Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 1114

INDO-CHINA

The French possession of Indo-China lies between 8 deg. 30 min. and 23 deg. 23 min. N. lat. and 97 deg. 40 min. and 107 deg. E. long. (Paris), and comprises the colony of Cochin-China, the protectorates of Cambodia, Annam, Tonkin, and Laos, and the territory of Kwang Chéoù Wan leased from China, the whole (covering an area of 310,000 square miles) being under the direction of a Governor-General, who is assisted by the "Conseil Supérieur de L'Indo-Chine." The latter is a movable body, meeting in any of the chief towns according to the summons of the Governor-General; but Hanoi, the capital of Tonkin, has become the principal seat of the administration. According to a decree of the 8th August, 1898, the Council consists of the Governor-General President, the General Commanding the Troops, the Commander-in-Chief of the China Squadron, the Governor of Cochin-China, the Residents Superior of Tonkin, Annam, and Cambodia, a representative of the Laos Administration, five other officials, the President of the Colonial Council of Coclin-China, the Chairmen of the Saigon, Hanoi, and Haiphong Chambers of Commerce, of the Cochin-China and Tonkin Chambers of Agriculture, the Chairmen of the Annam and Cambodian Mixed Chambers of Commerce and Agriculture, and two native members appointed by the Governor-General. The full Council meets once a year, and provision is made for a permanent Commission to transact such business as may arise between the sessions.

The deltas of Cochin-China and Tonkin are fertile; Annam, connecting them, is a long mountainous tract, with a narrow littoral on one side, and a wild sparsely populated hill tract stretching to the Mekong on the other. Rice, maize, cotton, sugar, seeds, tobacco, and spice are the principal productions of the alluvial districts. The principal mineral production is coal, which is mined at Tourane, on the coast of Annam, and at Hongay and Kebao on the Tonkin coast, and the output averages about 800,000 tons annually. Other minerals, including gold, silver, tin, copper, lead and antimony, exist in the Protectorate and are more or less mined. Zinc mines are worked on a large scale, and the annual output amounts to nearly 35,000 tons. principal harbours are Haiphong in Tonkin, Tourane and Thuanan (for Hué) in Annam, and Saigon. The climate in general is hot and humid. The year is divided into two seasons, the wet and the dry.

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There are about 820 miles of railway completed and open to traffic in Indo-China. These are: Haiphong to Hanoi, 65 miles; Hanoi to Yunnanfu, 296 miles; Hanoi to Langson and the frontier of Kwangsi, 101 miles; Hanoi to Vinh, 2024 miles; Tourane to Kwangtri, 108 miles; Saigon to Mytho, 44 miles. The lines yet to be completed are the extension of the line Saigon-Phantiet along the coast of Annam through Phanrang, Bangoi (on Kamranh Bay) to Nhatrang, a length of 147 miles. From Phanrang a branch is to be constructed to the plateau of Lang-bian, which is already the hill-station and sanatorium for Cambodia and Cochin-China. This will have a length of 64 miles. The South Annam coast line will be extended to join the Tourane- Hué line, and the latter connected up with the Hanoi-Vinh line, thus giving railway communication between Saigon and Hanoi and Haiphong, which was the original intention. The proposed lines from the coast of Annam to the Mekong River will join Vinh-Benthuy with Kong.

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The population is estimated at 16,000,000, most of whom are Annamites, the Cambodians and Laotians coming next in about equal numbers. The Chinese number 150,000, and Europeans amount to a little over 25,000. The Tonkinese are larger and more robust than the Cochin-Chinese, and more intelligent and active. The Chinese have immigrated in large numbers to the south of Cochin-China, where they have obtained almost the exclusive possession of industries and commerce. The Cam- bodians are naturally apathetic, and have given way to the Chinese and Annamites. The Laotians and Mois, oppressed by their neighbours and by their mandarin system, are lazy, timid and suspicious. The Muongs, who occupy all the basins of the River Noire and Song-ma, are more handsome and robust than the Annamites. The Nuns resemble the Chinese and the Thos belong to the Kmer race.

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