-800
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[April 18, 1901:
| even though it should be a more striking monument than that now in Chater Road. As an alternative, there is some form of great public improvement, to which all and residents might be glad to contribute, which might render the appearance of the Colony more worthy of its important position in the Empire. Here we are met by an embarrassment of riches. There are so which might well be many deficiencies supplied, so many benefits to the inhabitants of the Colony which might be suggested. Mr. LEIGH proposes that a public meeting should be held to elect a committee to invite suggestions, preparatory to a second meeting at which the matter could be discussed and some proposal formulated. We can see no more practical way of arriving at a satisfac- tory conclusion than that suggested by our correspondent, and we have no doubt that his letter will meet with the ready response which it deserves. But, in view of the rate at which schemes progress here after they have been shaped, it would be well to lose no time in making a start.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
plead “you do by indirect measures pens that the continental states of Europe, States p not content to purchase sugar in the cheap what you do not wish to own you do direct
** make beet-
where is the difference? One of the est market, have been trying root a substitute for the more cheaply grown objects of the present tariff of the States is sugar-çane, and, more extraordinary still, to stimulate exports, by so surrounding home have been paying out of the income of the manufactures with protective regulations,that various countries large sums of money in of their superabundance the manufactures the way of export bounties on this article, shall be able to capture the foreign markets. to the benefit apparently of the sugar-re- It is not easy for any logical mind to recog- finers of England, though to the serious nise the difference. More especially is this damage of our West Indian colonies, whose the case with regard to iron and steel manu- It is a fact, boasted of rather market for sugar was destroyed by these factures. bounties. This particular crime, not having | than denied, that United States manufac- any immediate attraction for the States, turers of wrought steel and machinery do has been by them "damned" by the impo- regularly export their goods at rates far sition of "countervailing" duties against below the cost of production; and that they sugars importeil from those countries where are enabled to do so by the higher prices bounties on exported sugars existed. Now the people of the States have to pay owing amongst the s
states where the artificial cul- to the tariff shutting out all competition. ture of sugar has been most encouraged is In what respect does this differ from the Russia, and although the method does not action of Russia with regard to its sugar? assume the form of direct payments on ex- The Russian peasant has to pay a price out ports, still practically the end is the same; of all proportion to the cost of his sugar, in and taking advantage of the facilities offered order that certain manufacturers may be by the Russian Government, sugar is laid able to export it cheaply to the United | down in the States at a cent a pound below States; and on the other side of the Atlantic its proper rate. In their righteous zeal Ocean the American farmer has to pay against the economic sins of others which equally disproportionate prices for his themselves" have no mind to," the United plough and his reaper, in order that certain States Treasury officials have discovered syndicates may advantageously get rid of that they must punish Russia for her back- their superfluous goods. This is a slidings and have announced that they will which is, indeed, beneficial to a few indivi- for the future tax all Russian sugars to the duals, or a few syndicates, but it is difficult calculated amount of the benefit. Russia, to see how in the long run te result to both apparently aware that logically she has a nations can be other than disastrous. · weak case, does not descend to argument, but simply announces her intention of rais- ing her import dues on iron and steel manufactures from the States by fifty per cent.-a rate practically prohibitive. That Russia is in this acting strictly within her rights, and indeed only fol- lowing the bad lead given her by the United States themselves, is plain to any unprejudiced observer; and the only wonder is that the States do not recognise that the dispute is only the natural outgrowth of the system that they have themselves inaugu- rated. The most curious ortion of the controversy is yet to come. The plea for the additional taxation of Russian sugar is that by her complicated system of finance Russia practically offers a bounty on the export of sugar. An American paper thus days down the case as seen from an American point of view : -
•
The operation of an export bounty is to cause part of the cost of production of the exported article to be paid by general “taxation. This is considered by producers
not 80
favoured to be unfair competition. Our Government has adopted this view, and our revenue laws provide that all dutiable articles from countries which
pay
export bounties shall pay upon entering the United States, in addition to the regular tariff, a countervailing duty “equal to the bounty which such articles
have received."
