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(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
со
[September 5.]
35951
SECTION 1.
RECO Rrot 24 NOV 10
No. 1.
[32267]
Enclosure in Mr. Max Müller's No. 232 of July 16.-(Received September 5, 1910.)
Note on the French Railway in Yünuan,
HAIPHONG, the port of Hanoi, is now connected by rail with Yunnan-fu, a distance of 536 miles. From Haiphong to Laokai the distance by rail is 240 miles, from Laokai (Tonquin-Yünnan frontier) to Yüunan-fu 296 miles. The height of Laokai above the sea is 202 feet, of Yunnan-fu 6,234 feet. The concession to build a railway from the Tonquin frontier to Yunnan-fu was obtained by the French on the 10th April, 1898. The Chinese Government have provided the land required for the actual line and railway purposes, and hold the right of redemption after a fixed termi of years. The French have found the capital and built the line. The concession was part of the reward claimed by France for her share in the retrocession by Japan of the Liaotung Peninsula after the China-Japan war (see "La Dépêche coloniale" of the 30th June, 1908).
The Chinese provincial Government of Yuunan have for some time been considering the advisability of opening the question as to the ownership of the land on which the railway is actually built and the rights appertaining thereto. This point, if raised, will have been introduced for two objects: firstly, to assert as far as possible Chinese sovereign rights in the matter of a railway built in China and owned by subjects of a foreign Power; secondly, to embarrass the French in the exploitation of their line,
The railway was intended to supersede the old route by rail from Haiphong to Yenbai, by steamer Yenbai to Laokai, by junk Laokai to Mauhao (Manbao is 340 miles from Haiphong and 93 miles from the Tonquin frontier), and by mule from Manhao to Yunnan-fu via Mengtse.
At first a trace was adopted through Tunghai to the west of the present line and But this was passing through a well-populated and prosperous stretch of Yunnau. abandoned at the end of 1902.
The railway to-day touches only the three towns of Mengtse (distant 8 miles), Amichou, and Iliang, passing elsewhere through barren country with a few scattered Lolo villages. It has, however, encountered less formidable physical difficulties than a line following the Tunghai trace. The net declivity has been reduced by 16 per cent, and the radius curvature doubled. The great difficulty in the initial stages was the supply of labour. Arrangements had been made to recruit coolies from Szechuan, Canton, and Shantung. The first of these never arrived, owing to the long overland journey. The others came at the end of 1904. It is estimated that during the summer of 1905 deaths, sickness, and desertions accounted for the loss of 40 per cent. of the Chinese labour employed in the unhealthy Namti Valley. The Yonbai-Laokui Railway was not finished until February 1906, and its working left much to be desired at the time. In February 1906 30,000 coolies were at work on the Laokai-Yunnan-fu line, one half of whom were in the Namti Valley (first section). Very great difficulty was experienced in supplying food and medical treatment for these men, whose numbers increased to nearly 20,000 in the Namti. During 1906 6,185 tons of rice Once the necessity for were exported from Tonquin for their nourishment. extraordinary medical attendance was realised, it was met in a thorough and laudable manner. It was found advisable to give each coolie a daily allowance of 4 grains of quinine.
It was
The daily wages in the Namti were 18. 1d. for unskilled labour per head, and 2s. for a mason. Added to this were the expenses of food distribution, medical attendance, recruiting, and superintendence at the rate of one European for fifty coolies, aggregating to 3s. a-day per head. Wages in the upper sections were less. estimated that it required four Chinese labourers to do the work of one French navvy. In 1907 60,000 coolies were employed by the railway, of whom, however, 13,000 were incapacitated through sickness.
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