Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 978

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TENGYUEH (MOMEIN)-SZEMAO

the place is poor. The average yearly rainfall is about 65 inches, most of which falls from June to September, when the incessant dampness is somewhat trying. The net value of the trade during 1925, as taken cognizance of by the Maritime Customs, was Hk. Tls. 5,456,457, as compared with Hk. Tls. 4,519,083 in 1924, Hk. Tls. 3,901,308 in 1923, Hk. Tls. 4,491,549 in 1922, and Hk. Tls. 4,946,784 in 1921. The principal local industry is the manufacture of jadestone ornaments.

CHINESE CUSTOMS

Acting Commissioner-L. Peel Assistant-E. D. G. Hooper

Examiner-M. H. Fulker

DIRECTORY

2nd Class Tide waiter-H. B. Collier

Medical Officer-Sein Hline

CONSULATE GREAT BRITAIN-Teli Ad:

Britain

Consul-H. I. Harding

POST OFFICE

Postmaster-Tye Pao-hua

SZEMA O

茅思 Sz-máu

Szemao, opened to the Tonkin frontier trade by the Gérard Convention of 1895 and to British trade by the Burmah Convention of 1896, is situated in the south- western part of the Province of Yunnan in latitude 22 deg. 47 min. 29 sec. N. and longi- tude 100 deg. 46 min. E. It is a sub-prefectural walled town built on gently rising ground overlooking a well-cultivated plain. The elevation is 4,700 feet above the sea- level, and the population is estimated to be about 10,000. The climate is delightful, the temperature rarely exceeding 80 degrees (Fahr.) during the summer and seldom falling below 50 degrees in the winter months. The plague, such a common visitor throughout Yunnan, is almost unknown in Szemao. The place is distant from both Yunnan-fu (the capital of the province) and Mengtsz 18 days, from the French Laos frontier 6 days, and from British territory about 12 days. It was opened in the early part of 1897, and so far has not fulfilled the expectation of its potential importance as a trading centre. The value of the trans-frontier trade of Szemao in 1925 was Hk. Tls. 260,255, as compared with Hk. Tls. 194,198 in 1924, Hk. Tls. 226,922 in 1923, and Hk. Tls. 265,644 in 1922. The smallness of the trade statistics has been attributed partly to the fact that, owing to the various routes in the neighbourhood of the port, effective supervision is difficult of attainment, and partly to the decline of the cotton trade- the staple import article at this port-experienced during the past decade. It must be remembered, also, that the above figures only represent the value of that portion of the Szemao trade coming under the cognizance of the Szemao Customs, that is to say, goods which are imported or exported across the frontiers of Burmah and Tonkin and which alone are classed as "foreign trade" of this port.

In the country to the south of Szemao, known as the Chinese Shan States, large quantities of tea are produced, and only a small portion is exported abroad direct from Szemao across the Tonkin frontier. The rest, estimated at about 30,000 piculs per annum, is sent to different parts of China, and this "inland trade" is not con- trolled by the Szemao Customs. No foreign traders reside at Szemao, the trade being entirely in the hands of local merchants, who have no agencies in either Tonkin or Burmah. A telegraph line from Túng Hai, via Yuan Chiang and Pu Erh-fu, connects Szemao with the existing Chinese overland telegraphs. Considerable ethnological in- terest centres in the neighbourhood of Szemao. Writing on this subject in the course of his Trade Report for 1905 the Commissioner of Customs remarked: "It is of much