Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 1064

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LUNGCHOW-MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU

is now possible to reach Lungchow from Langson in less than three hours by car. A French motor car company maintains a regular service on this road. Telegraphic com- munication exists with Canton and other places on the West River, with Mengtsz in Yunnan, via Po-sê, and with places in Tonkin. The Chinese Post Office sends daily couriers to Langson in Tonkin and couriers every second day to Nanning overland, with connections to Canton and Pakhoi. An establishment of the Chinese Maritime Customs is maintained at the port, where foreign interests are in the charge of Consuls resident on the West River and in Hongkong. France alone maintains a Consul in Lungchow, and he is also Consul for Nanning. The net value of the trade coming under the cognisance of the Maritime Customs for 1923 was Hk. Tls. 273,105, as against Hk. Tls. 146,812 in 1922. The trip up from Nanning usually takes from two to three days and that down to Nanning about 30 hours, according to the water in the river, the level of which is liable to very sudden fluctuations during the prevalence of rainy weather. Motor boats carry most of the incoming cargo from and via the West River ports, whilst imports from over the frontier come by junk or raft or by carrier. The river scenery between Nanning and Lungchow with its succession of gorges is well worth seeing, but at present accommodation for Europeans on board the distinctly Chinese-style motor-boats is non-existent. The climate of the port is damp and very hot for some eight months or more in the year, the hottest period being usually from April to July.

關州龍

DIRECTORY

Lung-chow-kuan

CUSTOMS, CHINESE MARITIME

Acting Commissioner-M. Cupelli

Tidewaiter-C. S. J. Conroy

Clerk-Fung Chun Chiu

FRENCH CONSULATE

Consul-V. Cadet

局郵等二州龍

POST OFFICE

Acting Postal Commissioner- J. C.

Parkin (Nanning, Kwangsi District)

Second Class Postmaster-Ch'ên Hêng-

k'ang

ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION

Rev. Fathers A. Barrière, Crocq (Tai- pingfu), Caysac (Namong, Tsai Miou)

MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU

Âu – Mông-isz

This is a district city in south east Yunnan, and together with Man-hao, a village on the left bank of the Red River, was opened 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 Laokay, and beautifully situated, being built on a cultivated plateau 20 miles long by about 12 miles in breadth, encircled by picturesque mountains, and is 4,280 feet above the level of the sea. It has a population of about 11,000 persons, but was a place of much more importance before the Mahommedan rebellion, 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 via 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 net value of the trade of the port for 1923 was Hk. Tls. 23,313,759, as compared with Hk. Tls. 22,222,855 for 1922, Hk. Tls. 18,321,246 for 1921, and Hk. Tls. 22,226,143 for 1920. The Chinese merchants avail them-