To obtain these results he enquired into the grievances of the natives, and adopted pacific methods when possible; but when these were of no avail, he did not hesitate to employ rigorous and repressive measures. He undoubtedly possessed the necessary qualities for an administrator and organiser; and a few months after his arrival the Residents and local mandarins vied with each other in stamping out, with the aid of the native militia, the seeds of revolt and discord sown in the Delta, so that he was able to turn his attention to the central, northern and eastern districts of the colony, where rebellion and piracy existed in an armed and rampant state. To ensure success in this work of pacification, M. de Lanessan made every effort to do away with the rivalry among the regular troops and the native militia, the latter being controlled by the civil Residents. To obtain this result he created in the unsettled provinces military zones--districts wholly administered by officers in the army--so that the powers and responsibilities of the different authorities were clearly divided and defined. The all-powerful military authorities were alone responsible for all that went on in the region committed to their care, and to the civil authorities was entrusted the administration of the Delta provinces. This system proved such an excellent one that it has been maintained to this day, with few modifications; and at the beginning of 1903 there were, in Tonquin, four military zones divided up into nine districts, with a total population of about 2,000,000, and a superficial area of 20,000 square miles.[2] [Footnote 2: 1. Territoire militaire, headquarters Lang-son, close to Kwang-si and Kwang-tung frontier. 2. Territoire militaire, headquarters Cao-Bang, close to Kwang-si frontier. 3. Territoire militaire, headquarters Ha-Giang, on the Yunan frontier. 4. Territoire militaire, headquarters Lao-Kay, on the Yunan frontier.] Thanks to the system introduced by M. de Lanessan, organised rebellion no longer exists in the colony, and, although the provinces bordering on Kwang-si and Kwang-tung are occasionally ravaged by the Chinese bands which cross the frontier, the pacification of the country may be said to be complete. That the commercial progress of the colony was a slow one at this period there can be no doubt, but it was owing principally to the want of means of communication with the interior, and also to the prohibitive customs tariff and exorbitant transit rates on goods passing through to China, which had been adopted by the French Government.