[ { "id": 228925, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "page_number": 241, "title": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "content_text": "226\n\nNo 61 & 1849.\n\nInclosure in Despatch\n\nheld on this 26th May.. the Admiralty Sessions recorded against them at 17 May 1879\n\nthe Sentence of Death violence, and confirming Convicted of Piracy with\n\nthe Case of 6 Chinese Executive Council detailing Extract of Minutes of the Supplicants\n\nN262\n\nMiscellaneous\n\nCopy to Foreign Office be sent pag\n\nEnd in\n\noriginal.\n\nMy Lord,\n\nRECEIVED\n\nAUG 23\n\n1849\n\nVictoria; Houghton,\n\n18th June, 1849.\n\nI have the honour to forward to your\n\nLordship copy of a correspondence between myself and Senhor do Amaral, the Governor of Macao,\n\nrelative to an\n\nunfortunate affair in which he\n\nthe Honorable\n\nhas become involved with\n\nCaptain\n\nHenry Keppel of Her Majesty's Ship \"Maeander\". Your Lordship will observe that the\n\nthe part of Captain Keppel.\n\nalleged aggression\n\noriginated in the confinement of a Mr Summers, a British subject, by the Governor of\n\nMacao; and I enclose a Statement handed\n\nto me\n\nby\n\nthat individual of the occurrences\n\nthat led to his imprisonment.\n\nThe circumstance of which the foregoing\n\nThe Right Honourable, The Earl Grey\n\n...\n\nto\n\nto\n\nto.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 228928, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "page_number": 244, "title": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "content_text": "of G. M. 1. Meeander\n\nShave\n\nlovemo da Provincia de Macao, Jimer 229 Solvr Expediente Geral\n\nBema pezar fsidade de levar de levar ao-\n\n1. MG. vije na necessidade Contecimento de Vlx? un attentado.\n\nque mat se podia esperar da parte de officines da Marinha de Guerra Britanica\n\nNa tarde de of do Corrente, love beegar a festividade de Corpus Christi, e junte a Sgreja da Mize.\n\nricordia estava vendo o passar procissão we M? J. Scam suny\n\ninglez labeça entre in Cou C\n\nwo prove, que todo estava desenberte; o pove incorum edar-se acto de irreverencia e similhanate despreze", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 228937, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "page_number": 253, "title": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "content_text": "2287\n\ntake the further steps\n\nlive in a\n\n... required by Justice. doubly scandalous\n\nGed Beserver\n\nthe firesent.\n\nYour Excellency,\n\nMacke & June, s.d. The Most\n\nIllustrious and most Excellent\n\nSenhor Antonio\n\nThe Conselheiro Joaq\n\nde Mernes Carneiro, Judge of\n\nlity.\n\nthis\n\namaral.\n\n(Signed) Jear Maria Pereira determoral,\n\n(Signed) A.\n\nJide Miranda\n\nSelf.\n\n(Sin Translation)\n\n(Signed) Fed' plurada efastro...\n\nSe 2.\n\nJA. 13. M. S. Maander.\n\nSir,\n\n1\n\nMacao Roads June 3, 1849.\n\nAs I understand from\n\nthe personal interview I have just had with your\n\nExcellency the presence of Captain Trentbridge of H. M. S. *Umazon*\n\nin the\n\n+\n\nand Captain Staveley A. G. M. to the\n\nMajor General Commanding\n\nthe troops at\n\nat\n\nHaouching, that\n\nMr Summers British\n\nsubject\n\n-resident of Haouching has been\n\nput in the\n\nfait by y.\n\nExcellency's order for not taking off\n\nhis hat in obedience de\n\nto\n\ndo your\n\nconveyed by a soldier, in the of the Host Passinge\n\nand\n\norder,\n\nyour\n\nExcellency having entirely separate\n\nthe\n\nsupposed offence from any -religious aspect, by distinctly stating", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 228969, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "page_number": 285, "title": "CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7]", "content_text": "originated in the confinement \n\nof a Mr. Summers, a British \n\nSubject, by \n\nMacao \n\nthe Governor of \n\nand I enclose \n\nStatement handed to me \n\nindividual \n\nof \n\nby \n\nthat \n\nthe \n\ne Currende \n\nthat led to his imprisonment. \n\nThe circumstance of which \n\nthe Governor of Macao complains, \n\ntook place. \n\nsh \n\nthe 8th Instant, \n\nthe \n\nMacao \n\nand on the following day \"Maander\" sailed from for Manila, from whence doubtless Captain Keppel will forward his Statement \n\nf \n\nno \n\nthe \n\naffair to the Naval Commander-in- \n\nChief, who is now on his \n\nway \n\nto \n\nTrincomalee, through \n\nwhich channel the whole \n\nmerits of the case will reach the proper Authorities \n\nin England, \n\nin due \n\nCourse. \n\n210 \n\nI have the honour to be, \n\nWith the highest respect, \n\nYour Lordship's \n\nmost Obedient Humble Servant, \n\n198batan: \n\nHere is the corrected version in HTML format as requested:\n\noriginated in the confinement\n\nof a Mr. Summers, a British\n\nSubject, by\n\nMacao\n\nthe Governor of\n\nand I enclose\n\nStatement handed to me\n\nindividual\n\nof\n\nby\n\nthat\n\nthe\n\ne Currende\n\nthat led to his imprisonment.\n\nThe circumstance of which\n\nthe Governor of Macao complains,\n\ntook place.\n\non the 8th Instant,\n\nthe\n\nMacao\n\nand on the following day \"Maander\" sailed from for Manila, from whence doubtless Captain Keppel will forward his Statement\n\nof the\n\naffair to the Naval Commander-in-\n\nChief, who is now on his way\n\nto Trincomalee, through\n\nwhich channel the whole\n\nmerits of the case will reach the proper Authorities\n\nin England,\n\nin due Course.\n\n210\n\nI have the honour to be,\n\nWith the highest respect,\n\nYour Lordship's\n\nmost Obedient Humble Servant,\n\nEdgbaston:", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-029 - Bonham - 1849 [4-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 237045, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-052 - Sir Bowring - 1855 [9-12]", "page_number": 167, "title": "CO129-052 - Sir Bowring - 1855 [9-12]", "content_text": "Date of Dispatch\n\nSubject of Dispatch\n\n141 16 October Forwarding a Return shewing the number of Chinese emigrants who have left this colony in foreign ships from 10th November 1854 to 30th September 1855\n\n147 22 October\n\n148 11th. Correcting an error in paragraphs 21 and 22 of Despatch No. 137 of 10th September.\n\n149\n\n150\n\n151\n\n152 12th\n\n153\n\n154 155\n\n11 Reporting on Mr. G. Overbeck's eligibility as Russian Consul at Hong Kong, stating an application be made for an Exequatur by the Russian Minister in London\n\nInclosing Correspondence Connected with the subject office.\n\nDepartment, regarding a complaint made by the Admiralty agent on board, the \"Meander\"\n\nReporting sale of Crown land on the 19 and 20 October 1855\n\nWith reference to Desp. No. 148 of 5th, reporting passage allowed in the Mail Steamer, at the contract rate to W. Selby, and that the amount thereof has been paid from the Colonial Treasury\n\nMr. Alexander Recommending for the office of Registrar of the Supreme Court on a reduced salary\n\nReporting arrival of the \"Nankin\", with more than 100 Russian Prisoners on board, being part of those captured in the Bremen Brig \"Greta\", in the Sea of Ochotsk\n\nMiscellaneous.\n\nCopy to\n\n17 Jan 1856\n\n46 - Confid.\n\nRECEIVED JAN. 7\n\nHong Kong Government Offices, Victoria, Hong Kong, 6 November 1855.\n\nI have the honor to forward to you Copies of Correspondence which have taken place between the United States and British Authorities, on the subject of Misunderstandings growing out of the interference of the Laws within this Colony.\n\nI deeply regret that the Susceptibilities of any of the officers\n\nThe Right Honorable Sir William Molesworth, Bart., M.P.,", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-052 - Sir Bowring - 1855 [9-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 243752, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-067 - Sir Bowring - 1858 [1-4]", "page_number": 88, "title": "CO129-067 - Sir Bowring - 1858 [1-4]", "content_text": "Remises in the Colony,\n\nI have the honour to be,\n\nSir,\n\nYour Most obedient Servant,\nAfrine, Colonial Secretary.\n\n## Schedule of Letters Transmitted by the Colonial Secretary during the year ending 31 December 184...\n\n| No. | Date of Letter | Subject of Letter |\n|----|---------------|---------------|\n| 1 | | |\n| 2 | | Malander (astro) |\n| 3 | | |\n| 4 | | |\n| 6 | | |\n\n(True Copy)", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-067 - Sir Bowring - 1858 [1-4].