Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 1076

996

MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU

the Yunnan dollar should have encouraged buyers from abroad to purchase agricul- tural products locally, as prices did not rise as rapidly as the currency fell.

"The outlook for 1930 is far from bright" writes Mr. H. D. Hilliard in the course of his trade report for the year 1929, and he adds "if new taxes are imposed not only will y price of daily requisites soar to a prohibitive point, but the import trade will suffer à serious setbacks."

The net value of the trade of the port in 1929 was Hk. Tls. 25,146,031, as compared with Hk. Tls. 27,789,669 in 1928, Hk. Tls. 26,036,779 in 1927, Hk. Tls. 29,760,848 in 1926, Hk. Tls. 30,878,903 in 1925, and Hk. Tls. 25,384,788 in 1924. The Chinese merchants avail themselves largely of the advantages offered by the transit pass system. The value of the trade of the Yunnanfu, Pishihchai, Hokow, Mapai and Manhao branch offices is included in the Mengtsz Custom returns.

The climate of Mêngtsz is temperate and salubrious. Plague has been absent from Mêngtsz 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 French 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 Comman- dant Peri, of the French Army, messages being received from Lyons and Manila. There is now a similar installation at Mengtsz. Great activity was shown at Yunnanfu during 1929 by the Reconstruction Bureau in widening streets and in prohibiting hawkers from peddling their wares along the side-paths, with a view to the operation of a motor-bus service. Special reference should be made to the partly macadamised road from Yunnanfu to Yanglin in process of construction by the International Famine Relief Society, which has been completed as far as Tapankiao. A terrible disaster befell Yunnanfu on the 11th July, 1929, when some 2,000 cases of gunpowder exploded close to the North Gate within the city walls, occasioning the death of over 400 persons, while the number of injured amounted to nearly 3,000.