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consist of piece-goods and sundries, including kerosene oil. The Chinese population of Chientao is very small; but there are at least 100,000 Coreans, considerable numbers having entered the district since the Japanese annexation of Corea. The Coreans work as farm labourers for the Chinese landowners, but do not exert themselves to produce more than sufficient to furnish the proportion of the estimated yield due to the owners of the soil and to feed and sustain themselves. In Hunchun the agriculturists are Manchus, and the traders mostly immigrants from Shantung. Last year an attempt was made to introduce into the Hunchun district a colony of Chinese from the Yang-tsze region. The experiment proved a failure. Of 320 men, women, and children who arrived during the summer, 280 left in the autumn. Accustomed to rice, the immigrants found the local food-stuffs, namely, flour and millet, unpalatable and were dissatisfied with conditions generally.
The present practice in regard to the free zones on the Russo-Chinese frontier in the Bunchun neighbourhood is different from that prevailing elsewhere along the Russo-Manchurian borders. The Kussian authorities admit all Chinese goods into the Primorsk free of duty, with the exception of certain specified articles such as native cloth manufactured in Hunchun, of which a test case was made by the Chinese, without, however, inducing any change of procedure. The Imperial Maritime Customs restrict the privilege of exemption from duty to goods emanating from the free zone of one country and destined for the free zone of the other, a proceeding which would seem to be in strict conformity with the wording of article 1 of the regulations for trade by land attached to the treaty of 1881. The position is manifestly not a satisfactory one, and a discussion of new regulations is pending. Objection was raised by the Japanese to a proposal of the Imperial Maritime Customs to establish barriers at a point on the frontier opposite Huining, at Ta Tu Chu'an on the Tiumen, and at a place on the Hunchun-Primorsk border. The object of these proposed barriers was to check the place of origin and destination of goods, and the ground of the Japanese protest was that customs duties can only be levied in the treaty ports or marts, and that duty- collecting barriers are contrary to treaty. It is pertinent to state that Pogranitchnaya (Suifenho), at which duty is charged on goods transported by the Chinese Eastern Railway, is neither a treaty port nor treaty mart.
The Japanese are making extensive repairs to the Corean roads leading to the Tiumen, and Mr. Eitaki, the Japanese consul-general at Lung Ching Ts'un or Liu Tao Kon, who was for some years consul-general for Japan in Shanghai, now has the title of Excellency. Five thousand Japanese troops-not, it is said, 15,000 as formerly stated --consisting of one regiment of cavalry, one regiment of infantry, and one regiment of artillery (six batteries, each of six guns) are quartered at Ranan, a newly-built town in the vicinity of Cheong-jin. A detachment of these troops, one company, is stationed at Ungi; but the regular frontier guard is composed of gendarmes.
The Russians have not shown any recent activity on the frontier, but a lot of work is being done on the improvement of the forts and land defences of Vladivostock, and Captain Nadarov, who was formerly employed in the Department of Foreign Relations of the Chinese Eastern Railway, has been selected to establish a consular office-a vice-consulate, it is thought, at Yen Chi Kang. On the 1st January last the privilege formerly enjoyed by Chinese junks of trading between Vladivostock and Hansi, a convenient auchorage close to Possiet, was withdrawn. No sailing-vessel of Chinese type may now trade along the coast of the Primorsk unless the captain, owner, and half the members of the crew are Russian subjects. The Chinese entertain the idea of mitigating the effect of this requirement by employing Coreans who are Russian subjects. General Vernander, who (vide my despatch No. 30 of the 24th September, 1910) was sent last year to devise and superintend the improvement of the forts and land defences of Vladivostock, is stated to hold the opinion that Vladivostock should be reserved entirely for a fortress and naval stronghold, while M. Gondatti, the new Governor-General of the Priamur, is credited with being strongly anti-Chinese, The attitude of the latter in regard to the quarantine regulations for the Sungari, Amur, and Ussuri Rivers received some mention in my despatches Nos. 15 and 17, dated respectively the 18th ultimo and 6th instant, and it is of interest to record that large numbers of Russian labourers---at least, it appears, 2,000 or 3,000-have recently passed through Harbin on their way to Vladivostock to be employed on the work connected with the strengthening of the forts and land defences of that port. The intention-as with the construction of the Amur Railway--- is to employ no Chinese labour. Doubt is entertained as to whether this project is feasible. The Russian Minister of War, M. Suhomlinoff, went through Harbin a few days back en route to Vladivostock.
