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2. In this Government's letter to the Railway Board, dated the 4th August, 1905, the lieutenant-governor recommended that an early attempt should be made to obtain a concession from the Chinese Government for the construction and working of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh, with a possibility of extending it later to Talifu. The lieutenant-governor again emphasised the great importance, from the political and economical point of view, of the early establishment of railway communi- cation between Burmah and Talifu, with a view to eventual extension to Yunnan-fu, in the letter to the Railway Board, dated the 4th November, 1907. In the interests of British commerce, and with special reference to the approaching completion of the French railway to Yunnan-fu, "the lieutenant-governor strongly urged in that letter the serious consideration of the project and the urgent need of effecting a settle. ment at an early date. His Honour ventures now to submit this further representation to the same effect, as he is deeply convinced of the need of immediate action.
3. Recent additional evidence of the importance of establishing railway communi- cation between Burmah and Yunnan has been afforded by the valuable reports on the mineral resources of the country by Mr. J. Coggin-Brown, of the Geological Survey of India, who has been travelling in Yunnan during the past two open seasons. Mr. Coggin-Brown's reports have been submitted to the Government of India, but the lieutenant-governor ventures to extract certain passages which have a special bearing Mining on the present question. The following is an extract from the report on Jurisprudence in Yünnan
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"The province of Yünnan, including perhaps a part of southern Szechuan, and a narrow belt of country along the western Kucichou border, is one of the richest mineral-producing areas of the Chinese Empire. The theory has been advanced-and it does not want the support of able advocates-that the object of the last Chinese conquest of Yunuan was to work the mines which the province contained. Deposits of gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, zinc, arsenic, antimony, mercury, cobalt, nickel, coal, Their value iron, salt, and sulphur are amongst those which are known to occur. induced Garnier to write: A legislation more liberal, more perfected means of working, and an opening to a European port would make Yünnan the most important metallic mart of the world.' Copper is widely distributed, and the province is said to supply the greater proportion of the metal used in coining cash in circulation throughout China. Tribute copper is still sent annually from Yunnan to Peking. At least one French syndicate has already been floated to work these copper ores. The silver dollars and smaller coins now being struck in the Yunnan-fu mint are made from metal mined and smelted in the province. In almost every prefecture there are recorded occurrences of argentiferous lead ores. The manufacture of tin, lead, and zinc adds largely to the provincial budget. The exploitation of orpiment, the valuable ore of arsenic, from Yunnan into Burmah, has been going on for several decades. During the years 1895-1906 the value of this mineral alone which reached Burmah was over 15,00,000 rupees. In 1906-7 it was the fifth most valuable product brought overland into that country. The quicksilver mines of Kueichou, though feared by some experts to be near the exhaustion-point, are being reopened by a European company. The cobalt ores found to the north of Tung-chuan-fu have furnished the celebrated blue glazes for which the porcelain of Kuang-si is so justly famous. The salt deposits of Yunnan, though secondary in importance to those of Szechuan, are still large enough to supply the needs of the greater part of the population and bring a large revenue into the provincial exchequer; a close proximity exists in the position of the coal and iron-ore deposits of Yüunan-those assets which often prove more valuable to a country than occurrences of the precious metals. Coal-fields of two distinct geological ages have been discovered, both of which furnish material of good quality, and are of the utmost importance both in questions relating to fuel for railways and for the supply of coke for metallurgical operations."
The following passage from the report on "The Mineral Resources of the Province of Yunnan" deals with the effect which a railway from Bhamo would have on the valuable trade in orpiment from the mines in the neighbourhood of Talifu :-
"It only remains to discuss here the probable effect which a railway through Western Yunnan would have on this industry, and its profitable development. There are several points which must be borne in mind, and which may briefly be enumerated
as follows:-
"(1.) Very little work has to be done on the material after it is once brought to the surface. There are no expensive chemical operations or smelting treatments to be
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taken into account. Beyond hand-crushing and washing, the orpiment is ready for transportation.
(2.) Large profits are certainly being made at the present time by carrying the ore to the foreign markets in Burmah by the slow, costly, and laborious method of mule transportation over great distances.
*(3.) On the best Chinese authority, the supply of mineral is only limited by the demand, and the mines at present show no signs of impoverishment (though I should strongly urge the confirmation of this latter statement by thorough prospecting operations before any attempt were made to open up on European lines).
"I therefore conclude that on the completion of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh, and the consequent cheapening of transportation that there is a hopeful future for the industry, especially if efforts were made to create a larger market in Burmah and India. This remark applies to a greater extent if the railway were extended to Hsia-Kuan and Talifu, for then the mining region would be very accessible, only a journey of one or two days having to be made by mule-train, instead of the present one of about twenty-seven days or more to Bhamo, with its attendant heavy risks of loss in a very mountainous country, with a somewhat severe climate."
Mr. Coggin-Brown's note on "The Iron Industry of Tien-Taung-Kuan" con- cludes with the words :--
"The existence of iron ores in the country north of Tengyuch and parallel to the frontier of Burmah is in any case another asset from which the proposed railway has all to gain and nothing to lose. There is now no doubt that this area is a richly mineralised one, and the lead, silver, gold, copper, zinc and iron ores which I have proved to exist there deserve the attention of the prospector and capitalist, and merit careful consideration in connection with the suggested railway.”
Aud in his report on "The Salt Industry of the Ting-yüan Hsien district" he says:-
"As salt is a monopoly of the Chinese Government, and also a source of revenue in the Indian Empire, questions are raised in any discussion with regard to its trans- frontier carriage which cannot be dealt with by the geologist. The supply of salt for Yünnan itself, with its large population, appears to be in no danger of exceeding the demand. One of the most serious expenses of the industry is the cost of transportation from the manufacturing centres to the areas of distribution, which is at present carried on by coolies or by pack-mules. The introduction of railways into the province will considerably reduce this expenditure."
Mr. Coggin-Brown emphasises the important part that railways must take in the competition for the trade of Yunnan in the following passage from his note on the orpiment mines of Talifu ("The Mineral Resources of the Province of Yunnan"):
"It may not be considered out of place to refer here to the struggle for the carriage of the export trade of Yunnan and the adjacent provinces between the French and English railways, a struggle which is bound to come to pass, which is perhaps even now commencing.
"The present writer, having been entrusted with the mineral and geological examination of the country, considers it his duty to bring before the Burmah Govern- ment data which apply to the mines and minerals of Yunnan, leaving other subjects to those who are professionally equipped and officially authorised to deal with them.
"As to whether the mines of the Talifu district may be said to come into the sphere of operations of the French railway terminus in Yunnan-fu does not really matter. It is outside the question. The fact which forces itself upon one is that it is only a journey of twelve days or so from Hsia-Kuan or Talifu to the capital (Yunnan-fu). The distance to Bhamo in Burmah may not look very different on the map, but it is the exceedingly greater difficulties of the road in a much more mountainous country which prolong the journey to the British frontier town to over twice this time. The Chinese mine-owners themselves are fully alive to the situation, that it will be much less expensive to transport orpiment and other minerals to Yunnan-fu, and thence into the open market via the French railway, than it is to carry such things by pack-mules down to Burmah under existing conditions.
"Another interesting feature is the careful study which the French authorities have made of the mineral resources of the province, the results of which, only with
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