Directory_and_Chronicle_1898 — Page 686

LUNGCHOW_MÊNGTSZ

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wall completed in 1887. The population is estimated to number about 22,000. Lung- chow, from a military point of view, is considered, by the Chinese, to be a place of importance and considerable bodies of troops are stationed, and the head-quarters of the Provincial Commander-in-Chief are established. between it and the Tonkin frontier. It was opened to the Franco-Annamese trade on the 1st June, 1889, but so far the little trade existing has been of a very petty description, and will continue so, until the Langson railway, which was opened in Dec., 1894, is extended to Lunechow. This extension has been authorised by the Chinese Government; the survey of the Chinese portion, from Lungchow to the frontier, was completed in the winter 1896-97, and the construction is being carried on. At the same time the Tonkin line, widened to one metre, is extended south to Hanoi, and north from Langson to the frontier, connecting with the Chinese line. Present contracts carry the line from the frontier to Lungchow only; but extension from Lungchow to Nanning has been agreed upon in principle, in May 1897, between the Chinese Government and the French Minister. Telegraph communicication exists with Canton and other places down the West River, with Mêngtzŭ in Yunnan, við Po-sê, and with places in Tonkin. An establishment of the Imperal Maritime Customs is maintained here. The net value of the trade for 1896 was Tls. 111,328, for 1895 Tls. 90,950, and for 1894 Tls. 153,133.

DIRECTORY

CHEMIN DE FER du Kouang-st: Ligne de

Long-chéou ả Nam-quan

Grille, ingénieur, représentant de la Com-

pagnie de Fives-Lille

Dumas, ingénieur, chef de service

Bénit, chef de comptabilité

Jacques Grille, Leclerc, Poirson, chefs de

bricade

Bénard, de Lapeyrière, Laurent, sous-

chefs de brigade

Quang, secrétaire pour le Chinois

A. Doc, secrétaire

CONSULAT DE FRANCE

騙專領國法大

Consul-A. Francois (absent)

Gérant du Consulat-Guiltien

Chancelier J. J. Beauvais (absent) Writer-Ma Wan-hsiang

Do. –Nguyen Chau-Huyen

Médecin-Dr. Thoulon, détaché

關州菜 Lung-chow Kuan

Customs--IMPERIAL MARITIME

Commissioner-H, B. Morse

Assistant-F. Ackermann

Tidewaiter-W. S. Jackson

MISSION DU Kouang-si

Mør. Chouzy, Evêque, Kwei-hsien

R. P. Renault, propréfect, Nanning

Bazin, Lavest. Chanticlair. Poulat, Frayssinet, Humbert, missionnaires

MÊNGTSZ

This is a district city in south-east Yunnan, and together with Man-hao, a village on the left bank of the Rod River, was onened to trade by the Additional Convention to the French Treaty of Tientsin of the 25th April, 1886. signed at Peking on the 26th June, 1887. The town is two days' journey from Man-hao and about six days' from the frontier of Tonkin at Laokai, and is beautifully situated, being built on a cultivated plateau twenty miles long by about twelve miles in breadth, encircled by nicturesque mountains, and 4,580 feet above the level of the sea. It has a population of about 12.000 persons, but before the Mahommedan rebellion was a place of much more im- portance, as the numerous well-built temples, many of them now in ruins, still testify. It is, however, a considerable commercial emporium even now, and is becoming an important centre for the distribution of foreign goods imported við Tonkin. The French Consul hoisted his flag at Mêngtsz on the 30th April, 1889, and the Customs station was opened in the following August. The value of the trade for 1896 was Tls. 2,476,675, for 1895 Tls. 2,842,319, and for 1894 Tls. 2,185,200. The Chinese merchants avail themselves largely of the advantages offered by the transit pass system, and the value of goods sent into the interior under transit passes during the year 1896 amounted to Tls. 1,601.315, or a little more than 98 per cent. of the quantity imported. The climate of Mêngtsz is temperate and salubrious, though every year, principally in the

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