Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 1074

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

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LUNGCHOW

motor traffic, the distance of 54 kilometres taking on an average of about three hours. There is now only one Company--Chinese-owned with Head Office at Langson- engaged in this cross-frontier trade, but it is expected that the opening of the Lung- chow-Nanning motor road which is to take place in the very near future will cause the number of operating companies to increase. The intervening country is very beautiful and runs through very mountainous areas, in which are a number of rock caves, formerly the habitat of natives indigenous to the neighbourhood. Telegraphic communication exists with Canton and other places on the West River, with Mêngtsz in Yunnan via Posé, and with places in Tonkin. The Chinese Post Office sends mails almost every day to Langson in Tonkin by motor under contract, and to Nanning overland every second day 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. There was a Catholic Church on the South side of the Tso-chiang, and the Emanuel Mission had a small orphanage in the surburbs outside the East Gate. Mr. Y. H. J. Clearec of the Customs House, Langson, writes on September, 1930: "After the Communist uprising in February 1930, all foreigners had to leave the port. Monsieur Cadet, the French Consul, together with the members of the Bible Church Men's Missionary Society: 2 ladies and 2 gentlemen were expelled under military escort, and made to walk to the Tonkin frontier, while I myself and 2 French mission- aries, managed to get away in time, but only to be taken by pirates the following day, and released a week later after the payment of $8,000. No foreigners have gone back to live in Lungchow since then, the Bible Church Missionary's orphanage (a rented house) was given up, after I obtained from the local authorities permission for the children to be evacuated. They now have settled down in Kowloon, and are not likely to ever go back to Lungchow. The Catholic Mission has been burnt down, and Father Barriere is still staying in Hanoi, where is also the new French Consul, Mr. Aurillac. The Customs staff has not gone back, either, we do our work on the frontier, and I have had my office in Langson since the 1st of May, when we re-opened. The Consulate and Customs buildings have been completely looted and badly damaged. The net value of the trade coming under the cognisance of the Mari- time Customs shows a very considerable reduction for 1929 being only Hk. Tis. 116,234, as compared with Hk. Tls. 239,774 for 1928, Hk. Tls. 262,330 for 1927, Hk. Tls. 1,198,407 for 1926, and Hk. Tls. 555,804 for 1925. The trip up from Nanning usually takes from three to four 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 rainy season of July and August. It has been known to rise as high as 75 feet, when the iron suspension bridge across the river is only two feet above the flood. Motor boats carry most of the cargo from and to West River ports, whilst frontier trade is carried by small junks and rafts, and by carts on the overland routes which usually travel in convoys of some number as in Tonkin. The River scenery between Lungchow and Nanning with its succession of gorges and rapids is well worth seeing but accom- modation for Europeans on the motor boats is not of a luxurious type though each vessel has one special cabin for official travellers. The climate of the port is damp and very hot for some eight months of the year, but the winter is cold enough to be very pleasant amid such picturesque surroundings.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 1074

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