Directory_and_Chronicle_1926 — Page 989

MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU

933

d mountains so well adapted for the growing of timber, might easily become a pros- rous and wealthy country and that it would supply the rest of China with timber d metal in sufficient quantities to make the Republic independent as regards these mmodities.

Unless severe laws against the destruction of the forests are omptly enforced, in a very few years, the last of her forests having disappeared hd taken away with them the remaining chances of an impoverished land to recover self, South Yunnan will resemble the arid desert of North China, swept by droughts; bods, and famine and an eyesore and a drain on the resources of the rest of the country. he climate of Mêngtsz is temperate and salubrious. Plague has been absent from êngtsz since 1899. During the winter good sport is obtained, snipe and ild fowl being abundant in the plains and some pheasant and partridge in he hilly districts. A new French Consulate was finished in 1893, new dwelling- buses for members of the Customs service in 1894, and a new Custom-house in the pring of 1895. All these buildings are outside the East gate of the city. On the 22nd une, 1899, a riot occurred, in the course of which the Custom-house and Frenchi onsulate 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 impossible to do business with the Yunnanese. The last rail on the Laokay- unnanfu section of the Annam-Yunnan Railway was laid on the 1st of February, 910, and two months later the whole line-470 kilometres-was opened to passenger ind goods traffic. A branch office of the Mengtsz Customs was opened at Yunnanfu in 20th April, 1910. Mêngtsz is now only 8 hours by rail from the Tonkin border and 2 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 Craffic from Mengtsz and Pishihchai to Kochiu started in 1921. The railway is ininiature nd travelling space cramped, but the time saved as compared with travelling in he time-honoured chair is of great importance. The British Consul has pointed out hat 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 Favages-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

J. R. Baylin, directeur

J. Labes

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)

Meng-tsz-kwan

CUSTOMS, CHINESE MARITIME

Acting Commissioner-L. H. Lawford Assistants-L. A. Chretienne and

Chang Shih Hsiung

Tidewaiter-C. L. Q. Dreyer

Pishihchai

Assistant-R. F. Strange

Examiner-F. R. Mackendrick

FRENCH CONSULATE

au

Yun nan

Agent Principal J. Jonery

Assistant M. Daudin

Chef 2è Arrondissement Trafic et

Mouveinent-Th. M, Romieux Service Médical (Amichow)

Docteur-H. Dumont

Consul-

Médecin-

Directeur l'Ecole Franco-Chinoise-V.

Daniell

NIFLIS, D., Ingenieur, Representant Ex- clusif de Descours, Cabaud et Cie., Import and Export