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June 8, 1908.]
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE OPIUM QUESTION.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY PRESS,”]
DEAR SIR-It is abundantly manifest from what transpired at the meeting of the Legisla- tive Conocil yesterday (28th instant) and from the articles and correspondence published during the past three weeks in the local papers that objection to the suppession of the opiam trade in the Colony is based chiefly upon the difficulty that would be experienced in the event of our opium revenue being lost, in raising sufficient revenue to meet the present requirements of the administration plus funds for the construction | of much needed additional typhoon refuge for shipping and to meet the expenditure deemed requisite in connection with some other im- portant public works.
A great deal has, as I have just intimated, been said and written on the subject bat unfortunately we don't seem to be any nearer a solation of the financial difficulty than we were when the discussion first commenced, although we are undoubtedly faced-as things stand at present with a problem of great magnitude which cannot, I submit, be solved one moment too soon. This being the view which I in common with many other residents of various nationalities bake of the situation I crave the favour of space in your columas for publication of a suggestion which I make bold to hope may prove helpful in at least minimising the effects of the blow from the sword of Damocles whiob, it would seem, is banging over our heads,
My suggestion has direct reference to the Military Contribution, or "Military Mulet ”. It has been stated-nd truly stated that under present circumstances the problem of financing the colony will be most difficult to solve if we are to lose the revenue at present derived from opium amounting to fully $1,500,000 unless retrenchment or increased taxation be resorted to. It is generally re-
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT. what was deemed to be a golden opportunity to cement our friendship with China with a view to the development of trade and friendly intercourse with an awakening Empire.
To return, then, to the main question at issue the solution of a serious difficulty created by the Imperial Authorities. In view of the fact that the Home Government has decided upon a policy which will soon result in a loss to | us of upwards of a million dollars per annum how are we to make two ends meet in these hard times unless we place Justice before Generosity? "Generosity!" you exclaim. "Where does any question of Generosity come in?" It is, I submit, not only as clear as daylight but is in- extricably involved in the decree of the Imperial Authorities compelling us for years past to contribute a large percentage of our revenue to the Imperial Exchequer. The sum paid to the Imperial Authorities annually is officially styled contribution. It is Tribute pure and simple, It is supposed, or alleged, to be due from as for military protection-although we of course look to the Navy as our right arm of defence and inasmuch
as tribute is "
money paid by a conquered tribe or nation to gain peace or pro- tection" this so-called contribution is de facto tribule-it is due from us we have been given to understand-to assist in defraying the expense incurred in insuring to the inhabitants of the Colony peace and protection.
When business was flourishing, when all was going well with us we marmured not about the Mili- tary Contribution, but since our urgent needs increased and plague wrought havoc with our trade in various ways many and loud have been the protestations against compulsion to pay in rates and taxes a great deal more than. was requisite to meet the needs of the local administration. Few, if any, could perceive the smallest justification for compelling the inhabitants of Hongkong to raise a large surplus revenuejin order that the surplus might be remitted to the westhiest government in the world.
The percentage of revenue allocated to the
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363
In this connection I would suggest that some of our leading citizens-who will, I trust, accept my proposal in the spirit in which it is tendered should organize a public meeting to be held in the City Hall at which every section of the community should be represented, so that action taken at the meeting would in fact be a movement made by the whole body of ratepayers. A Chairman should be elected in the Hall in the usual way. The object of the meeting should then be briefly explained and the Chair- man should go on to suggest that the proceeding. should be limited to the election of a Committes. which would be representative of each section of our large cosmopolitan community, the duty of the Committee being the engagement of some member or members of the legal profession to draw up a Memorial to the Secretary of State setting forth clearly the financial position of the Colony, proving our inability to continue contributing to the Imperial Treasury, and appealing for Justice pure and simple.
The Memorial would of course be signed by hundreds of firms and individuals and be forwarded to London through the good offices of His Excellency the Governor.
I am a firm believer in British Justice and in the love of all Britons for Justice, and I refuse to believe that were the British Government approached by the people through the good offices of the people's obosan representatives a deaf ear would be turned to the ples for fair play. The Imperial Authorities which imposed the Military Con- tribution upon us have the power to withdraw it, and it would in my humble opinion be an impertinence to assume that action of the kind indicated would amount only to crying in the wildernes
It must be borne in mind that the Imperial Authorities are endeavouring to do what they believe to be good not only for Chins but for the British Empire as a whole, and it may therefore, I think, he safely taken for granteds that as soon as the Premier and his distinguished colleagues realize that their fiat re the opium trade is, under present conditions, calonlated
cognised that the Colony.cannot well bear payment of the Military Contribution is surplus to entail great hardship to the public
any further taxation and that were the public called upon to make good the loss of opium revenue the results would assuredly prove most disastrous. What then are we to do in face of the decision of the Imperial Authorities to close the opium divans and gradually, if not rapidly, render the opium traffic as extinct as the Dodo ? In what direction can
we best look for relief? Assuredly in the direction of the Military Contribution, a heavy burden which it has been especially difficult to bear during the past few lean years.
