March 18, 1899.]
fat average rates of exchange to nearly Hk. Tls, 18,000,000, are made through Foreign banks by the medium of bills of exchange against Ex- ports. So far from Silver being exported abroad, there was a not import during the year of Hk. Tls. 4,722,025. Moreover, notwith- standing occasional tightuess at the Treaty ports, information received from all parts of the country points to no scarcity of silver; and the general course of silver prices indicates that the metal is plentiful. It may be confidently asserted that China meets the whole of her obligations without any depletion of her currency, and that the Chinese buy no Imports except such as can be obtained in exchange for Exports. No doubt the Government is hard pressed for funds, but the country grows wealthier every year.
a.
A real difficulty the Government has to face is the scarcity of copper cash
diffonity which is likely to increase, as the intrinsic value of the cash as metal is actually greater than that of the silver for which they at present exchange. The cop. per money purchasable for a tasl of silver costs the Government for metal (copper and zine) not less than Tls. 1,354, which does not include the cost of minting. This condition has not only restricted coinage but has resulted in a serious disappearance of the coins, due to melt- ing down for the sake of the copper. The number of cash exchanged for a tael in Shang- hai has fallen since 1892 from 1,400 to 1,170, and a further fall is to be feared. The obvious remedy is an extended minting of subsidiary silver coins, and this process is gradually but vary slowly taking place. As soon as the various syndicates get to work China may be expected to absorb every year an increasing quantity of the white metal.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT,
cellency with such a formal statement. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Drummond Hay,
Secretary.
Byron Brenan, Esq., O.M.G., H.B.M.'s Consul-
General, Shanghai.
THE CONSUL-GENERAL TO THE CHAMBER.
H. M. Consulate-Goñaral, Shanghai, 25th February, 1899, Sir,-Referring to your letter of the 21st instant, I beg to suggest that you should send me a memorandam detailing the amendments and additions you consider necessary in the existing Inland Navigation rules and regulations. But it appears to me that the necessity for any change can only be demonstrated after the regulations have been put to the test of practical experience. I am not aware that any steamer in Shanghai has yet attempted to take advantage of the privileges obtained by H. M. Minister, so that, although Mr. Dudgeon may be justified in his anticipations that the Chinese officials will try to nullify the effect of the concession, this cannot be charged against them until the violation of the compact has occurred. Our newly acquired rights are clearly defined in Regulations 1 and 2; and I feel confident that H M. Minister will see that any British subject is compensated for any loss he may suffer should the Chinese officials by any illegal act obstruct him in the enjoyment of these rights.
The questions of inland residence and the amalgamation of the native and foreigu Custom Houses at the Treaty Ports are referred to by Mr. Dudgeon; and if these advantages could be obtained it is unquestionable that they
could go a long way in thwarting the tactics of evasion which he with too much reason fears the officials will adopt; but these are questions which will have to be dealt with by themselves, and caunot well be grafted on to the Inland Navigation rules. The rules as they stand seem at present sufficient for our purpose if they are fairly carried ont; and it is not until we have practical experience of their working that H.M. Minister can with reason complain to the Chinese Government that what they give with one hand they take away with the other.-I am,
The development of industrial enterprises, the extension of railways, and the exploitation of the mineral resources of the country are likely to have important effects upon trade in the near future. As regards the first, in spite of some disappointments, which admit of explanation and are temporary, steady pro- gress is observable, and everything points to a prosperous future which will further develop the Foreign trade. No doubt certain Imports will soon. feel the Nasir, your obedient servant, tive competition, but other goods will take their place in exchange for the exports now devoted to procuring those articles. If the The Chairman, Shanghai General Chamber of
Chinese can obtain their Cotton Yarn and matches more cheaply by making them, they will have something saved to spend on other goods. Industry leads to wealth and wealth brings demand for goods. And it is surprising that the prophecy shoald son times be heard that the Chinese will import less as they manu- factura more. Experience teaches that the direct contrary is invariably the case.
INLAND NAVIGATION RULES.
The following correspondence is publishe with the minutes of the last monthly masting of the Shanghai General Chamber of Com-
merce :-
THE CHAMBER TO THE CONSUL-GENERAL.
Shanghai Ganeral Chamber of Commerce,
21st February, 1899. Sir, I am requested to draw your attention to a letter from Mr. Dalgaon which appeared in the N. C. Daily Ne os on the 14th inst, with reference to the Intial Waters Navigation
Rules.
Commerce.
BYRON BRENAN, Acting Consul-General.
PEKING.
[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.]
Li Haug-chang's return has been a subject of interest for some time past. He left Si-Goan, the provincial capital of Shantung, some time ago, but, when two days on his journey, was ordered by telegram to return to investigate some irregularities on the part of the local offi. dcials. This is looked upou as a mere ruse of his rivals to keep him out of Peking. His long experience in foreign affairs constitutes him a sort of Nestor; if he be on the spot the Dowager consults him, willy-nilly his competitors. long as the old Tsung Tang is about nobody else feels that a free hand is possible.