Now, though Russia does not in so many words pay export bounties, she yet in her regulations practically places sugar in the position of being capable of export at a rate below what it could under natural conditions be profitably, produced at, and the difference 18 made up by general taxation. Therefore, urge the Treasury officials, sugar should pay
|
A VICTORIA MEMORIAL IN
HONGKONG.
(Daily Press, 9th April.)
we
war
THE WATER AUTHORITY AND THE RAIN.
(Daily Press, 10th April.) In the midst of the heavy downpour of rain with which the Colony has been fa- youred during the past three days the Wa ter Authority appears to have been struck with the idea of playing a practical joke on the residents. In Saturday's Gazette there. appeared, over Mr. CHATHAM's signature, a notice to the effect that, in the absence of further rainfall, on and after Monday, the 8th instant, te supply of water would be turned on in the public mains only dur ing certain hours in various districts. a most abundant fall of rain on Sunday, The threatened householders saw with relief and Bank Holiday brought a repetition of the same weather. On the latter day, to the consternation of those who were consoling themselves for euforced confinement at home with the idea that at least the water-supply at the public mains in various districts, had been replenished, the water was cut off starting, we believe, at the Peak. Apparently therefore our Water Authority is not satis- fied with the rain which has fallen in the last three days. In that case it must be said that his notice in the Gazette was misleading. There certainly has not been any "absence of further rainfa}].” The exact statistics of the fall are not yet showers and the long continuance of the made out, but the heaviness of some of the less violent rain preclude the iden of its of the reservoir shows this not to be so. having been small; moreover, an inspection The explanation of the Water Authority's action is difficult to imagine, unless he is laying up a stock of water for a coming dry day.
Mr. R. K. LEIGH's suggestion, which ap- pears in a letter in another column, is one which will commend itself to all British subjects in Hongkong. Of all British pos- sessions the Colony of Hongkong, whose history in the nineteenth century is prac- tically coextensive with the reign of Queen Victoria, bas through this the strongest cause for the perpetual remembrance of our late sovereign. It is only fitting there fore that there should be some outward sign of the feelings which we must en- tertain for her. This principle will be feel sure, by all readily granted; sections of the community. But as to the form which the memorial should take there is likely to be considerable diver- sity of opinion. In the first place, there is the discouraging example of our previous Victoria memorial, that in honour of the Diamond Jubilee year. I is true that the construction of the proposed road is now beginning and that the scheme has left the province of ideas for that of facts, but it is with little pride that we can look back on the tedious delays and obstructions which so long deferred the commencement of the work. The part of the plan which refer. red to the Victoria Hospital and Nurs- ing Institute has similarly been a long disappointment to those who in 1897 A correspondent to the Mulay Muil gives eagerly took the opportunity of showing some particulars of the panic which has seized rom the the recent deportation of Chinese their loyalty to their ruler ia practical form the Chinese community in Selangor, owing to state and the continual arrests of suspects. But such delays and discouragements are inseparable concomitants of Crown Colony A gloom has spread over the whole city of
ample op- Kuala Lumpur, he writes; the gau bling de government, to which we portunities of growing the present to is empty houses, and people are afraid to be hit upon scheme o which the Colonial Office can offer little objection. The most obvious method of commemorating the dead is by the erection of a statue,
dens
countervailing duties. We are not going to difficulty in such Cave The are deserted, the Chinese theatre plays to
seen in public at night. Trade is dislocated, men are withdrawing their money from mines, have refused to lend money until the hundreds are leaving the state, and the chetties blows over. The Malay Mail says, that Mr. Hare, the Protector of issued notices in Chinese,
contravene the argument, but to point out that its logical application would prove in- tensely embarrassing to the States them- selves. If the United States Government method which is being adopted at the plead that it is thout sin in this matter, as it does not offer any direct bounty on present time in many parts of the British export, it is equally clear that on similar Empire. In Hongkong, however, we have al- ́ only bad characters grounds the Russian Government can plead | ready a statue of Her late Majesty, and there and that respectable people have noth its innocence of any offence. If the United seems to be little point in erecting another, fear,