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 284579, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-150 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [5-6]", "page_number": 23, "title": "CO129-150 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [5-6]", "content_text": "# CHANGES in the Orders of OFFICES and APPOINTMENTS in the Offices of HONGKONG, for the Quarter ended\n\nIf appointed by Her Majesty's Government in England, date the appointment, and annual Salary.\n\n| Name of the Officer who formerly held the appointment | Name of the Officer who is now appointed and annual Salary | If newly appointed by the Governor, date of authority | If promoted from another Office or Government situation in the Colony, description of former appointment | Date of Governor's Despatch respecting the Change of office or appointment, or the new appointment | Column for Remarks |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Colonial Treasurer's (on leave) J. A. Carvach | A. J. Alves | | | Sept 1870 | $1560, $72160 |\n| Post Office Agent J. J. Eadie | F. S. Warren | | Post Office Agent at Perak | | $480, $7280 |\n| Several Sorter M. A. Mandes | A. F. Alone | | | | $7720, $44080, resigned |\n| | K. W. Bonnett | | Acting | | $180, Acting |\n| | G. J. Hodges | | | | $2 |\n| H. Allen & Co. | A. Mr. Flach | | | No 19785 | $720 |\n| | b. S. letter | | | 14th August Mofi. C. S. O. | $21461 |\n| | B. S. No 18 6 2 | | | AB 1604 | |\n| | No & Alves | | | | Mi draw one half of his cons Terms of Rule 10% of the Colony Regulations |\n| Mr. Bennett was appointed acting second clerk. | | | | | |\n| | A draw on the authorized half of his pay to Osaca | | | | |\n| | t. of Mr. Contie Assistant at the Consulate, appointed in his stead | | | | |\n| On the removal of F. S. Warren Tamen, Alling but at the Consulate, appointed | | | | | bis |\n| Ml health having compelled Mr. Meander to resign | | | | | 2 Plain clerks appointed |", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-150 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [5-6].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 288054, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-157 - Sir MacDonnell Acting Governor Sir Kennedy - 1872 [4-5]", "page_number": 624, "title": "CO129-157 - Sir MacDonnell Acting Governor Sir Kennedy - 1872 [4-5]", "content_text": "No QZ.\n\n29th May, 1872.\n\nFrom A. & Kennedy,\n\nto\n\n7053\n\nCopy to Colonial Secretary to Mr. Meander\n\nVE 3 2 4\n\nFirs\n\nXCMG, CB.\n\nyou\n\nThe Right Honorable\n\nThe Earl of Amberley.\n\n-\n\nMr Alexander -\n\nNotifies the appointment, to a seat in the Legislative Council,\n\nof\n\nThe Honorable W. H. Alexander,\n\nColonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 29th May, 1872.\n\nI am instructed to inform that, with the approval of the Secretary of State, His Excellency The Governor has much pleasure in appointing you to a seat in the Legislative Council. This appointment, I am directed, is to be considered as one personal acknowledgment of your long...\n\nto\n\nin\n\nJo", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-157 - Sir MacDonnell Acting Governor Sir Kennedy - 1872 [4-5].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 292617, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873", "page_number": 47, "title": "CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873", "content_text": "It is desirable that, by whatever means water is hereafter brought into the City, it should be conducted to a point as near as possible to two Service Tanks for distribution. There are high tanks, known as No. 1 and D (although shown on the plan, there are really several smaller ones), through which the supply is passed to the Aby; and these are situated at a height far too low to admit of any great pressure being given. They will, however, still be of use in assisting the distribution to the localities in which they are situated.\n\nI have omitted to state with reference to the 10-inch Conduit pipe that throughout its entire length, it has only one air valve, and that is situated about 150 feet below its upper end at Pokfoolum, or at the point marked B on the plan. The Cast iron pipes have mostly socket joints, but in some instances, owing to the sharp bends of the roads, plain pipes are merely butted together and covered with non-ferrules, which have been a frequent cause of leakage.