarding this via Keutung and Burmah,

I have, &c. (Signed)

G. LITTON.

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

Observations by Acting Consul Litton on the Upper West River and Mengtze,

AS Nanning will shortly be opened, it is out of my province to speak about it, but I may state my belief that the prospects of a great trade have been exaggerated. It is a busy city, but not, I think, so large or busy as Kui Lin; there is some good country in the immediate vicinity, but taken as a whole, the hinterland is wretchedly poor; the distance to Central Yunnan is so great that I doubt if much of that trade can be diverted to the West River. The Nanning trade figures will be subtracted from Wuchou, Pakoi, and the native li-kin.

Had the water communication to Kui Lin been a little better, I have no hesitation.

in saying that Kui Lin should have been opened before Nanning-

1. Because it is the seat of the Provincial Government.

2. It is the starting-point of a good through route to South Hunan.

3. The city itself and the surrounding valley is richer than Nanning.

It was pleasant to note the friendly conduct of the Nanning officials, so different from the rudeness which I had encountered at Kui Lin. The Acting Taotai Ho, who has considerable experience of foreign affairs, and is a well-meaning though somewhat weak man, and the Magistrate Shen, who has distinguished himself by a very successful campaign against the local "fei-jen" (bad characters), offered me entertainments in their Yamens, and paid me a long visit in my boat. Several of the leading merchants to whose shops I went seemed eager for the opening of the port on account of the heavy li-kin exactions which the native trade has to pay. I walked all over the town, and was not once insulted. If there is subsequent trouble, I am sure it will be caused by the Kui Lin officials, and not by the people of the place. So far as the people are concerned, I found that the citizens of Kui Lin are just as orderly as those of Nanning. The disorder in Kwangsi is confined to the open country.

The journey from Nanning to Po-se takes ten to twenty days, according to the state of the water. The river runs through a flat alluvial plain, and has cut itself a deep channel through the sandstone, clay, gravel, and limestone formations which prevail in this region.

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