h
272
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
etc., have, as the Rev. T. W. PEARCE remarks some merchants who have had experience of in his letter, rendered impossible family life the way the Tamehow and Taiyushan Mines on the same scale as before, owing to the were saddled with the salaries of useless greater cost of house accommodation; men and squeezing weiyuens had had a voice in remain, but their families depart. Mr. the compilation of this prospectus. It is PEARCE suggests that the time has come agreed by the Government that the land when the Government should consider the required for the track and for stations, question of housing the working classes, and yards, sheds &c., if public land shall be Mr. EDE and the Acting Captain Superin- surrendered to the Company, and land which tendent of Police concur with him. Theis private property shall be acquired by question is a large one, but must be dealt purchase at a price to be fixed by the with soon.
One of the greatest measures of officials. The land thus obtained by the relief would be the opening up of the eastern Company will be required to pay the usual and western districts by bringing them into land tax only, but will be exempt from easy communication with the centre of the other charges or taxes. The rolling stock town by means of tramways.
of the Company, as well as all building and other materials required, are, after importation, to be free of lekin and | other duties.
|
|
THE PEKING-HANKOW RAILWAY.
That China will some day have a railway system of her own can hardly be doubted, hut it is equally certain that, if the Chinese are left to make them, it will be a very long time indeed before even the first two or three trunk lines are constructed. Several years | have passed since tlle scheme for a trunk line to connect the capital with the great cities of Central China amil Cunton formally received the Imperial sanction, but it is problematic whether this line would have been commenced during the expiring contury had not the castigation administered by Japan somewhat stirred the sluggish pulses of the Peking mandarins. The result, after much more deliberation and fresh edicts, is that work was actually commenced on the Tientsin-Peking Railway on the 15th March, and an edict has been issued ordering the construction of the Peking-Hankow Rail- way. It is true that the funds for the latter do not appear to have, as yet, heen either subscribed or even guaranteed, but it is tolerably clear that the Peking Government have reason to believe they will be forth-¦ coming, and in that case the line will even- tually be built. In this edict it is stated that a Taotai named Hse YIN TSANG, a native of Kwangtung, a man of energy and ability, has informed the Imperial Güvern- ment that he has already obtained promises of capital to the extent of more than ten million taels, and he is accordingly appointed manager and instructed to find capitalists to subscribe to the railway among native merchauts and others. Judging from this document, a translation of which has been published by a Shanghai contemporary, it would seen as though the scheme is in a fair way to become an accomplished fact unless the higher officials, jealous of the power and opportunity to squeeze conferred upon Hst, intervene to baulk the enterprise and upset his plans.
|
The director and sub- director of the Company are to be selected by the shareholders froni among those hold- |ing the largest amount of stock. All matters requiring discussion are to be brought before the shareholders at their meetings. From | the foregoing it will be apparent that the projectors of the Company have stipulated for freedom from official interference, and the power to manage and work the line as a business enterprise. On no other conditions could Mr. Ist or anyone else extract the money from the purses of Chinese merchants, They know too well that, if the officials obtained the management, there would by no possibility be any profits to divide, and that the scrip would soon be valueless.
