Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 1081

TENGYUEH (MOMEIN)—SZEMAO

CHINESE MARITIME CUSTOMS

DIRECTORY

Acting Commr.-E. A. MacDonald Assistant-H. N. S. Wilkinson Examiner A. J. Smith

1st Class Tidewaiter-C. W. Furey Medical Officer-Sein Hline

CONSULATE, GREAT BRITAIN-Tel. Ad:

Britain

Consul-S. Wyatt Smith

MISSIONS

AMERICAN LADIES' MISSION

SWEDISH MISSION

POST OFFICE

Postmaster-Chu Chia-jui

SZEMAO

茅思 Sz-máu

10011

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 moderate, the temperature rarely exceeding 80 degrees (Fahr.) during the summer and seldom falling below 40 degrees in the winter months. 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. While banditry and civil war were rampant during 1929 in other parts of Yunnan, Szemao enjoyed a year of peace, and trade conditions were normal.. Prices of tea and cotton, the two most important articles of Szemao's trade, rose to an unprecedented figure, the limited supply being insufficient to meet the abnormal demand. The closing of the Futien Bank, the only bank in this port, caused uneasiness. to the commercial community and undoubtedly affected trade adversely. Nearly all articles of import showed a decrease, especially deer horns, due to the enforcement of the new Import Tariff duty of 27 per cent. The health of the district was com- paratively better than in 1928, but the prevalence of malarial fever is still responsible for the steady decline of this port, the population of which has been reduced, since the days of its greatest prosperity, in 1880, from a figure estimated at 80,000 persons to some 40,000 ten years ago and to 10,000 at the present time. The value of the trans-frontier trade of Szemao in 1929 was Hk. Tls. 129,158, as compared with Hk. Tls. 172,136 in 1928, Hk. Tls. 403,233 in 1927, Hk. Tls. 350,184 in 1926, Hk. Tls. 260,255 in 1925, and Hk. Tls. 194,198 in 1924. The small- ness 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.

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