!
April 7, 1906:]
FRENCH RAILWAYS IN CHINA.
The NC. Daily News correspondent at Mêngtze, Yunnan, writing on Feb. 17tb, says:— The work on the French railway is getting on, notwithstanding grost difficulties. The Tonking part should have been finished in April, 1905, Fut several miles of difficult work will yet have to be done before the first tain is able to run into Laokai. When I was passing trough Tonking in September last a regular service was only kept up to Yenbai. The dis tance from this place to Laokao is about 90 miles, of which about two-thirds was then finished It was the opinion of many people on the spot that it was a mistake to let the railway
follow the river as it does. A shorter and better route was said to exist, which had the advantage of opening up country with which there is no proper communication at present. Next to the Posts and Telegraphs, no Department in Touking is, however, so aniversally hated as the Travaux Publics, which is said to treat all local advice with contempt, so that much of the talk going on need not be taken too seriously. It is, however, notorious that the embankments
near Yenbai were flooded last summer and will
have to be raised, and that the track in some places was altogether washed away by the river. People say that every chi d on the spot knows how high the river rises during flood.
By far the most difficult part of the railway is from Laokai to Mêugtze, where the route chosen is the ralley of the Namti, a tributary of the Red River All the appoaches to Yünnan are unhealthy, but the Namti is perhaps the most unwholesome placs in Yünnad. The work is in the hands of an Italian company. The rate paid for coolies during my stay in Laokai was one dollar a day, and even then it was impossible to get anything like the adequate number. Five thousand coolies came down from Tientsin and it is estimated that 3.00 died. Most of the rest deserted. Orer thirty Euro- peaus were said to have died. It is extremely doubtful whether this part of the railway will be finished in the stipulated five years. At present very little has been done, but when Mêngtze is reached. Yunnanfu will see the first train a few months later.
The Namti embankments had also given
this
The
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. Now, however, something seems to have been don, and iu a few years wo will probably have a railway to Tèngyueh. The route is being carefully surreyed. Mr. Liley is in charge of however, a danger that nothing more will be the survey, working in three parties. There is, done when Téngyueh is reached, as it is practi- cally impossible to go on to Tali this way. The Salween and Mekong will be rory difficult to Consul in Têngyueh, has been working indefatig- if not impossible. The late Mr. Litton, ably for this railway. It is also partly due to his efforts that the present road from Téngyneh to several miles on Chinese territory. It is now Bhamo has been repaired and put in order for
opposite Manynen, on a very fine road. On the possible
le to go by cycle from Blamo to Mansion,
being the Mohawk Machinet Kuli Kha road. Bu ma side the road is also practically now,
cross,
JAPANESE IN INLAND CHINA.
A N-C. Daily News correspondent at Hsinghua, Fa., writes the following com- plaint:-
For several years past there have been Japanese adrenturers exploiting the people of this region. These men come into a neigh- bourhood that seems to be ripe for their schemes, by reason of clan or village quarrels, and they giro out that they are starting a Japanese Church. They may rent a house, or they may
not. No church services are held; no instruc tion is given, though the Church is supposed to be Buddhist. They charge an admission or enrolment fee, ususly one dollar; and give a receipt, which is supposed to protect the re cipient from all trouble with his neighbours' other yamon. It is needless to say that the organisation is purely political. These Japauese tramps, for they are peripatetic, take in as many fees as they can, take | up whatever lawsuits their
members " may have, get out of it what money they can, and then move on to pastures new when the
way when I wont to Meugtze, and I had therefore to go up the Red River to Mantao; was still the regular route, though I hear that people now go via the Namti in five or six days. It often takes as many weeks to Mantao owing to the rapids, which necessitate slow paling most of the way. Mèngtze is quite a big "port" now. foreign residents are, however, mostly French and Italian. There is a small club, the Cercle du Commerce, with a billiard table and tounis court. This is an advantage over Yüanaufu, but the latter town is in other respects far nicer, the climate being delicious. The railway people in Yünnanfu have their quarters outside the East gate and the station is in course of construction south of the city, where the future Settlement is going to be-an unfortunate place, as it is often under water in the rainy season. All other residents live inside the walls, that is, the British and French Consuls. The latter has an assistant and an officer of the Garde L'Indo Chine" attached to the Consul- ate. Then there is the C.I.M., represented by three men (one married) and the Bible Society. represented by Mr. Amundsen, a Norwegian. There is also a French doctor, an instructeur, and a postmaster.
The doctor is very busy, as medical advice is given free to all Chines and the school is also run on practically the same liues, all part of the French policy in Yünnau. The British Consul, Mr. Wilkinson, has bought ground outside the north gate for &
new Consulate, away from the city and the future Settlement as well. The spot chosen is, however, very fine. I sup- pose the new Consulate will have to wait. until the railway comes, but the garden is already kept up by the energetic Consul, and a fine tennis lawn will no doubt be placed at the disposal of the residents this year.
