138
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
CURRENCY QUESTION, The following letter from the Tientsin Cham-
HONGKONG GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.ber was read:
Tientsin Chamber of Commerce,
28th June, 1909.
SIR. I have the honour to invite the co-
operation of your Chamber on the currency question, which is a matter of vital interest to all the commercial committees in China,
Minutes of a Monthly Meeting of the General Committee of the Hongkong General hamber of Commerce held in the Chamber Room. St. George's Building, on Tuesday, the 3rd August, 1909, at 4.30 p.m. Present: Hon.. Mr. E. A. Hewett (Chairman). Mr. J. R. M. Smith (Vice-Chairman, Hon. Mr. W. J. Gresson. Messrs. A. Babington, J. W. C Bonnar, J. W. Bardow. D. R. Law. H. A. Siebs. E. Shellin, H. E. Tomkins and E. Ahaps
M. Williams (Secretary),
MINUTES.
The Minutes of the last Monthly Meeting of the Committee were confirmed.
AKBITRATIONS AND SURVEYS ON PIECE GOODS.
The following reply to the Bradford Chamber
was read :---
Hongkong Chamber of Commerce. Dear Sir.-I am directed to your letter of 11th May. 1909, in which you express the dissatisfaction existing among Exporters of Worsted, Woollen and Cotton Goods, whose product has been the subject matter of dispute between themselves and Eastern Buyers.
My Committee do not know in what particulars the system adopted by the Bombay Chamber differs from that of the local Chamber, but have written for details and upon their receipt will give the matter their further consideration.
I am to state that my Committee have had full confidence in the ability of the Arbitrators! and Surveyors elected by them from time to time, and cannot but believe that the error of judgment is with the Exporters of the cargo in dispute.
If the Bradford Chamber of Commerce can bring a clear case to the notice of my Committee. showing that they are justified in animadvert- ing against the decisions of our local Surveyors, in the manner they have done, my Committee will thoroughly enquire into the matter.-I am. &c...
E. A. M. WILLIAMS,
Secretary.
The following letter to the Bombay Chamber was read:-
Hongkong Chamber of Commerce, 30th June, 1909.
Tear Sir.-My Chamber has received a circular letter from the Bradford Chamber of Commerce in which the system adopted by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce for dealing with disputes in respect of alleged inferiority in the quality of Worsted. Woollen and Cotton Goods
is referred to.
My Committee would much like to know the procedure of your Chamber as to appointment of Arbitrators and Surveyors, so that they may bring ourselves into line with you.
Any information you can give me on this point will be much appreciated.—I am, &c.,
E. A. M. WILLIAMS, ecretary.
The following reply from the Bombay Cham
ber of Commerce was read :---
Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, 16th July, 1909. Dear Sir. In reply to your letter dated 30th June regarding the procedure adopted by this Chamber with reference to the appointment of Arbitrators, I have pleasure in enclosing herein a copy of the rules and regulations governing all disputes submitted to the Committee. I may mention that surveyors for private surveys are not appointed, it is only when both parties to a dispute submit separate statements of their case direct that arbitration is undertaken and an award given. Both parties must also ex- press their willingness to abide by the decision.
When surveyors who are adopted by the disputants themselves are unable to agree the matter can be referred to the Committee of this Chamber for au Umpire's decision.
In sending you the enclosed pamphlet I would express the hope that it will prove of practical utility and furnish yon with the information
desire to obtain.-Yours faithfully. you
J. B. LESLIE RODGERS. The Secretary.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
.
The question has again been brought vividly before this Chamber by the wholesale depre. ciation of the local currency, and matters have reached an impasse.
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[August 16, 1909.
able, under the new Chinese régime, to secure the desired reform.—I have, &o.,
W. E. SOUTHCOTT,
Chairman.
The letter and enclosures were duly acknowl- edged in a letter which stated that the matter was receiving the attention of the Committee of the Chamber, and subsequently the following reply was sent :-
Hongkong Chamber of Commerce,
10th August, 1969. STR.-I have now the honour to reply to your letter dated 28th June, 1909, on the question of Currency Reform in China.
My Committee are fully prepared, as they have always been, to take part in any concerted aotion having for its object the improvement of the present state of affairs to which you call attention. It is presumed that the present endeavour will take the form of a joint meinorial, and my Committee will be glad to receive a draft of it in due course.-I am, &c.,
E. A. M. WILLIAMS,
Secretary.
In inviting your co-operation you will per
allow me to explain in some detail the present situation of the local currency.
The fineness of the local Hongping us Pao sycee is supposed to be .992, and the shoes are so stamped, but no control has for some time been exercised over the melting shops, and the touch has deteriorated to anything round about .965
In February, 1908, the Commissioner of Customs issued a notification (vide pp. 49-50 of our 1908 Year Book) that owing to the deterior- ation of sycee an extra 2 per cent. would be imposed on all duties. It was not until Septem ber, 1908. after much agitation, that this illegal charge was done away with, but we were unable to induce the Chinese Authorities to acknowl- THE BLOWING OF STEAM edge their liability for the currency in spite of the fact that all melting shops were required to hold licences from them.