\n\nI do not think I need refer to the extent of distribution in the Aby otherwise than to say that, as the streets have been laid out and the mains have followed them, frequently without due regard to levels, so that instead of falling evenly towards their respective termini, they meander in various directions, sometimes rising and sometimes falling. It will therefore be necessary to relay them throughout the principal part of the City. When another channel shall have been substituted for the 10-inch pipes in the Pokfoolum road, they will be available, at a small cost for cleaning, for this purpose. Those also now in the main thoroughfares, for which these will be substituted, will serve in like manner for other localities.\n\nHaving thus given an outline of the existing state of the water supply, I proceed to summarize the defects of the system, and then endeavour to show in what way...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-166 - Public Offices & Others - 1873.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 325903, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-216 - Governor Sir Bowen - 1884 [5-6]", "page_number": 492, "title": "CO129-216 - Governor Sir Bowen - 1884 [5-6]", "content_text": "The sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) has already been \n\n`287009` \n\nVol. II. \n\n2. \n\nThe shape of the valley is oval or rather egg-shaped, and \nwhere it is open to the sea it is surrounded \nby an amphitheatre of hills about one thousand feet high. \n\n3. \n\nIn the rainy season heavy rains pour \ninto the valley, the water finding its escape to the sea through the narrow stream which runs parallel to the race-course, and through other smaller waterways which meander through the meadows and which often submerge \nthese during heavy rainstorms. \n\n4. \n\nIt is proposed to raise the \nentire level of the upper portion of \nthe valley marked \"Cricket ground\" and \"Polo \nground\" and the contouring carriage road (see tracing) \nby spreading \n4 feet \nover it a layer of earth \nthick in the centre \ngradually \nsloping down to 2 feet at the sides, \nand tapering off to nothing along \nthe edge of \nthis \nproposed dike or \nstream marked A-A. \n\nIn this reclamation \ntwo separate systems of drainage must be provided: for the underdrainage of the natural soil so as to render it dry for some feet beneath the surface and thus fit \nfor", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-216 - Governor Sir Bowen - 1884 [5-6].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 395236, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904", "page_number": 573, "title": "CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904", "content_text": "570\n\n4\n\n\"Little\" and the \"Great\" East Gates. The western limit of this, the first suggested \"Gare de Yunnan-sen\" is a paved road that runs due south at about a third of a mile from the eastern wall, and joins at right angles a second and wider stone road coming from opposite the approach to the South Gate.\n\n33\n\nThis latter road crosses by the \"Bridge of Victory\" a stream that may be destined to play a not unimportant part in the coming commerce of Yunnan-fu. The stream will be seen to meander through the plain from the local Black Dragon fount - there is a Hei-lung-t'an near every place of consequence in Yunnan - on the north-east till it strikes the city precincts near the Little East Gate.\n\nThence it runs, not far from the wall, in a fairly straight course till it is well past the city, after which it resumes its wandering ways until it is finally merged in the Yunnan Lake. Meanwhile, about a mile south of the city, it has put out a channel running westward, a channel that also eventually leads to the lake. The new gare will be found marked as extending along the east of the parent stream, from the Bridge of Victory to the parting of the channels. I may mention here that I have just been told by my colleague of France that this emplacement of the \"gare\" has been accepted by the local authorities.