CO129-330 - Public Offices - 1905 — Page 346

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the Taiping Valley from Bbamo to Têngyüeh. There are three ways in which this can be done the construction of a railway, of a cart-road, or of a good mule-track.

I venture to think that a cart-road would be a mistake; it would he expensive to make, and expensive to keep up, the respective estimates being construction, 21,00,000 rupees, annual upkeep, 92,000 rupees; while the benefits to trade would not Further, there be very much greater than those resulting from a really good mule-track. might be considerable difficulties and friction if the Burmah Government were to have charge of the repairs of such a road; while the Chinese could not produce the funds necessary for such a purpose, and if they could, could not be trusted not to misapply theni. Directly the Government of Burmah is prepared to spend a large sum and to alter the existing system of traffic between Bbamo and Têngyüeh, it will be time to take up railway construction. The chief object, indeed, which I have had in view in preparing this Memorandum is to urge that the question of the construction of a Taiping Valley railway under the auspices of the Government of Burnah and to be under British management, is now, in view of the political situation in Yüunan, ripe for very careful consideration. Commercially such a line would be almost a complete answer to the French line; it would cover nine mule stages while the French line would cover eleven; it would enable us to preserve our trade to the Ta Li Prefecture, and possibly the through trade to Szechuan; politically such a line would largely increase the relations of Burmah with, and her influence in, West Yüunan. It would not aim at doing any more; it would not be a rival to any extension of the Kunlong line; its completion would leave the question of the desirability or the reverse of extending from Lashio to Szechuan exactly where it is now, for it must be acknowledged that any prolongation of a line beyond Têngyüeh towards Yong Chang is quite hopeless.

as I am able, I think that there are reason- After going into the matter as carefully able prospects that a line from Bhamo to Têngyüeh would very soon pay if it can be constructed at a reasonable cost, which there seems no reason to doubt, though this is a point on which I, of course, am not competent to speak with authority; though there is a rise of over 5,000 feet between Bhamo and Tengyueh there is nothing like a serious range across the route, which would ascend gradually along the level of the river. I think that there are no serious engineering difficulties. The distance would probably work out at about 150 miles, of which nearly two-thirds would be easy going where the cost of construction would work out at possibly less than the average Indian figures per mile, the remaining 50 odd miles in the Taiping and Nantien gorges would no doubt entail considerable but not, I think, prohibitive expense. Then it must be remembered that the railway would not have to depend on development in the distant future of a country which is now but poor and sparsely peopled; on the contrary, the Taiping Valley from Manwyne to Tengyuch is very rich, highly cultivated, and thickly populated. I have made inquiries from the Shan," Sawbwas," and in other quarters, and I understand that the Kangai portion of the Taiping Valley has some 150 Shan villages, with a population of over 80,000. The Nantien territory is larger but less densely populated; then there is the small but naturally rich territory of Chanta, and a considerable Chinese population in the various markets of the valley. On the whole the population of the Shan "Sawbwa's" portion of the Taiping Basin may be put at about 150,000. Beyond Nantien, proceeding along the Têngyüch branch of the Taiping, we are in a valley with which its ramifications is densely populated, there being several villages of three to five thousand inhabitants near Têngyüeh.

I think it may be estimated that the population who would be directly served, i.e., brought within a day or a day-and-a-half of Bhamo, by a Taiping Valley railway, numbers at least 300,000 souls, whose wealth and prosperity, derived from relations with Burma, Then the wide and is far above the level of the Yunnan peasant of the interior. rich valley of Yung Chang would be only 60 miles beyond the rail-head, and the line would doubtless draw a good deal of profit both from the Yung Chang and Ta Li traffic.

