Directory_and_Chronicle_1921 — Page 1035

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU

953

—470 kilometres-was opened to passenger and goods traffic. A branch office of the Mengtsz Customs was opened at Yunnanfu on 20th April, 1910. Mêngtsz is now only 8 hours by rail from the Tonkin border and 22 hours from the coast. The British Consul has pointed out that not least of the benefits which the line should confer would be the provision of sanatoria for Indo-China, even, maybe, for Singapore, Bangkok and Hong- kong. If for twenty years, he says, the Chinese peasant could be checked in his ravages -there has been ruthless destruction of timber-the lake region of Yunnan would be- come a terrestrial paradise. Several houses for the accommodation of the Railway Mission have been built at Mêngtsz since 1900, and, as a sequel to the immigration, rents, wages, and the cost of living for natives and foreigners alike have risen greatly. During the last few years the Chinese Post Office has pushed its way into the interior, and the south-east of Yunnan is now covered with a network of lines and nearly every town has its establishment. Both Mengtsz and Yunnanfu possess electric light installations, and in 1919 wireless telegraphy was instituted in Yunnanfu by Com- mandant Peri, of the French Army, messages being received from Lyons and Manila.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1921 — Page 1035

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