MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU
A461
distribution in urban districts, which raised the price from $16 per quintal in January to $60 per quintal in December.
Throughout the year the exchange rate between new Futien Bank notes and legal tender notes remained at the official rate of 2 to 1, but in actual transactions the former currency was often accepted at a discount, there being a noticeable increase in the circulation of legal tender notes in the market. During the first half of the year the quotation on Hongkong fluctuated between 204 and 292; the climax was reached in August, when 538 was quoted; and the rate remained round 412 in December.. The same trend of fluctuations was discernible in the rate between standard dollars and Indo-China piastres, another foreign currency most commonly used in the Yunnanfu market. It rose from 230 in January to 620 in August, returning to 367 towards the end of the year. Charges on remittances to the occupied areas of legal tender notes tended to stand between 20 per cent and 30 per cent, such high remittance charges having resulted in the smuggling of bank notes out of the country and/or into the occupied areas.
The Yunnan-Annam Railway had an unusually prosperous year; but although the carrying capacity of the railway was increased from 300 to 500 tons a day, the general opinion was that its available rolling-stock was far from sufficient to clear the heavy accumulation of cargo at Haiphong, especially after the disruption of com- munications via Kwangsi. Pending the completion of the Kunming-Hsufu Railway, another new highway connecting Yunnan with Szechwan wasopened to traffic. Start- ing from Kunming and terminating at Luchow on the bank of the Upper Yangtze, the road traverses through the three provinces of Yunnan, Kweichow, and Szechwan with a total length of 914 kilometres. In conjunction with the Eurasia Aviation Corpora- tion, the China National Aviation Corporation maintained a regular air traffic between Chungking and Kunming. The latter company has succeeded, in co-operation with Air France, in opening the Chungking-Kunming-Kanoi air line. Since the 30th November 1939 the China National Aviation Corporation planes have been flying from Kunming to Rangoon via Lashio, connecting with the Imperial Airways, thereby bringing Chungking within five days of London by mail.
DIRECTORY
MENGTSZ
BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE-
J. Munié, directeur
COMPAGNIE FRANCAISE DES CHEMINS DE
FER DE L'INDO-CHINE ET DU YUN-NAN—
關自蒙 Meng Tsz Kwan
CUSTOMS, CHINESE MARITIME-Cable Ad:
Custos, Yunnanfu
Commissioner-J. M. A. Fay (At
Yunnanfu)
Yunnanfu Office of the Mengtsz
Customs
Assistants-Harry Mo, Yang Hung- kuang, Chen Kuan-soon and Chang Kwei Hsiang
Appraiser-A. F. Nielsen
Examiners -- A. Emiliano, L. V. Coates, Loh Kim Fung, Ko Kui- hok, Shek Wing Hoi, Ernest August Tso, Li Shiu Yeung, Ho Lun Sin, Chang Chen Lung, Chen Yu Sin and Hwang Bing Shing Pishihchai Sub-Office
Assistant-in-Charge Lui Shiu Sai Examiner--Ho Tak Fai
Hokow Sub-Office
Assistant-in-Charge
Shen
Examiner-Chang Wei
Mengtsz Office
Dunn Shieh
Resident Property Caretaker-J. V.
Murphy
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