TRANS-FRONTIER TRADE. 35 



Fu. These mileages do not represent the true state of the case. 

 The time taken in travelling from the British frontier town to Hsia- 

 kuan is nearly twice as long as that occupied in journeying from 

 the latter centre to the terminus of the line, owing to bad roads 

 across the deep valleys and high dividing water-sheds of the Mekong, 

 Salween and Shweli. Merchants also run greater risks of damage 

 or loss of their goods on a journey between Bhamo and Hsia-kuan 

 than they do between Yunnan Fu and the same place. It was 

 anticipated that the Chinese merchants, who are shrewd enough 

 business men, would soon realise that it was more profitable to 

 supply Central Yunnan with heavy or bulky goods such as cotton 

 yarn and kerosene oil by means of the French railway rather than 

 by way of the overland route from Burma. As a. matter of fact 

 these fears have proved groundless up to date, simply because, 

 in the words of the Teng-yiieh Consular Report for '1913, " the 



freight rates in force over the railway line are still so high 



that the Teng-yueh merchants are still able to lay down cotton 

 yarn, in spite of the heavy charges for mule hire over the 32 days 

 journey by road from Bhamo, in Yunnan Fu itself at a price which 

 enables it to compete profitably with the same article carried 

 thither bv rail direct from the sea." 



The position of the overland Burma trade is a very insecure 

 one for the same report states further that, " the French merchants 

 in the south and east of the province are clamouring justifiably 

 for a reduction of the railway freights, and unless something is 

 done to give effect to the agitation in favour of the Bhamo-Teng- 

 yiieh railway organised for some years past by the Liverpool 

 Chamber of Commerce and other influential bodies in the United 

 Kingdom interested in the cotton and piece goods trade with China, 

 the carriage of this important commodity via Burma must ere 

 long cease, and our allies will reap the fruits of their energetic com- 

 mercial competition." 



The Bhamo-Teng-yiieh line would have no great constructional 

 difficulties to face ; it would traverse fertile and thickly populated 

 plains for the greater part of its length ; it would obtain a large 

 passenger traffic ; it would bring about a great expansion in the 

 present import and export trade, which, as matters stand, are 

 doomed when the freight charges on the Tongking line are lowered, 

 and further, practically every student of the question who is entitled 