Since that date a so-called melting fee of 8 per cent. has been charged on all duties, and we have. up to the present, been unable to secure the abolition of this imposition.
No steps have been taken to recall the debased sycee, nor efficiently control the issue of new shoes. A proclamation was issued by the Haikuan Tac in March 1908 (vide p.142 of
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our 1908. Year Book), which ordered the melting shops to issue sycee of 992 fineness; but this proclamation has been £1 dead letter. The position then is this. That the former currency of debased sycee. lower than 992, which formed the currency of the port, has been demonetised and that no effective steps have been taken to replace same by another currency.
This has led to a state | of confusion in all financial transactions to the detriment of trade.
pay!
Things have reached such a pass that ment of Tls. 1,000,000 recently required to be made on Chinese Government account to one of the banks could not be made owing to their having no sycee of the requisite fineness.
On 18th instant, a special meeting of this Chamber was held, and a long resolution was adopted demanding that the debased sycee shall be recalled, replaced and remelted, and that an efficient control of all sycee melted in future should be maintained. I have the honour to send you under separate cover copies of cor- respondence, and of the minutes of the meeting referred to.
1
:
W. E. Southcott, Esq..
Chairman, Tientsin Chamber of Commerce.
HARBOUR.
WHISTLES IN THE
The following letter from Messrs. Deacon, Looker and Deacon was read :—
Hongkong, 23rd July, 1909. Sir,-We desire to call the attention of your Committee and especially to those Members of it who represent shipping interests, to the 21st of the Merchant regulation of Table "M Shipping Ordinance No. 10 of 1899. The object of this regulation is to control the nuisance caused by the unnecessary blowing of steam whistles in the harbour.
In the original regulations published simul- taueously with the Ordinance, the regulations ran as follows:—
"9. No Steamship when at anchor near or lying off the Praya, or when moored to or waiting at any wharf or landing-places, shall use the steam whistle, nor shall such steam- ship, when under way, use the steam whistle, except for the purpose of giving necessary notice of her approach towards any other vessel "1
10. No steamship when entering or leaving the Harbour, or when at anchor therein, shall use her steam whistle, except for the purpos of navigation or to avoid collision. The use of such steam whistle for any other purpose is hereby prohibited.
These regulations were amended by the Gov. ernment Gazette of the 10th March, 1908, page 342. and the following regulation was substituted for the two quoted above:-
I
21. No steamship shall use her steam whistle except for the purpose of navigation as laid down by His Majesty's Orders in Council in Articles 15, 28 and 31 of the Collision Regulations.
•
The effect of the present regulation is that, unless a steamship blows her whistle when in the waters of this Colony strictly for the purpose of regulations 15, 28 and 31 of the regulations for preventing collisions at sea, a nuisance is committed for which the Master can be fined.
We are
understand it is given
both the
practice of seamen, invariable in the waters of this Colony and in other crowded anchorages and possibly
in the even
to give a warn- a steamship's ap-
The Committee was instructed to invite the co-operation of the other Chambers in China. and I feel confident in laying the facts before your Committee that they will wel come the opportunity to co-operate with trs urging the Diplomatic Corps in Peking to insist on the long promised reform of the currency being carried into effect. There is a strong feeling in this hamber that e call go on writing despatches interminably without producing any effect, and, as one speaker pointed out at our recent meeting. the foreign community have a very powerful lever in the payments they make to the Customs. If our united representations again bear no fruiting on the whistle of it might be worth considering whether com. proach to small craft whose presence or course bined action of all the Chambers in the manner indicated would be advisable.
The minutes, which I am forward ing to you, will, I think, give an idea of the serious financial situation here, and, the agent of one of the banks pointed out, breaking point may be reached at any moment.
as
I feel confident in approaching your Chamber that we shall have your fall support in another united endeavour to secure the long promised carrency reform.
We are communicating in the above sense with the Chambers of Commerce at Shanghai, Hankow, Tsing tau,
Newchwang, London, aul Manchester, and I feel hopeful that if
open
to
sea
might constitute danger either to themselves or to the steamship. This signal appears to consist of one or more blasts or toots.
The necessity for this warning is particularly apparent in this harbour where steamers, when coming up to their buoys or their wharves, have often to be steered at such a speed as to preclude their being under full steerage way, rendering them often unable, owing to the crowded state of the harbour and the influence. of the tides, to avoid small craft which other. wise they would be bound to steer clear of.
Under regulation 21, us at present framed, a steamship cannot adopt the customary method of warning small craft without being liable to On the assumption ccnviction for a nuisance
we unite in taking firm action we shall be that the giving of these warning whistles is in
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