!
April 23, 1896.]
kinds of crime. Then we need room for ex-
pansion, both in the matter of recreation and for industrial purposes, as well as land for raising vegetables and cattle. The Chinese population, too, and more especially the mer- chant class, would like to obtain cheap sites on which they could erect homes and bring their families to reside under the British flag instead of being, as at present in some measure, at the mercy of the mandarins, who can reach them through their relatives. The colony has pro- gressed steadily so far as its trade is concerned; but the population is still for the most part of a very transitory description. The enlargement of its boundaries would, we confidently believe, tend to the building up of more permanent in- terests, the establishment of more industries, and the general increase of trade and population. If your Excellency could, without divulging any state secrets, give us any definite informa- tion on the subjects I have referred to, it would be of great interest to members. I may men- tion that a telegram was received here about the middle of last mouth, through Reuter's Agency, to the effect that an Edict had been signed in Peking sanctioning the opening of the West River, but that the actual opening thereof awaits the conclusion of an agreement with re- gard to the Yunnan frontier. Since that date we have received no further news on the subject. His EXCELLENCY replied as follows:-Gentle. men, it gives me the greatest pleasure to meet you and to discuss questions which are of so important and momentous a character for the future well-being of the Chinese community in general and Hongkong in particular. It also gives me very great pleasure to make your personal acquaintance and to hear your personal views on these subjects, which views are so much better put forward at an informal meeting of this description than by lengthened cor- respondence. You ask me whether, if without divulging any state secrets, I can give you any definite information regarding the three points to which your Chairman has referred. I shall be very pleased to give you such information as lies in my power respecting these points, but you will kindly remember that I left England on the 28th February, since when I have been on my travels, and have had no business com- munications either with London or Peking, and therefore my information will be limited, but if it will interest you to hear how matters stood when I left London I shall be very glad to inform you. In the first place considerable delay had arisen with regard to negotiations respecting the matters you have mentioned and others, owing to the severe illness of His Excellency Kung Tajen, Chinese Minister in London, who had been laid up for some four months and quite unable to attend to business. Some few weeks before I left His Excellency recovered his health and two meetings had been held at the Foreign Office; at the latter I was present and details respecting the opening of the West River were under discussion and seem to tend to a favourable issue, which the intima- tion conveyed in Renter's telegram would appear to confirm. In a private letter which I received at Brindisi I was informed that the meetings, which had been ably presided over by Mr. Bertie, Head of the Eastern Department of the Foreign Office, were now, owing to this gentleman's severe indisposition, under the direct superintendence of Mr. George Curzon, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whose personal knowledge of China and the Far East is well known to you. During the negotiations, great assistance had been rendered and valuable information obtained from the Committee of the China Association in London. You will see, therefore, that Her Majesty's Government are fully alive to the great importance of the questions under discussion and are giving them every possible consideration and attention. To treat with the points your Chairman has brought to my notice in detail: The opening of the West River to trade would appear to be to all intents and purpose definitely decided upon, and I hope that this may include the opening up of its affluents and entrances, but on this point I cannot of course speak definitely. There appears to be a general opinion that the opening of these important waterways will be of little use unless the provisions of Article XXVIII. of the Tientsin Treaty are carried out in the same manner as they are
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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in the Central and Northern Provinces, and this brings me to the second point to which your Chairman has referred, namely, the question of trade under Transit Passes. Until my ar rival yesterday in Hongkong I was not aware that a test case had been obtained, and as the case of Mr. Andrew is, so to speak, sub judice, cannot of course give an opinion; but with re! gard to the entire question of Transit Passes, which question is of the utmost and most vital importance to the trade of Hongkong and the opening of the Western waterways, I may tell you that I held several long conversations in Lon don on this subject with Sir Nicholas O'Cohor who impressed its great importance upon me Conversant as your are, gentlemen, with Chi nese officialdom, I need not remind you that millions of this official class will be affected by any change in the present method of collecting and subsequently disposing of the "lekin "and other dues. That they would eventually be so affected for their own material benefit I, for one, am convinced, but I am afraid that it will not be in our time that they will be so convinced However, you may rest assured that this quest tion will receive my most constant and earnest attention, and I hope that some solution may be arrived at before long by which the present hindrances to trade may at any rate be considerably ameliorated. The third point that your Chairman has touched upon, the extension of the boundaries of the colony, is certainly of the most vital importance to the future well being of your community, principally for the reasons you have ment tioned, but also on sanitary grounds. The typhoon of 1874, as you are aware, caused very great loss of life amongst the Chinese popula tion, and I am informed that the burial of several thousand corpses in a part of the island which at one time was used as a Sanatorium by the European residents caused the locality to become very unhealthy and unfit for habitation. The recent plague has drawn attention to the great necessity of an extension for sanitary purposes of the colony's boundaries. The re- medy would appear to lie in the direction of obtaining a sufficiently attractive quid pro quo to induce the Central Government to grant the conceasions set forth in your Chairman's re- maiks: (In reply to a member, Sir Claude was understood to say that cases of purchase of ter- ritory by one State from another have occurred from time to time). In conclusion you. may rest assured that the matters you have men tioned will receive my close attention and that I shall take an early opportunity of bringing them to the notice of the Central Government.
