Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/299

Rh Fu in January 1907, that an Englishman and a Frenchman were said to be on their way with a view to making some personal investigation into the possibilities of a concession to work minerals in seven named districts granted to an Anglo-French combination, designated the Yün-nan Syndicate, in June 1902. Even in the matter of minerals it is neither the Bhamo-Tali Fu, nor the Tali Fu-Yün-nan Fu, nor the Yün-nan-Ssŭch'uan lines that possess the brightest prospects, but the French Red river line from the Yün-nanese capital to the sea, since it is in the neighbourhood of this line that lie the rich mines of Kuo-chiu-ch'ang, the greatest tin-producing district in China.

It may be added that the visit of the engineers in question, on behalf of the Yünnan Syndicate, has already produced a sequel from which it can only be deduced that, as a result of the "China for the Chinese" propaganda, the scientific development of the mineral resources of Yün-nan are to be still further postponed. The episode is described