The number of laden unles reported annually as passing the Customs in connection with the foreign trade (Bhamo-Têngyuch) is about 46,000. The freight paid on these would be about 4,00,000 rupees. Suppose that a railway reduced freights 50 per cent., the takings on the foreign traffic, even as it now is, would be 2,00,000 rupees. But the through traffic is, I think, a good deal less than half the total volume of the Taiping Valley trade, which consists largely in movements of rice eastwards, and in local caravans traffic going up and down to and from the various markets in the plain. The would be very considerable, especially of local bazaar passengers. I think that it might be safely estimated that a Taiping Valley railway from Bhamo to Têngyüeh would, even as things now are, earn at least seven or eight lakhs in its first year, while it seems clear

passenger

that these figures would be largely and speedily increased. Many fragile and perishable articles which now cannot pass between Bhamo and Têngyüeh on account of the risks and It seems to me delays of mule traffic would at once take a leading place in the returns. then, on the whole, that a good case can be made for the careful consideration of a Bhamo-Têngyueh railway. The first step which I would urge the Government of Burmah to take in the matter would be to send next cold season a competent engineer along the valley to Têngyüeh to make an approximate estimate of what the cost of construction and upkeep of a railway really would be. I think it is clear that we should be embarked on a far more profitable and less costly enterprise than the Lashio line or the Mu Valley Railway. Referring to the question of cost, I may add that it is to be regretted that there is no reliable information as to the presence of coal in the Taiping Valley, but the rocks are of the character usually associated with carboniferous strata, and the "Sawbwa" of Nantien declares that there is a large quantity of excellent coal in the hills of Man Tung, about 15 miles from Nantien. This is a point whichs hould be inquired into.

Omitting, for the reasons given above, the further consideration of a cart-road, I would point out that the construction of a good mule-track to Têngyüeh, to be available for traffic all the year round, is urgently called for under present conditions, and I think that the very least that Burmah may fairly be expected to do for the trade is to undertake the speedy construction of such a track. Even if railway construction is taken up, the mule-track would be useful, if not indispensable as a service road, while if railway construction is not taken up, a good mule-track is indispensable, if we are ever to have anything like a trade. At present the loss and damage to goods, the wear and tear to men and beast must amount to a very large figure in the course of the year. No one who has not actual experience can realize what a Chinese "road" is; in many places it resembles the pictures of monstrous rock formations, which one sees in the geology books, rather than the Emperor's highway; in the rains our frontier trade is cut off almost as effectually as that of an ice-bound port in winter.

An officer of the Burmah Public Works Department has given 2,50,000 rupees as the probable cost of a properly aligned 10-foot mule-track, partly metalled, from the Burmah frontier at Kulihka to Têngyüeh, passing along the left bank of the Taiping River. In December 1903 the Government of Burmah, having completed a road from Bhamo to the frontier of Kulihka, agreed to construct a mule-road for the first 13 miles in Chinese territory, ie., from Kulihka through the gorges of the Taiping out on to the Manwyne Plain. The Yunnan Government agree to allocate 64,000 rupees from the local mule toll for payment of this section of the road, on which good progress has already been made by an officer of the Burmah Public Works Department, and there is every reason to hope that for the sum mentioned the road may be taken 12 miles further on up the plain to the Chinese market of Lung Chang, situated 25 miles from the frontier at Kulihka and about 70 miles from Tôngyüeh. I would strongly urge that His Majesty's Consulates at Téngyüeh and Yunnan-fu be instructed to negotiate for the permission of the Chinese Government to continue the mule-road right up to Têngyüch. We may reckon the further cost at a little under two lakhs.

Now it is is hardly likely that any considerable part of this sum would be paid by the Yunnan officials, though I think that an effort might be made to induce them to allocate part of the customs revenue to so useful a service. But even if the Burmah Government pays the whole sum, it will, I feel sure, be a good investment from every point of view, and altogether more profitable to Burmah than many of the roads which have been made in her own territory. It is estimated that the upkeep of the road from the frontier to Têngyäch would cost some 35,000 rupees a year, which, in view of the cheapness of labour here, is probably an over-estimate; anyhow, I think the repairs could be provided out of the local mule-tax. If, then, Burmah construct the road, it might be handed over to the Taotai under an arrangement by which the Foreign Commissioner of Customs at Têngyueh would see to it that the necessary repairs were really carried out every year and that the money did not find its way into the pockets of the mandarins.

If the rough estimate given by the Public Works Department is thought too heavy it could probably be cut down, though such a course is to be deprecated; thus the last 10 miles from Hsiao Ho Ti into Tengyel might be left almost as at present. This section is very rough and some of the gradients are steep, but it is at least passable without danger to man, beast, or cargo all the year round, whereas at other points there are places which, during the rains, are always dangerous and sometimes impassable. These places are

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