TRANS-FRONTIER TRADE. 27 



Reviewing the total annual value of the import and export 



Comparison of trade trade of the three treaty ports Meng-tzu, Ssu- 

 values of the three mao and Teng-yiieh for the 10 years pre- 

 P orts * ceding the outbreak of the war in 1914, we 



find that between 1904 and 1909, the Meng-tzii figures fluctuated 

 between 9$ and 10-g- millions of taels. In 1909 Meng-tzii was 

 placed in direct rail communication with Haiphong and the value 

 rose to nearly 11 millions of taels. In 1910 the extension of the 

 railway to Yunnan Fu was opened for through traffic and trade rose 

 to llf millions of taels; from that year onwards there was a gradual 

 increase to 1913 with 19^ millions of taels or approximately £2.977,000. 

 In 1904, the value of the import and export trade of Ss -mao 

 was "05,000 taels approximately. It fell slowly to 129,000 taels 

 in 1908 and then began to increase, attaining a maximum of 263,000 

 taels in 1912 and falling again to 244,000 (£33,800 approximately) 

 in 1913. For all practical purposes the trade of this port is stagnant. 

 The total value of the merchandise imported and exported 

 through Teng-yiieh in 1904 was 2 millions of taels approximately. 

 It fell to H millions in 1909, rose to 2 millions in 1910, fell again to 

 1 T ?- millions in 1911 and rose to 3 millions of taels in 1914 (£400,000 

 a proximately). 



The war has affected the trade of all three ports, the last 

 published figures (1916) being 15 millions of taels for Meng-tzii, 

 184,000 for Ssu-mao and 2 y ? 7 millions for Teng-yiieh. 



In 1913 the total value of the Meng-tzii trade was almost 6 

 times the value of the Ssu-mao and Teng-yiieh trade combined. 



In 1895 Davies visited Ssu-mao and afterwards wrote, u I cannot 



imagine it will ever be of any use to foreign 

 merchants." The trade returns of the port 

 since then prove that his opinion was correct and I see no reason 

 to come to any different conclusion to-day. Its principal exports 

 are a few agricultural products of the country and a little manu- 

 factured iron-ware which makes its way to the upper Laos. Its 

 most noteworthy import is raw cotton. 



The trade of this port requires more detailed treatment, because 



it is the chief market through which com- 

 merce has been exchanged between Burma and 

 Western China for centuries and because it is in this market and 

 along this route alone that any future expansion can take place. 



c 2 