SIA CLAUDE MACDONALD AT
SHANGHAI,
THE CHINA ASSOCIATION BANQUET,
At Shanghai on the 10th April Sir Claude MacDonald, K.C.M.G., the new British Minis- ter to China, was entertained at a complimentary banquet by the Shanghai Branch of the China Association. Mr. R. M. Campbell presided, having on his immediate right the guest of the evening,
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the toast of the evening, said-Your Excellency, it is with pleasure that I offer you on behalf of the British residents in China, so far as they are represented by the Shanghai Branch of the China Association, on your arrival in this country to take up the important duties to which you have been commissione a most hearty welcome. (Applause.) You will under- stand that in the circumstances which existed in this country at the time of the depar- ture of your predecessor, and during the somewhat lengthy time that elapsed before his successor was appointed, we in China were impatient and anxious to know who our new Minister was to be. (Hear, hear.) Rumour mentioned many names, but not yours amongst the number. When at last the telegraph in- formed us that you were coming; when we had made ourselves acquainted with the distin guished and useful service that you had per- formed for our country in other parts of the world (hear, hear); when we realised with satisfaction that you had had no pre- vious official connection with this country (laughter, and hear, hear); or that you
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probably did not know, and would not desire to acquire, its language (renewed laughter); and when, last, but by no means least, we saw that you were not as you were painted in a recent portrait (laughter); we felt satisfaction that Her Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs when he chose you to represent Great Britain in China had at last arrived at the conclu- sion that the time had come when diplomatic relations between the two countries should be changed. It would not be becoming in me to-night to endeavour to obtain from you your views upon subjects which, though we might think them of great importance to us' We can quite understand you would naturally prefer to make yourself familiar with before you express yourself in one way or the other. But this Association will no doubt take an early opportunity of bringing before you, and, perhaps, even pressing before you, its views upon certain subjects. When those sub- jects, as it may be, commend themselves to you as being worthy of attention, and when your opinion about them may coincide with ours, but when the moment may not be opportune for press- ing them, we trust that you will take us sufficient- ly into your confidence to nourish us and feed us with such hope as you may find possible in- stead of that "favourable consideration" which up till now has been deemed sufficient nourish- ment for us. (Hear, hear.) When you were speaking in Hongkong the other day you were speaking on British soil, to a British com munity. But to-night you are an honoured guest of the British community, but we re- cognise that in Shanghai the position is not quite the same. But speaking generally to your fellow-subjects you told them that we should see that the glorious heritage of our forefathers should be upheld. (Hear, hear.) That, sir, is precisely our view, and that is what we have always aimed at. I am sorry to my that I do not think that it has been upheld, but if that is so it is not the blame of the community of Hongkong or the various British communities that are dispersed through China. (Hear, hear). You also told us that China was a great country with great possibilities of trade. While I entirely agree with you that China is a great country, as far as her people, as distinguished from her officials, are concerned, while we all think that her tradal possibilities are very great, we believe, that for the last generation and more, such advantages as we have, apart from those which we have lately acquired through the Japanese (hear, hear), have been acquired for most part by British merchants for them. selves, and we regret that the officials of this country have not been prevented, from the highest to the lowest, from placing all the obstacles they pleased in any paths of ours, ex- cept those which lead backwards. Placed as we are in Shanghai, governing ourselves so far as we are allowed to do so without official help, I trust that you have arrived at the conclusion that we have good reason to feel satisfied with the result. At present we are, and for some time past have been, under the able manage. ment of our friend Mr. J. L., Scott, but in Shanghai all foreigners of whatever nationality are welcome. We wish that they should come here and enjoy all the advantages on the same terms that we enjoy them. We do not dread competition of any kind from anybody. We do not wish to fight with.. anybody, but we are prepared to compete with anybody who desires to compete with us, but we do resent official interference from what- ever side it comes, in whatever way it is pre- sented, and we trust you will place us in this country in the position we have held before, which can only be properly described as being second to none. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, hope that you will drink a bumper in honour of Sir Claude MacDonald, to tell him that you wish him in this country a career of prosperity which will bring happiness and honour to our country, to this country, and to himself (ap- plause), and to tell him that we entirely agree with that very pretty ode which appeared in his honour this morning, and which we believe, although we do not know, was written by a member of the China Association; and also to tell him that, if he desires it, in us, the China Association, he will find his most loyal sup- porters and true friends. (Hear, hear.).
the
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