C
MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU
989
The
selves largely of the advantages offered by the transit pass system. value of the trade of the Yunnanfu, Pishihchai, Hokow, Mapai and Manhao branch offices is included in the Mengtsz Custom returns. The province depends for its purchasing power on tin. In his report for 1920, the Commissioner of Customs said:- With a Government which will grant a respite from the war with neighbouring provinces, which will re-establish order and guarantee some security for life and property throughout the country, and will enforce strict legislation against the destruction of the forests, there is little doubt that Yunnan, with its mineral treasures and mountains so well adapted for the growing of timber, might easily become a pros- perous and wealthy country and that it would supply the rest of China with timber and metal in sufficient quantities to make the Republic independent as regards these commodities.
Ünless severe laws against the destruction of the forests are promptly enforced, in a very few years, the last of her forests having disappeared and taken away with them the remaining chances of an impoverished land to recover itself, South Yunnan will resemble the arid desert of North China, swept by droughts floods, and famine and an eyesore and a drain on the resources of the rest of the country. The climate of Mêngtsz is temperate and salubrious. Plague has been absent from Môngtsz since 1899. During the winter good sport is obtained, snipe and wild fowl being abundant in the plains and some pheasant and partridge in the hilly districts. A new French Consulate was finished in 1893, new dwelling- houses for members of the Customs service in 1894, and a new Custom-house in the spring of 1895. All these buildings are outside the East gate of the city. On the 22nd June, 1899, a riot occurred, in the course of which the Custom-house and Frencli Consulate were looted. In 1922, Messrs. Andersen, Meyer & Co., Brunner, Mond & Co., and Shewan, Tomes & Co. all closed their offices in Yunnan, chiefly because they found it impossible to do business with the Yunnanese. The last rail on the Laokay- Yunnanfu section of the Annam-Yunnan Railway was laid on the 1st of February, 1910, and two months later the whole line-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 Ko-Pi Railway, constructed practically single-handed by Mr. D. Niflis, a capable and energetic French engineer, was completed and through traffic from Mengtsz and Pishihchai to Kochiu started in 1921. The railway is miniature and travelling space cramped, but the time saved as compared with travelling in the time-honoured chair is of great importance, The British Consul has pointed out that not least of the benefits which the Annam-Yunnan line should confer would be the provision of sanatoria for Indo-China, even, may be, for Singapore, Bangkok and Hongkong. If for 20 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 become a terrestrial paradise. Since 1900, 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. Mengtsz, Yunnanfu and Amichow possess electric light installations, and in 1920 wireless telegraphy was instituted in Yunnanfu by Commandant Peri, of the French Army, messages being received from Lyons and Manila. There is to be a similar installation at Mengtsz.
MENGTSZ
BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE
S. Korwin, directeur
J. Lefèvre
DIRECTORY
COMPAGNIE FRANÇAISE DES CHEMINS DE FER DE L'INDO-CHINE ET DU YUN-NAN
Direction Générale (Paris)
Directeur-Général-M. Getten
Direction Exploitation (Hanoi)
Directeur Expl. G. Chemin-
Dupontès
Agence Principale
(Mengtsz)
au Yun nan
Agent Principal-J. Jonery
Chef 2è Arrondissement Trafic et
Mouvement-Th. M. Romieux
Service Médical (Amichow)
Docteur-H. Dumont
Page 1065Page 1066
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