Lord Curzon is not, as a rule, loved by the Britishers in Yünnan. Whatever good he may have done, he has perfectly ignored British interests in this part of the world by giving up the Lashio extension to Tali and Yünnanfu,
4.
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grass gets short. They have given the local magistrates much trouble, and the maudarins have complained to the higher authorities, bul at last accounts they are still pursuing the same methods. The Japanese Government should put a stop to this kind of work by their nationals, It is giving Japan a very unsavoury reputation along this southern coast. Surely no-one of any nation should be permitted to organise “churches" who is not the accredited representa. tive of some responsible society or party in his own land, aud for whose good behaviour the diplomatic representative of his country can
vouch.
This protest seems Unionism!
to smack of Trades
ENTERTAINING MEN OF THE FRENCH AND JAPANESE FLEETS.
Mr. J. R. M. Smith, the Hon. Treasurer of the Frovisional Committee, acknowledges receipt of the following subscriptions:-
W. A. Dowley J. Orange Vernon & Smyth. C. E. Anton A. Brooke Smith
H. T. Butterworth
W. A. Cruickshank
T. S. Forrest...
C. W. May
G. C. Mozou
J. C. Peter C. H. Ross A. Tillett A. Turner Colin C. Scott J. Bartou
A. R. Fullerton W. Armstrong W. C. Barrett F. Burns Pra J. W. Crouch
. W. Nicholson
$50 50
EFFFFFEE
CANTONESE IN CANADA.
259
CANADIAN CAPITAL COMING TO CHINA.
from the Victoria Daily Times of Feb, 19th:-
We take the following interesting report
of Occidental environment on the Öriental A curions example of the quickening effect mind is afforded in negotiations which are now the central figure is Čim Dat, one of the most in progress in the city of Canton, and in which progressive, wealthy, and enterprising of the local Chinese colony. negotiations will result in the Chinese mer. If successful these
chants of British Columbia and their country. men in China investing a round two millions of dollars in their mother land, in building, equipping and maintaining an electric tram line etween the cities of Canton and San Wu,
The project has been evolved by Lim Dat, head of the big company of Gim Fook Yuen, a firm of Chinese merchants, whose main business mills, but whose enterprise has led them to is that of conducting a general store and rice
branch out into various other lines, all of which seem to have proved remunerative. Lim Dat this province with little capital but with business is a fair type of the Chinaman who, coming to acumen, has acquired wealth with such rapidity neighbours. The second generation of the house as to excite the envy of his less thrifty Caucasian of Lim pr. mises to carry on the parental shrewdness, for the two sons, Lim Bang and Lim Yat, although less than twenty years of age, are among the shrewdest of the tradesmen in the Chinese quarter. They are not exolu. sively commercial in their instincts, either, for the last named, but a few months ago, ap- proached Col. Holmes, D. O. C. of the district, and asked permission to organize a Chinese cadet corps, along approved military lines.
Lim Dat has maintained for some time a house in one of the Chinese cities, but the opportunity for an enterprise like the one now under way did not occur until a year ago, when policy and adopted one which reserves for its the Chinese government revoked their railway
own people the right to form companies to carry ou public works. Previously the government granted these concessions to foreigners, but this policy has not only been abroga ed, but they firm which acquired a charter to connect by rail have actually bought back from a United States the provinces of Canton and Honghow, a dis- tance of about 500 miles. The government are said to have spent several million dollars to holders, who had probably not spent more than redeem this charter, and to indemnify the
half a million on the enterprise.
The present plan, upon which Lim Dat is working, and in connection with which he has been in China for two and a half months, is to build an electric railway from Canton to San Wu, connecting these populous contres, and tapping a densely peopled district. There are no physical difficulties to be overcome, of a serious nature, and it is intended to make the service a frequent one, cars running probably served by an antiquated junk line plying on the every fifteen minutes. This great trade is now
river San Wu, a distance of about 90 miles. These junks are towed by a launch and carry both passengers and freight. It takes about 14 hours for the trip, but the extent of the traffic may be gathered from the fact that each of the 22 junks employed carries over 200 people daily. The average charge per head was thirty cents, where a tram line will handle them for twenty cents, and the latter will convey them between the two cities in three hours where the junks required 14 for the trip. The advantages of the electric over any steam system can be appreciated in a country where coal costs $10 a ton. The power will be obtained from a splendid stream fed from the Quai Tong Shua range of mountains, which lies about two-thirds of the distance from Canton to its neighbour city.
15
15
10
10
10
10
SO
10
$ 525
Amount previously acknowledged 1,330
$1,905
Each car will be equipped with four 50 horse-power motors, and will be built somewhat on the principle of the summer observation cars well known on this continent. This is rendered possible by the warm weather' which prevails in that portion of Cbins,
The trucks for these cars will probably be built in British Columbia, but the wooden work will in all probability be placed in China, where labour is cheaper. The supplies
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