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SUGGESTIONS FOR A FORWARD
COMMERCIAL POLICY IN CHINA, :
(Daily Press, 14th December). Mr. GARDNER in his address to the Lon. don Chamber of Commerce on the 26th October said so many things that are true that we cannot afford to allow to pass un- noticed the few errors he made in connec-
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
"steamers on the inland waters.” We know | of no mention in that concession which confines the trade to passengers only, We know of a restriction imposed by Sir ROBERT HART which nullifies the whole concession and renders it worthless, and we should strongly recommend our local Cham- ber of Commerce to join with the Shanghai Chamber and represent the true facts of the
China.
tion with the foreign trade of China. Put-case to the London Chamber. That the last named Chamber is willing to do something ting aside minor mistakes which we purpose is amply proved by their actions in the past, dealing with later on, the one which par and the recent telegram in connection with ticularly calls for notice and which, coming Tariff revision shows that at least some as it does from an old China hand like Mr. members of it are willing to insist on a quid GARDNER, may be expected to carry weight with it, is his reference to the transit cer- pro que before making any concession to tidoate system, where he says:-" There is "another defect in the transit certificate ayalam that requires remedying; goods " are only allowed to be sent up country under transit certificate in the original "bales and packages in which they are im- "ported, "This works great inconvenience. "For instance, to import piece goods in "separate pieces is impracticable, while to "sell them in the interior in the original "bales of 100 pieces at the small inland "marts is very difficult; further, the bales are too bulky and heavy for handling and carriage by small boats or mule or man "porternge." Now this is distinctly con- trary to the facts of the case. The Customs raling on this matter is that to obtain an inland transit pass it is not necessary for the goods to be in their original packages. Care is taken, of course, to see that the goods were imported by foreign vessel, and pro- vided proof can be produced of this one part of the shipment can be sold at the importing port and the balance sent under transit pass to anywhere in China. As we recollect, this question was raised some years ago at Amoy (Mr. GARDNER's old port) and settled as we have stated. There are enough evils to complain of in China without creating imaginary oues, and such a misstatement made to a body like the London Chamber of Commerce is calculated to do a good deal of harm. It is extraordinary that Mr. GARDNER should have made it. It is still
Mr. more extraordinary that
BYRON BRENAN should not have contradicted it, Hundreds of bales of yarn and piece goods are repacked at Ichang and Wuchow, the one as re-exports to Chungking by "chart- "ered junk,” the other to go ander transit pass to Yunnan by water carriage to Posé and thence by mule or man porterage to their destination.
Far greater than any restrictions of the kind which Mr. GARDNER supposes to exist is the evil produced by the taxation to which native produce is subjected. This he very properly states should occupy the at-
tention of the British Government as well
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it home.
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[December 16, 1899. There are doubtless many of the residents here, and the great bulk of those at home, who think that because these stations are under one of the I.M. Commissioners eno differential taxation takes place. Ween d assure our readers that they merely have to refer to the reports of those placed to see how fallacious that idea is. The Hoppo under whose control these stations come issues what tariff he likes. The Commis sioner merely sees that at those stations it is enforced on all alike. These stations should be thrown open to foreign vessels equally as they are to native vessels. The Treaty tariff should be be in force there and transit passes granted for all foreign imports whether junk or steamer borne. Money is the root of all evil, says the old If this were done we see no harm in duty proverb. In this case it can be, and must receipts being sold in Queen's Road openly be, made the root of all good. China's and the stigma which attaches to the financial difficulties are the lever which the present administration of doing It claud, British Government must use in conjunc-extinely would then be obviated. The thin tion with other nations if they are willing, end of the wedge was inserted when Sir without them if they are not-to lift the ROBERT HART undertook the collection of load of officialdom which bears upon and duties at these stations. It remains for crushes the life out of one of the greatest Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD and H.E, the markets for British goods in the world. Governor, working in conjunction, to drive Sir ROBERT HART has sown the good seed, and the sapling which is gradually lifting
LI HUNG-CHANG'S APPOINTMENTŲ its head higher from the noxious soil in which it first took its 100ts must be care-
(Daily Press, 15th December) fully nurtured. It is not enough that it
The appointment of Lf HUNG-CHANG to be should be allowed to struggle against the "Grand Secretary and Commissioner of Investigation of Trade at the Treaty rank wes-le with which it is surrounded and
Ports" is an event of some import, have its growth stunted and retarded in con- sequence. The pruning hand of the garance commercially in China.