\n\nIt is proposed to canalize the stream by means of locks, and so to obtain a head of water sufficient to enable small steam-tugs to bring boats up from the lake to alongside the railway station. As coal good enough for use in railway engines has been discovered among the hills west of the lake, whence, too, abundance of building stone is to be had, as, moreover, a ferry service could thus be maintained with K'unyang and other places on the lake, the advantages to be gained by this project of canalization are obvious. Whether the project is practicable, however, I have not yet learnt on good authority.\n\nIt is also proposed by the French to induce the officials to set apart all the ground between the \"gare\" and, at any rate, the western channel to the lake as a sort of European, or at least Europeanized, Settlement. The northern strip along the great paved road from the South Gate to the Bridge of Victory, a strip already largely taken up with Chinese houses, would be left to Chinese dirt and disorder, but the bulk of the ground would be laid out in foreign fashion, with straight broad roads that should be kept clear of offal, dogs, pigs, and intermittent paving stones.\n\nFrance, however, by M. Constans, her former Minister at Peking, renounced the right to demand a concession or settlement at any Treaty port where she did not then (1887) possess one; and Yunnan-fu is not yet even a Treaty port. Moreover, as was shown the other day, when negotiations for the \"gare\" were in progress, the Local Government demur to the acquisition of land here by foreign traders. It is certain, nevertheless, that on the completion of the railway Yunnan-fu will become, in reality if not in name, an open mart; and, meanwhile, the necessity of a \"magasin\" for the railway employés will be maintained, and will lead to the introduction of a foreign - that is, of course, a French - store, just as somewhat similar conditions led to the establishment at Peking in the seventies of Kiérulff's and Vrard's hotels. The Chinese will become gradually aware that the arrival of the first locomotive must greatly increase the value of land all about the \"gare,\" and they will buy up the neighbouring sites. What is worse, they will build on them; and, instead of an orderly Settlement, we shall have a filthy human warren alongside the first-class station.\n\nAs far as I am aware, Great Britain has nowhere tied her hands in regard to demands for settlement areas. At Têngyüeh the T'aotai accepted my suggestion that the neighbourhood of the ground purchased for a British Consulate should be laid out as a Europeanized Settlement, with a Municipal Committee of Chinese and foreigners. Mr. Litton now sends me a notification by the Sub-Prefect forbidding Chinese to encroach on the roads - 3 chang or 35 English feet wide - that have been marked out in this area, or to bury their dead within the Settlement. Concerted action by the British and French should be able to secure similar treatment for the square mile adjoining the proposed \"gare.\"\n\nAs a place of residence, this area is not at present at all inviting; but neither was in 1843 the mud flat \"full of all abominations\" (as a Chinese author has it) that has since become the British Settlement at Shanghai.\n\nMeanwhile, the combined establishment of M. de Pauliny, the Chief of Section, and of M. Sorrel, the contractor, is lodged in an extensive annexe to a native temple, a few hundred yards north-east of the future railway station. Even to foreigners, the annexe - which was built by the Chinese authorities for this purpose - is known as the \"t'ieh-lu Kung-so\" or railway offices. On the other side of the paved road that forms its western limit - this is the paved road already described as running parallel to the east wall of the city - is a large open space, some 30 mou (about 5 acres) in extent.\n\n5\n\nThis, M. François, the late Consul-General, told me had been offered to him as a Consular site, at the price of 3,000 taels. The surroundings are, however, unpleasant (as they are everywhere in the immediate neighbourhood of Yunnan-fu, except to the north) and, in any case, no definite decision has yet been reached by the French Government for the erection of a Consulate.\n\nThe railway establishments at Mengtse remain much as they were described by Mr. Litton in his admirable Report of the 1st October last, but along the road leading to them from the East Gate of the town, a number of buildings are going up, half Chinese, half European, for the accommodation of what might be called the camp followers of the undertaking - Annamese hotelkeepers, Japanese \"filles de joie,\" and the rest.