A copy of the sul letter is enclosed, and whilst well aware of the advantage ssoured by H.B.M.'s Minister in obtaining the assent of the Chinese Government to the opening of Laland Waters Navigation, it is evident that many amendments are nested in the newly-formal Regulations bafora they on prova any in. centive to the Teads or to the providing of craft suitable tɔ its raquiraments.
Tax Committee would therefora be glad to know whether a Revision of thow Regulations is contemplated, and whether it would be sppropriate for the Chamber to hand yɔa for transmission to H.B.M.'s Minister, a memor. andum of the amendments and a lditions desired, ar if you are of opinion that Mr. Dudgeon's letter covers the ground sufficiently to avoid the necessity at present of troubling His Ex-
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clearly pointed out the inevitable consequence of neglecting it. Had the Nanyang ships beap as efficient as the Peiyang and mobilised with. them, the Yaloo would either never have been fought or would have had other issue. But the is indulging in the most useless of all hypothetics those of what might have been.
For some weeks an occult and mysterious quarrel has been raging here about the Railway Directorate. None of us know accurately. details or the exact issues, though we know the wain lines on which it has been conducted. Chang Yeu-mao and Taotai Hsü have after desperate struggle ousted Hu Yen-fu from the chief directorate of the Railways. The Eu gineer-in-chief, having had former experience of Mr. Chang's inimical attitude to himself and thinking the changes advers, to British com, mercial interests, strongly resented them: he took up a position of stout hostility to the new management. The Minister seems to have sup ported him; and as the Northern Railways aro largely the security for the recent huge loans contracted between the Imperial Government and British capitalists, it is highly probable that Sir Claude's interference was both strep uous and pertinent.
Jung Lu's influence is still paramount in the administratiou. For some considerable time back he has been striving hard at a bit of cen- tralization very desirable on abstract grounds, however inexpedient it may be from other points of view. He has been trying to get the administration and control of the Sonthern military forces into his hands. Siu Kun-yi bas maintained a steadfast and determined op- position to this; and is backed up by every officer south of the Yangtsze. Jung has the support of the Ex-Empre-s, but is none the less experiencing the extreme difficulty of carrying out improvement against interests rested or corrupt. Each side credits the other with a sole desire to handle the spoils; and in the pre- sent state of Chinese and Manchu officialdom, he would be a bold man who would assert that such a desire is not part and parcel of the policy undertaken.
It is of course obvious that on its own merits military centralization is an absolute necessity if China is ever to make a beginning in warlike efficiency. For years Li, while in Tientsin, urged centralization in naval matters; he
Chang is the cleverest man living in squaring the great bureaucrats of Peking; as the bailiff of the Seventh Prince he amassed a huge fortune and acquired so pa- approachable knowledge of the undercurrents of the Capital. His pilotage is phenomenal, and is always shown in excelsis when his own interests are at stake. He is believed up here to be under the leading strings and inspiration of the former foreign Commissioner of Customs in Tientsin who, though on furlough, is pre- sent in the North as a private resident. It is freely bruited about that there has been a sort of informal combination of the German, French, and Russian legations against the st. titude taken by H. M. Minister in the quarrel.
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It is stated to-day that a mođus vivendi has been reached, that He and Chang are to re- main directors, but that their power of interfer ence with the Engineer-in-Chief has been pre- cisely defined and their powers limited. A curious story reaches us from Tientsin in con. nexion with the incident, viz., that the German firms there have formally or informally ex- pressed their sympathy with the late as against the present railway management, on the ground that under the former things were submitted to competitive tender in the open market, while under the latter they fear that the Northern Railways will become a mere appanage of F. Krupp of Essen.
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Personally I must confess to some scepticism on this oboure affair. National bias and commercial rivalry go a long way in the foolish raising of bogeys. Beyond one or two ohanges in the administration when he took over the reason whatever Tongshan pits, there is no to show Mr. Chang is inimical to British in-- terests. Indeed there is very abundant evidenos that he is not adverse to Britishers as such: · nine-tenths of his staff both in the pits and steamers are Englishmen and most of the new steamers and much of the plant are British. Chang is an astute man of business, and so far has bought where he can buy best.
Like many other great capitalists he has strong bias to monopoly. He has succeeded in making the coal of North China strictly such. His control of the Railways is directed to the same end. His energies at present are directed to forming a big all-the-year-round open port for ocean steamers at Chingwangton, the new treaty port near Peitaiho.
Our Tientsin neighbours profess much alarmi at this threatened rival, and think the înmost spirit of Macchiavel is at Chang's right ear in this policy. They forget the inherent conser- vátism of trade in sticking to established places, the unknown physical difficulties of a ses mole at Chingwongtou, and the boundless expense before a cent will be seen in return. We have bad two very open winters in succession, and the assumption is made that these give sufficient hydraulic data for a huge engineering- scheme. Doly when an experienced engineer has watched the coast through a very severe season, and has seen the action of the ice under a great north-easter, and reported accordingly, will it be time to talk of a safe, open, winter port in the Gulf of Pechihli.
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