.582
CHINA
Budget Statements in China have yet to become the precise documents that they are in other countries. The last published was for the fiscal year ending June, 1916, when the total of the Extraordinary Receipts was $84,829,104 and the grand total of both the Ordinary and Extraordinary Receipts $473,048,764. The total Extraordinary Expenditure was $181,035,114 and the grand total of both the Ordinary and Extra- ordinary Expenditure $472,838,584. During the autumn of 1919 Parliament framed a Budget which showed a deficit of $120,000,000. To meet this it was proposed to reduce military expenditure by $20,000,000 and to introduce reforms in the collection of taxes which would yield another $20,000,000. For the balance a loan was to be raised.
The Maritime Customs and the Salt Gabelle are the only two sources of revenue for which exact figures are so far available. The Customs receipts for 1919 amounted to Hk. Taels 46,009,160, the highest on record. It represented an increase of Hk. Tls. 9,664,115 over that for 1918. The net receipts of the Salt Gabelle for 1918 were $71,589,603, an increase of $962,354 as compared with 1917. All obligations_secured on the Salt Revenue were fully met, and the release of surplus funds handed over to the Chinese Government during 1918 amounted to $71,761,154, or roughly three millions more than in 1917.
China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874, when a loan of £627,675, bearing 8 per cent. interest, was contracted through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority, and secured by the Customs revenue. Up to 1894 the total foreign debt of China was inconsiderable, but subsequently extensive borrowings had to be made to meet the expenses of the war with Japan and the indemnity, which was Taels 200,000,000 (at exchange of 3s. 34d.), with a further Tls. 20,000,000, for the retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula. The last instalment was paid in 1898, and the total indebtedness of the country up to 1900 was £55,755,000, the principal loans being the Russian of 1895, the Anglo-German of 1896, and the Anglo-German of 1898, each of £16,000,000. The country's obligations in 1901 were increased by a sum of Tls. 450,000,000, the amount of the indemnity paid to the Powers to meet (1) the expenses of the Expeditionary Forces, and (2) claims for compensation for losses to missions, corporations, individuals, etc. Several Loans were subsequently obtained, chiefly for railway construction, and, as a result of the Revolution, China's indebtedness was increased by an international loan of £25,000,000. China's foreign debts are in various currencies and owing to fluctuation of exchange it is difficult to give the precise amount, but the total as incurred by the Central Government, amounts to about $1,750,000 Chinese currency, which has accumulated during the past 25 years. Only the Land Tax remains as unpledged security for further foreign loans.
The foreign debt secured on national revenue outstanding December 31, 1914, is shown in the following table:-
No.
Nature of Loan.
Rate of Interest.
Original Amount
1
2
♡ + 10 co
3
4
5
"Russian Loan" of 1895 (French Group) Gold Loan of 1896 (H'kong., S'hai. & German Banks) Gold Loan of 1898 (H'kong., S'hai. & German Banks) 6 Imperial Railways of N. China Loan, 1899 (Hong-
kong & Shanghai Bank)
"Cassell Loan" of Apr. 1895 (Chartered Bank)...... 6% £ 1,000,000 £ "Arnhold, Karberg Nanking Loan," 1895 (Three
German Banks)
Principal Outstanding Dec. 1, 1914.
70,702
•
"
1,000,000
4 %
15,820,000
70,702 10,588,252
5 %
16,000,000
11,685,925
44%
16,000,000
13,382,000
5 %
2,300,000
1,725,000
16
7 Shansi Railway Loan, 1902 (Russo-Chinese Bank)... 8a Kaifeng-Honan (Pien-Lo) R'ly. Loan, 1903 (Belgian) Sa 2nd issue of same, 1907 (Belgian)
9 Shanghai-Nanking Railway Loan, 1903 (H. & S. Bank) 10 Gold Loan, 1905 (H'kong., S'hai. & German Banks) 11 Hankow-Canton Railway Redemption Loan, 1905
(Hongkong Government)
12 Honan Railway (Pekin Syndicate) Loan of 1905 13 Canton-Kowloon Railway Loan, 1907 (H. & S. Bank) 14 Tientsin-Pukow Railway Loan, 1908 (Hongkong,
& Shanghai and German Banks)
....
15 Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway Loan, 1908
(Hongkong & Shanghai Bank)... Gold Loan of 1908 (Peking-Hankow Railway Redemp- tion) (Hongkong & Shanghai and French Banks).
1,600,000
1,600,000
"9
1,000,000
1,000,000
""
640,000
640,000
99
3,250,000
2,900,000
""
1,000,000
50,000
""
4%
1,000,000
440,000
5 %
700,000
700,000
1,500,000
1,500,000
""
99
5,000,000
5,000,000
>>
1,500,000
1,500,000
5,000,000
5,000,000
99