14
CZ
44
เช่
13
64
[April 1, 1896
term of years, to be determined by the "shareholders and approved by the Govern- "ment." Suppose, however, that the share- holders should
name nine hundred and ninety-nine years as the term for which they consider the railway should belong to the Company, what would the Government say? It may be that the projectors have some understanding with the Government as to the period at which the line should become the property of the State, but in any case it would have been necessary to state this had the prospectus been addressed to. British subscribers. It is interesting to find it definitely stated in the last paragraph that it is first proposed to construct the line from Hankow to Lu-koo-chiao, a few miles from Peking, and subsequently it will be ex- tended from Hankow to Canton. If the Government really possessed any energy they would build this line themselves, and com- mence the two sections simultaneously. But Peking has neither the energy nor the funds, and hence this admittedly important national work is to be entrusted to a private joint stock company, which may find all sort of difficulties in their way, notwith- standing the apparent determination of the Government to render them assistance in the work,
THE IMPORT TRADE OF CHINA. AND THE SILVER QUESTION. The valuable report of Mr. H. Korsch, the Statistical Secretary of the Imperial Maritime Customs, on the trade of China for last year gives a very encouraging view of the commercial position in so far as the aggregate trade is concerned. The remarks on the import of manufactured goods from gold using countries may, however; give the advocates of the gold standard cause for reflection. Trade varies from year to year according to passing circumstances and it is more or less unsafe to draw definite .con- clusions from the limited data afforded by a comparison of one particular year with its predecessor, but when we extend the com- |parison over a decade and find a persistent tendency in one direction we may with some confidence pursue an inquiry into the cause. Mr. Korsen takes seven leading lines of cotton goods and shows by figures that there has been an annual shrinkage in their import of over a million pieces per annum during the five years 1891-95 as compared with the previous nve years. This is assigned to the increased silver cost, the advance during the decade being over twenty-seven per cent. This increase in the cost of foreign goods has stimulated the hand weaving industry to enormous extent, and a "remarkable expansion is observable in the "demand for Nankeens, which are required by Chinese labourers abroad, who now "find it as cheap to buy this more durable homespun cloth as the flimsy European 'fabrics so enhanced in price by the appre- "ciation of gold. This explanation accounts "for the large shipments, which attained 36,600 piculs, valued at Hk. Tls. 1,343,000, as compared with less than half that quan- tity in previous years." The same cause that has stimulated the hand weaving industry in China has also, now that the inportation of machinery has been legalised, fed to the establishment of fully equipped manufac tories, of which Mr. KOPSCH says that during 1897 there will probably be eighteen or twenty in operation at Shanghai. It is true that last year there was an increase the demand for imported cottous, down that, following the usual custom in and as the decline in exchange scens to other countries, it shall revert to China, i.e., | have come to an end and the rate is now the Imperial Government, "after a definite | more likely to rise than to fall no may lik
But though the Government have made these important concessions to the Company, probably because there was no choice unless they made it a State undertaking and finished the capital from the Imperial treasury, they have taken care to insert some stipulations which plainly indicate the motives which impelled them to sanction the project. Thus one clause of the prospectus provides that "in case of war, for the time being, the road shall be at the exclusive disposal of the officials, and all other traffic shall, if necessary, yield to this, and the "interest on the capital and all the wages of the employés, and the cost of coal, &c., shall be paid for such time by the Govern- ment. It is also stipulated that all des patches from the different provinces, and all memorials shall be carried free of charge. This is not a very onerous condition; but the one that follows, namely, that in time of war all soldiers and military stores, &c., shall be carried at half the usual rates, is more serious. The Company, however, will hope for the preservation of peace, and will therefore not lay too much stress on the likelihood of the railway being converted into a military one. The existing line from Tientsin to Taku and Shan-hai-kwan suffers The prospectus of the proposed railway to a considerable extent from the privileges is also given by our contemporary, and is accorded to soldiers and officials. It is essentially Chinese in style. The share alleged that a great deal of trickery aud holders, who are to be drawn from the mer- evasion is practised by these gentry, who cantile class, are to subscribe the entire frequently induce other passengers to travel capital, and the Government will incur no as their servants or dependents and to pay responsibility in case of loss. The capital of them a reduced fare instead of taking an the Railway Company is to be fixed at Tls. ordinary ticket at starting. But the Com- 30,000,000, divided into shares of Tls. 100 pany to be formed to construct the Grand each, but presumably the Company would Trunk Railway may possibly be able to be at liberty to increase this if found in prevent these impositions. The fourteenth sufficient, though there is no provision for clause of the prospectus contains a condition the issue of debentures. All the expenses of the importance of which we should have the railway are to be borne by the Company, thought ought to have induced the promoters and they will not be required to render an to get it made extremely definite instead of account thereof to the Government. It is being, as it is, most indeterminate. Refer- noteworthy that a special clause in the ring to the question of when, if at all, the prospectus provides for immunity from railway should be turned over to and become official interference. It reads as follows:- the property of the Government, it is laid in
45
The officials shall not appoint deputies or “weiyuens, and thus make unnecessary **expense.
This looks rather as though
|
<
<<
an