CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 561

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"The

autumn of 1905, Mr. Litton wrote from the Upper Salween in latitude 26° 40′: whole of the great Irrawady-Salween Divide was spread out before us...

the range could be followed to the north as far as the eye could reach until at a distance of some 100 miles from where we stood and in an approximate latitude 28° 10′ (i.c., west of Chamutong) it was merged in a huge range of dazzling snow-peaks trending westward. This snow-range is doubtless the last source of the Irrawady and forms the divide between it and the Zayul or Brahmaputra system," which would carry it, as the Government of India has claimed, to the point where India meets Thibet.

This then is the boundary which has been chosen by His Majesty's Government as the only one which can properly be accepted, and the expedition of 1905 found no reason to modify the line, the only Chinese claims beyond the border consisting of certain family rather than Imperial rights alleged to be held by hereditary chiefs of Lisu districts on the Chinese side, including an irregular house and timber tax collected by Tengkeng, whilst it was clearly proved that no administrative control by Chinese officers existed to the west of the great range. In the course of my recent frontier tour constant rumours reached me of Chinese activity along the undelimited frontier, and it appears that the provincial Government evinced their interest in the question by sending deputies from the capital both in 1908 and 1909 to visit the tribal chiefs and to report on general conditions on the northern border line. I gathered from these chiefs that the Chinese had recently urged them to hold themselves in readiness for any trouble which might occur, threatening the loss of their hereditary rank if they proved themselves unable to maintain a force sufficient to safeguard their frontier regions. Such tactics cannot fail to unsetile the semi-barbarous chiefs, who have learned in the experience of centuries to place entire confidence in the prestige of China, the Empire which represents to these tribesmen all of power and wealth and dignity and which has marked a slow but certain line of progress to the limits of the wild country to the extreme west of Ylinnan. It can scarcely be expected that Lisu or Kachin tribesmen will have much understanding of or regard for the intangible idea of an unmarked international frontier and, so long as they are convinced of the support of the Chinese authorities, they will not hesitate to under- take adventures such as have resulted in the Sima troubles of 1890, the Hpare affair of 1900 or this last raid at the close of 1900.

very

There can be little doubt that the recent establishment of a modern-drilled and well-equipped army in Yünnan has stirred provincial ambitions, and that a forward and even aggressive policy may be expected along the frontier unless some check is given to the irresponsible petty officials who have little to lose and all to gain by any successful move against their little-known neighbour of Burmah. Such an incident as the destruction of the British boundary pillar reported in my despatch No. 2 of the 15th February, although of little moment in itself, cannot fail to illustrate the spirit which is inclined to actuate the minor officials of the frontier districts and will be unlikely to receive a check unless pressure is brought to bear on the more responsible authorities of the province.

In these circumstances I trust that you will see your way to advocating some action which will mark a definite disapproval of the Pien-ma raid, and which will ensure such punishment for the guilty chief as will prove a warning both to him and to his neighbours that the boundary cannot be violated with impunity. If once the Chinese were able to establish themselves in the broken and isolated regions on the western slope of the Irrawady-Salween Divide, it would necessitate prolonged and difficult operations to displace them and to regain the position which has been clearly defined by His Majesty's Ministers to the Government at Peking as marking the limits of our territory and influence on India's north-eastier frontier.

I have, &c.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1.

ARCHIBALD ROSE,

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Ngawchang Kha. The letter purports to be a petition addressed to you from the inhabitants of five villages on the above-named stream, complaining that the headman of Tengkeng, situated on the Salween, in China, has burnt the village of Upper Hpimaw and threatens to destroy their villages. I am also to forward a copy of a letter from the commissioner of the Mandalay division, dated the 24th January, 1910, with its enclosures, on the same subject.

2. It appears that a raid has been committed by the chief of Tengkeng and his followers on the village of Hpimaw and certain neighbouring villages situated on the British side of the watershed claimed as the Burmah-China frontier.

The villages mentioned are all in the unadministered tract on the north-east of the Myitkyina district, which was shown in the map forwarded to you with my letter, dated the 17th September, 1908. Tengkeng is on the Chinese side of the border, and with regard to it I am to invite a reference to the report by the late Mr. G. J. L. Litton on a joint survey of the Burmah-Yunnan boundary by British and Chinese officials in 1905. Tengkeng is shown on the map which formed Enclosure No. 1 of Mr. Litton's report, and the claim of the chief of Tengkeng to exercise jurisdiction over Hpimaw and the neighbouring villages on the Ngawchang stream was described on pp. 8 and 11 of that report.

3. It is not known whether any of the followers of the chief of Tengkeng are still in British territory, but in any case it is not possible to take immediate and effective steps from this side to eject them. For this purpose it would be necessary to dispatch an expedition on the scale and of the nature described in my letter dated the 17th September, 1908, and the present scason is now too far advanced for this to be undertaken before November 1910. In the meantime, the lieutenant- governor thinks that the raid should be immediately brought to the notice of the Chinese authorities in order that, if possible, reparation may be exacted and the raiders punished. I am accordingly to suggest that, if you see no objection, you should bring the facts to the notice of the taotai at Tengyuch, and request him to take immediate steps to procure the withdrawal from British territory of the raiders from Tengkeng, if any of them are still remaining there, to punish the chief of Tengkeng for his action, and to require the chief to compensate the inhabitants of Hpimaw and the other raided villages for the injuries inflicted on them.

4. A copy of this letter has been furnished to the consul-general at Yünnan-fu, in order that he may, if he thinks fit, place the facts before the Governor-General of Yunnan and Kueichow and move him to issue the necessary instructions to the taotai at Tengyueh.

I have, &c.

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.

W. F. RICE, Chief Secretary.

Mr. Carey to Government of Burmah.

January 24, 1910.

I AM very unwell at the moment with neuralgia and complications, and send this on without retaining it until I am better, as it is urgent. I do not think that we should immediately send a column to turn out the Chinese, as Hertz suggests. I think we should address Rose and attempt to procure the withdrawal of the Chinese (if they are found to be still there), in the first instance, through him.

As you know, it is late to send out columns; it is also inadvisable in the face of the policy, which is defined clearly, to send expeditions into this country. I think that we shall not prejudice our claim by trying-anyhow, for this year-to get the Chinese to withdraw through the representations of the consul.

As regards the villagers who petitioned, Hertz might be instructed to inform them that the matter is being attended to with the view of the withdrawal of the Chinese and the payment to them of such compensation for the raid as may appear to be warranted after enquiry.

Sir,

Government of Burmah to Acting Consul Rose.

Rangoon, February 7, 1910.

I AM directed to forward, in original, a letter (written in Chinese on a piece of board) which was brought to the assistant superintendent at Sadon in the Myitkyina district by a Lanshi named Chawn Tang Bawm, of Luagbaug, on the Upper

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