\n\nThis apparent prosperity of Mengtse must, I fear, be only transitory, since the railway will not now avail itself of the spacious green between the French post-office and the French hospital that was originally set aside for its \"gare.\" The new \"gare\" for Mengtse, a third-class \"gare,\" will be situated 6 kilometres (4 miles) to the east, and some 500 feet up the mountain side. There is talk of constructing a short branch line thence to the town, and it seems certain that the existing road, even now of fair dimensions, will be enlarged and improved. Moreover, the conservatism of trade is always to be reckoned with. Nevertheless, it seems highly probable that when the railway is in working order, the caravans with tin slabs from Kuochin, to the west, will proceed straight to the \"gare\" and so pass Mengtse by. It is even more certain that the trade with K'aihua and Kuangnan, to the east, will not come down to the Mengtse Plain merely to return over those four miles to the station in the hills.\n\nAt Mengtse, I was received by the French colony with the greatest courtesy and an abounding hospitality. M. Guibert caused copies to be struck off for me of the plans which I have just described, and sent a circular along the line up to I-liang, requesting for me a \"bon accueil.\" M. Richard sketched out my route, indicating the places where I could spend the night, or, as the case might be, make my mid-day halt. M. Sainson, the Consul, accompanied me twice to the workings on the hill, arranging on the second occasion for a picnic at the spring (another Hei-lung-t'an) below the site of the future \"gare.\"\n\nThat site, as Mr. Litton suggests, is very limited in area, nor from the nature of the ground can it well be otherwise. And yet, if the Customs are to continue to be established at Mengtse, it will obviously be necessary to maintain at least an examiner and his staff alongside the railway station, together with the usual apparatus of sheds and godowns. In the event, it would seem exceedingly likely that the Mengtse establishment will be broken up, and its constituents distributed between the two termini of the line, Yünnan-fu and Ho-K'ou.\n\nI followed the \"tracé\" southwards only as far as the Mi-la-ti \"col,\" the watershed between the Mengtse Plain (which belongs to the West River system) and the Nam-hti (an affluent of the Red River). Work on the tunnel here was proceeding at a reasonably rapid rate: several courses of stone facing are in position. Indeed, the two lots (Nos. 10 and 11 in the fourth section) for which M. Péraglié is contractor are considerably further advanced than any others along the line. One reason for this is doubtless because they are the nearest to head-quarters, and are under the immediate supervision of the Directeur des Travaux. Another reason is that they are the first lots on the Yunnan Plateau, and therefore secure many of the Chinese labourers who have found the Nam-hti Valley impossible.\n\nThe progress of the railway, indeed, is now almost entirely a question of labour. All along the road, I heard the same complaint - lack of the \"main d'œuvre.\" The Regulations require that recourse should be had in the first instance to the populace of Yunnan, and that only when this source fails should Chinese from other provinces be engaged. But the Yünnanese is a man of few wants, and with a strong dislike to prolonged exertion. As soon as he has earned a dollar or two as wages, he throws up his work for the month, for he has gained enough to keep him in rice and opium. Furthermore, there is no excess of population in Yunnan, as there is, for example, in congested Kuangtung. When the season comes for breaking up the opium fields and planting out the summer crop of paddy, the Yunnan coolies desert, almost to a man. The same will happen again at rice harvest and poppy sowing. In short, as M. Prud'homme told me, it is impossible to reckon on a steady supply of Yunnan labour during more than five months in the year.\n\n[2172 -1]\n\n24", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]