SIAM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2535, 29 July 1893, Page 3

SIAM.

Siam (says the St. James’ Budget) is shut in by Pegu, which belongs to us, on the west, and Annam, which is under French protection, on the east. It is crossed from north to south b w rivers which rise in the Shan Co*^ nt evQI ’ further to the Beyond’ the Shan country to + a6 north is the Chinese provision of Yunnan. Now Yunnan is, in the more or less well-founded opinions of various persons, a species of Eldorado. Hitherto it has only been attainable by the Yang-tze-Kiang, which is a long river voyage. It is believed that a better and shorter route could be found by a Government which was strong enough to thoroughly occupy the valleys of the rivers that run through Siam to their sources and to build a railway or railways along them. The making of the railways would be easy enough as mere engineering. Of these Siamese rivers the most easterly is the Mekony, which runs parallel with the Anuamite Hills. Hitherto it has been believed that the Siamese frontier ran along the crest of the hills, aud therefore that the valley of the river is wholly the property of Siam. The French have discovered that this is a mistake, and that as a matter of fact the frontier line is not the watershed but the river itself. Practically what this means is that the French propose to annex the whole left bank of the river Mekon. The object is to secure the control of the road into China. That the French would do more with the river, if they had it, than they have done with their other colonial possessions is not to be supposed; but that, after all, is not the question. What does concern us is this—that, Siam being a good neighbour, and, moreover, a frontier State to us, we really cannot allow it to fall under a French protectorate, or even to be dominated mainly by French influence.