France and England.

Manawatu Herald, 23 January 1896, Page 2

France and England.

It is satisfactory to learn that one source of trouble between France and England, in the far East has baen settled. The question was one of a boundary between the French -IndoChina possessions and Siam. France holdsTonquin, Annauj, Cambodia and Cochin-China to the east of Slum and bordering on the South China Sea. In 1803 a quarrel occurred between Siam and France, and Siam was compelled to pay an indemnity, renounce all claim to territory east of the Mekong river, and submit to certain conditions regarding the administration on its western bank, and in regard to the, management of the Siamese provinces of Battambang and Angkor. Outside of these lands the French occupied the large town of Chantibun on the coast of the Gulf of Siam as a guarantee for the fulfilment of the treaty. A commission was set up to determine the limits of this State, which has resultpd in France getting a large slice off Siam. The deltas of Tonquin and Cochin China are fertile, but Annam, the long State connecting the first two States is a narrow and long moun* tainous tract with a sparse population. The Siamese trade centres at Bangkok, the capital of the country, which is situated at the mouth of river Menam. The town has a population of 850,000. It is satisfactory to Ijnow that the trade is largely in the hands of British subjects.