The Military Contribution, amcanting this year to 17 per cent. of the revenue, is unques tionably a very heavy burden to the Colony, while as regards the Imperial Authorities to whom it is paid it of course appears as a mere drop in a vast ocean. Attempts have been frequently made to induce the Imperial Authorities to relieve as of the burden but hitherto without avail, presumably because we were unable to make out a sufficiently strong case against it. Now, however, the position very different from what it has ever been before and the alteration has been created, not by any act on our part but by a decision of the Imperial Authorities based upon the policy of the British Cabinet which has seen fit to extend a helping hand to China in her efforts to eradicate the opiam habit,
Assuming the Chinese Government is not only in earnest but is possessed of the requisite power to 'enforce obdience of the Imperial Anti Opium Decrees throughout the length and breadth of the neighbouring Empire, I incline to the opinion that the policy is wise, for Hongkong depends chiefly for its prosperity upon what is styled the foreign trade with China-the transit trade-and the good will, the friendship, the trade to be done with the 400,000,0.0 of shrewd, in- dustrious, thrifty and enterprising inhabitants of Far Cathay is unquestionably a matter of the highest importance to what Napoleon was pleased to style a "nation of shopkeepers." But I am digressing and may be am indulging in reasoning which will not meet with general acceptance, though I confess to entire inability to perceive in the action of the British Govern- ment any other motive than the seizing of
excess of what is needed by the local authorities it is money wrung from the ratepayers in to keep the machinery of government in motion, provide for necessary public works and so forth. The colonists are subjected to more taxa- tion than is necessary, and this is due, as I have just pointed out, to the demand of the Imperial Authorities that we shall annually pay a large sum of money designated a Military Contribu.
tion.
I trust I have now made it sufficiently clear that the money paid over annually by this Colony to the Imperial Authorities is obtained by taxing the inhabitants more than there is any necessity for, the military contribution being in fact surplus revenné. It is not ext pended on the Colony, and that the Imperial Authorities would not be inconvenienced were we to fail to pay up the tribute is as certain as that Hongkong would be retained as a British military and naval station were there not a It was occupied as an outpost of our great single merchant or trader in the place.
world-wide Empire and such it will of course always remain.
We have now seen that the Colony is faced with a grave difficulty; that this is recognised by all classes and people of all creeds; that the policy of the Imperial Government has been adversely criticised, and that the large sam paid out of our revenue as a Military Contribution represents so much surplus of the Colony's income. Let us now pass on to consideration of ways and means of solving the problem which is at present uppermost in the minds of most ratepayers-How are we to make good the loss of the opium revenue? Condensed in the proverbial nut-shell, my reply is "Justice before Genero- sity." Let me explain. It being admitted that we are to lose $1,500,000 opium revenue; that we contribute to the Imperial Exchequer $1,250.000 as a Military Contribution, and that we are already taxed up to the hilt, it stands to reason that the best way out of the difficulty is to cease to be generous enough to contribute to the Imperial Government in order that full Justice may be done to ourselves. In other words, an appeal for Justice must be made through the proper channel and in a manner best suited to ethoocasion..
and no authorities, they will accept the situation as they find it and cease to exact from Hongkong a contribution which it can no longer afford.
little embarrassment to the local
The foregoing is just an outline of my ideas on a subject which I gather from Dr. Ho Kai's and other speeches delivered at the Council meeting yesterday is exercising the minds of the general public of Hongkong to a very considerable extent. I have not time to elabor- ate a scheme and must therefore leave it as it stands trusting to you, Sir, and to others who have the welfare of the colony at heart to go further into the matter if the suggestions which I have ventured to submit are deemed worthy of careful consideration.
Yours faithfully, G. A. WATKINS
Hongkong, 29 May, 1908.
THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT AND THE COLONY'S REVENUES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "DAILY PRESS ".]
S18,-Every ratepayer in the Colony, I feel sure, would be ready to attach his signature to the memorial suggested by Mr. G. A. Watkins praying the Imperial Parliament to relieve the Colony of the burdensome impost of a Military contribution estimated for the current year to amount to $1,231,000 by way of compensating the Colony for the loss of revenue from the lease of the opiam monopoly. Whether the Imperial Government will be as prompt to compensate as they are to deprive is very much open to doubt. Still, if I am not mistaken a promise of compensation was made to Indis, and, if that be so, there can be no sound reason for denying compensation to the colony of Hongkong.
Until the mail arrives with a full explanation of the telegram sent by the Beoretary of State to the Governor nothing can be usefully added to what has already been said on the subject. Many have hastily jumped to the conclusion that the instructions received from the Imperial Government amount to a sacrifice of the total sum the Colony receives from the opium monopoly (which figures in this year's Estimates
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