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Colonel Willoughby, the military attaché to His Majesty's Legation, has, I think, a map which will show the position of most of the places in the Hunchun and Chientao districts mentioned in this despatch.
I have, &c.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Memorandum by Lieutenant-Colonel Willoughby.
H. E. SLY.
AS regards the population (refer to Mr. Sly's report, p. 2) of the region between the Tu-men and the Hai-lang-ho, it was surprising to find how largely it is Corean. The district magistrate of the newly created district of Ho-Lung-hsien (formerly called Ta-La-Tzu) informed me that practically the whole of his rural population were Coreans, the Chinese minority (almost entirely Shantung people) consisting of a sprinkling of small traders, innkeepers, carters, and muleteers, limited practically to the main roads. As regards Corean immigration, I passed a continual stream of Corean refugees, whole families with their household belongings on their backs, in carts, and on pack animals, on the road between Liu Tao Kou and the Tumen, fleeing from Japanese rule. (It was just after the annexation of Corea.)
2 (refer to Mr. Sly's report, p. 2). As regards improvement of communications in and to North-Eastern Corea, the Japanese desire that the easterly continuation of the Chang Ch'un-Kirin Railway shall run, not to Hun-chun, but south from Yen Chi Fu via Liu Tao Kou and Ho-Lung-hsien to the Tumen River, near Ch'i Ch'a Ch'u, and, crossing that river, link up with the future Japanese line from Sei Shin (Chong Jin) to Hui-Ning (Hoi Ryong). The present 18-inch trolley line between the two latter places is 57 miles long, and crosses the "divide" between the Tumen valley and the sea coast at the Mo San Ling pass, where the gradient is very steep, and the sharp curves of the present narrow-gauge line necessitate complete realignment for a railway. The work of realignment is now being carried out, large gangs of coolies being at work on it when I passed (last September). At Sei Shin, also, the shore track under the cliffs was being widened by extensive rock-blasting operations. At Yu Cho (8 miles short of Sei Shin) where the trolley line leaves the mountains and enters the maritime plain, another line branches off south, skirting the foot of the hills, to Ranan (Lo-Nan) some 12 miles, a large well-laid-out Japanese cantonment and brigade head-quarters. From Ranan, again, a direct trolley line runs to Sei Shin, across the maritime plain (about 10 miles), joining the Hui-ning-Yu-Cho-Sei Shin line at the foot of the cliffs about 1 mile west of Sei Shin. From Ranan a short branch runs south-east to Tok Chin. Ranan itself is invisible from the sea, being in a basin surrounded by hills.
All along the mountain section of the trolley line, also, detachments of the pioneer battalion, stationed at Hui-Ning (Hoi Ryong) ("Kwai Nei" in Japanese) were at work repairing it and repairing the timber trestle bridges washed away by the recent heavy floods.
The trolley line is in a dangerous state of dilapidation, the timber culverts in many places quite rotten, and here and there broken through, and the very light rails twisted and irregular, causing frequent derailments. (I myself was derailed no less than six times between Hoi Ryong and Sei Shin, once when travelling fast down an incline.)
3. The rumours I had heard in Peking of Russian encroachment along the Hunchun border, and of detachments being actually located at points on the Chinese side of the frontier, I found to be devoid of foundation. There was not a single Russian soldier across that frontier, the nearest troops being a small post of mounted frontier guards at the Russian customs barrier on the Hun-chun-Novo Kievsk road, 5 miles on the Russian side of the frontier.
Wedged in as Hunchun is between Russian and Japanese territory, I was surprised to note the meagreness of the Chinese military forces in that region, which lies absolutely at Russia's mercy, as there is a strong force of all arms at Novo Kievsk, and troops can be poured into Possiet in a few hours from Vladivostock. It would seem as though China recognises that her only safety in this remote corner of her Empire lies in the mutual jealousy of Russia and Japan.
The Chinese regulars of the 23rd (Kirin) division are scattered along the frontier in small detachments, policing the country-side in conjunction with detachments of the "front district" of the "Hsun Fang-tui" (provincial troops), the only "district that has been left as such, the remaining four-viz., "centre," "right," "left," and
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