This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
SOUTH-WEST CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
157
[May 9.]
SECTION 2.
Consul-General Wilkinson to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received May 9.)
(No. 2.) My Lord,
Yunnan Fu, March 16, 1904. AS Mr. Litton informs me that he has sent to your Lordship copy of his recent Memorandum, addressed to the Burmah Government, "on relations between Burmah and Yunnan, with reference to proposed improvements in communication," I am doing myself the honour to forward copy of some observations suggested to me by a perusal of this paper.
I have, &c. (Signed)
W. H. WILKINSON.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Government of Burmah.
(No. 8. Confidential.) Sir,
Yunnan Fu, March 15, 1904. MR. LITTON has sent me a copy of his "Memorandum on relations between Burmah and Yunnan, with reference to proposed improvements of communication," addressed to you on the 20th ultimo.
It is, in effect, a plea for the speedy continuation to Tengyüeh of the mule road which your Government is now engaged in improving from the Kulikha to Lungchang; for the construction of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyüeh; and for abolition of the rule forbidding the transit of Yunnan opium through Burmah.
Mr. Litton devotes much space to the advantages which French influence must make in Yünnan with the completion of the railway from Tonquin to this city, and urges that it is time for your Government to take stock of its position.
I am in entire accord, so far, with Mr. Litton, but I am unable to altogether agree with him as to the efficacy of his proposed remedy. It is not in the least likely that France will annex, or will declare a protectorate over, the Province of Yunnan as a whole, and therefore over the Yungchang Prefecture, limitrophe to Burmah; but if circumstances ever bring about such a proceeding, we shall doubtless have obtained equivalent advantages elsewhere. What is to be apprehended is that when the Tonquin Railway reaches Yünnan Fu, the Company will begin to agitate for an "embranchement" to Tali. As Mr. Litton has frequently pointed out, the richest portions of Yunnan are the valleys that lie north and south of the Erh-hai Lake; and Hsia-Kuan, rather than Yünnan Fu, is the commercial capital of this province.
There are few physical difficulties in connecting by rail those fertile valleys with this city; on the whole route there are perhaps not more than half-a-dozen places that would present problems to a modern engineer. In other words, it will be represented, and with much justice, that those valleys fall naturally within the sphere of operations of a railway passing through Yünnan Fu; and that the true end of the Haiphong-Yunnan line will not be attained unless and until it is extended, if not to Szechuan, at least to Hsia-Kuan.
Even if the line is not so extended, I fail to see how Burmah can hope to continue to supply the Tali districts when once the Haiphong-Yunnan Railway is in working order. To say that a little local railroad from Bhamo to Tengyüeh would be seems hardly consistent "commercially an almost complete answer to the French line with the admission a few lines lower down in Mr. Litton's essay, that "any extension of a line beyond Tengyüeh towards Yungchang is quite hopeless."
#1
If such extension is really "quite hopeless," then a railway from Bhamo to Teng-yüeh would, I fear, prove of very little use to us as a counterpoise to the Haiphong-Yunnan line and its inevitable expansion westwards. I do not know, however, that such extension ought to be regarded as "quite hopeless." To begin with, a
[1980 i--2]
curve
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
SOUTH-WEST CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
157
[May 9.]
SECTION 2.
Consul-General Wilkinson to the Marquess of Lansdoume.-(Received May 9.)
(No. 2.) My Lord,
Yunnan Fu, March 16, 1904. AS Mr. Litton informs me that he has sent to your Lordship copy of his recent Memorandum, addressed to the Burmah Government, "on relations between Burmah and Yunnan, with reference to proposed improvements in communication," I am doing myself the bonour to forward copy of some observations suggested to me by a perusal of this paper.
I have, &c. (Signed)
W. H. WILKINSON.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Government of Burmah.
(No. 8. Confidential.) Sir,
Yunnan Fu, March 15, 1904. MR. LITTON has sent me a copy of his "Memorandum on relations between Burmah and Yunnan, with reference to proposed improvements of communication," addressed to you on the 20th ultimo.
It is, in effect, a plea for the speedy continuation to Tengyüeh of the mule road which your Government is now engaged in improving from the Kulikha to Lungchang; for the construction of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyüeh; and for abolition of the rule forbidding the transit of Yunnan opium through Burmah.
Mr. Litton devotes much space to the advantages which French influence must make in Yünnan with the completion of the railway from Tonquin to this city, and urges that it is time for your Government to take stock of its position.
I am in entire accord, so far, with Mr. Litton, but I am unable to altogether agree with him as to the efficacy of his proposed remedy. It is not in the least likely that France will annex, or will declare a protectorate over, the Province of Yunnan as a whole, and therefore over the Yungchang Prefecture, limitrophe to Burmah; but if circumstances ever bring about such a proceeding, we shall doubtless have obtained equivalent advantages elsewhere. What is to be apprehended is that when the Tonquin Railway reaches Yünnan Fu, the Company will begin to agitate for an "embranchement" to Tali. As Mr. Litton has frequently pointed unt, the richest portions of Yunnan are the valleys that lie north and south of the Erh-hai Lake; and Hsia-Kuan, rather than Yünnan Fu, is the commercial capital of this province.
There are few physical difficulties in connecting by rail those fertile valleys with this city; on the whole route there are perhaps not more than half-a-dozen places that would present problems to a modern engineer. In other words, it will be represented, and with much justice, that those valleys fall naturally within the sphere of operations of a railway passing through Yünnan Fu; and that the true end of the Haiphong- Yunnan line will not be attained unless and until it is extended, if not to Szechuan, at least to Hsia-Kuan.
Even if the line is not so extended, I fail to see how Burmah can hope to continue to supply the Tali districts when once the Haiphong-Yunnan Railway is in working order. To say that a little local railroad from Bhamo to Tengyüeh would be seems hardly consistent "commercially an almost complete answer to the French line with the admission a few lines lower down in Mr. Litton's essay, that "any extension of a line beyond Tengyüch towards Yungchang is quite hopeless."
#1
If such extension is really "quite hopeless," then à railway from Bhamo to Teng- yüeh would, I fear, prove of very little use to us as a counterpoise to the Haiphong- Yunnan line and its inevitable expansion westwards. I do not know, however, that such extension ought to be regarded as "quite hopeless." To begin with, a
[1980 i--2]
curve
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.