The ap dener must be called in and the tares separ-pointment is a new one and it may ated from the wheat. To drop the language prove beneficial or otherwise to foreign of metaphor, a financial adviser, or, in view trade. The duties of the new Secretary of international jealousy, an advisory board, will no doubt mainly consist in seeing that must be formed, and paid out of the revenue
the utmost possible revenue is gleaned from such trade, and we may be quite sure that of China. The whole of the taxation on
no tenderness for foreigners will influence water borne traffic, as a start, must be placed under the control of the Customs Adminis- the old gentleman in his administration. tration. A Railway and Mining Board must His great object will be to endeavour to show that his appointment has proved bene- be appointed to whom all regulations, or
ficial to the Imperial revenue, and he will, rather from whom all regulations, with re- gard to those two important things must
we may be sure, see to it that his own purse come. Any attempts such as are now being is not neglected. Office with Li Hung- CHANG and officials of his type is inseparably made to organize provincial taxation farms in opposition to Imperial revenue collections associated with commissions, otherwise must be put down with a stern haud and the squeezes, which no mandarin has ever originators of the movement severely dealt succeeded more completely in bringing into with. We have tinkered long enough. It his net. His late brother, LI HAN-CHANG, is now time for our Government to be up for some years Viceroy of the Two Kwang, and doing, and in a measure their hand where he was universally noted and known As "the bottomless purse" on account of must be forced by means of power which lies dormant in the people-the power of the rapacity that distinguished him, was a representation in parliament. It lies with pupil in the same school, but his methods the merchants of this port to take no small
were clumsy beside those of the new Grand share in bringing that about. They are, Commercial Secretary. His Excellency Li many of them, connected with- and, in HUNG-CHANG will not resort to petty cases, branches of powerful houses at home. squeezes, and he may during his new tenure These merchants must use their influence of office subordinate his passion for gain to to have things put before the public at home his love of power, which he will perhaps in their true light. The absurdity and find a chance to regain if successful in pro- farce of such speeches as have just been moting the interests of the Empress Down- made at Leeds by Lo FEN Lo, the Chinese ger. Li is also sufficiently wide awake to Ambassador to England, must be exposed know that any petty obstructions to foreign in their true colours, the twadle he talks of trade will only react on the revenue, and that the promotion of foreign trade menps reporting to the Emperor of Chica, cement- ing the friendship between the two nations, a substantial addition to the Customs ex- etc., given at their true worth, and the chequer. But whether the new Commercial true problem, namely, of Europeau control, Secretary has the interests of China's must be brought before the nation at large.
foreign trade genuinely at heart is matter for speculation. That he would like to see the revenues increase may be taken for grauted, and that he is anxious that all the profits should be reaped by China he has in the past when Viceroy of Chihli given some significant proofs. It may
the taxation on British goods. We go farther and say that it is even more import- aut. The question of the undefined tsoli awaiting goods at their destination is un. doubtedly an evil, but there is always an authority to which an appeal can be made, in the form of the British Consul; but with the native produce there is no such protec- tion, the provincial officials have full scope there, and exercise it, with the result that the buying capacity of the Chiness is kept at its lowest ebb. Another point on which Mr. GARDNER does not appear to be well informed is the question of the opening of Abe Inland Waiters, as he says:-"There is Auno doubt that now that the coast and inland ports of China are open to our "shipping industries, a greate spurt will be
given to our shipping industries, a greater to spurt to them when cargo as well as par
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The opium question here is one on which, to make a stand. Nothing to facilitate the on this imp rtant collection of revenue article, of import into China should be done by the Government of this colony until the Chinese have-not given satis
be doubted, however, whe factory assurances "--but done something to open the West and other rivers ther he fully appreciates all the benefits trade and to establish one equal that China derives from her intercourse with system of duties at the Kowloon and foreign
with which he in common
L
*sengers are allowed to be carried by our 'Lappa Stations as well as at Canton,' the indigntries. One proof of this