The Daily Press.
HONGKONG, September 23rd, 1899.
INLAND WATERS STEAM NAVIGATION.
The following correspondence has been forwarded to us for publication by Mr R. Chatterton Wilcox, Secretary of the Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
THE STEAMER COMPANIES TO THE CHAMBER.
Hongkong, 11th September, 1899.
R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary, Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Dear Sir,--We beg to send you herewith copy of a joint letter which we addressed to H.B.M. Minister at Peking on the 28th March last, pointing out the hardship entailed upon the owners of foreign steamers trading on the West River by the Inspector General of Customs' interpretation of the Steam Navigation Inland Rules and Regulations (amended) 1898, a copy of which we enclose, and in connection therewith we would particularly direct your attention to paragraph 1 of the said Regulations, which reads as follows:-
"The inland waters of China are hereby opened to all such steamers, Native or Foreign, as are specially registered for that trade at the Treaty ports. They may proceed to and fro at will under the following Regulations, but they must confine their trade to the inland waters and must not proceed to places out of Chinese territory. The expression 'inland waters' is used with similar meaning to that given for places in the interior (nei-ti) in the fourth article of the Chefoo Convention."
Our representations to H.B.M. Minister were duly forwarded under cover by Mr. Mansfeld, the British Consul at Canton, and by the reply received, enclosed herewith with other correspondence on the subject, you will see that our effort to obtain redress of our grievances has been futile, although, according to Mr. Consul Mansfeld's despatch 7th July, the Inspector-General of Customs' ruling was in direct contravention of Regulation No. 1 as quoted above. And even the privilege of calling at way ports for passengers has been withdrawn, the trade of foreign steamers being now confined solely to the treaty ports and the four ports of call mentioned in the original proclamation at the opening of the West River.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the freedom of traffic and trading on the Inland waters, about which so much has been said and written of late, is absolutely non-existent. We would therefore ask your Chamber to be good enough to take the matter up, and endeavour to obtain the removal of the restrictions of which we complain in our letter 28th March last, and which constitute a very great hindrance to the development of trade on the West River, so much so that we have had to take one of our steamers off the line.--We are, dear sir, yours faithfully,
THO. ARNOLD,
Secretary, Hongkong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Co., Limited.
JARDINE, MATHESON & Co.,
General Managers, Indo-China Steam Navigation Co., Limited.
BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE,
Agents, China Navigation Co., Limited.
THE STEAMER COMPANIES TO THE CONSUL.
Hongkong, 28th March, 1899.
Sir,
We hand you for your information a joint despatch we have addressed to H. B. M.'s Minister at Peking on the subject of Inland Navigation, together with the enclosures therein alluded to.
These we shall be glad if, after perusal, you will transmit to their destination with any remarks you may think it well to make in order to emphasize the restrictions of foreign steam traffic in Inland Waters.--We have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servants,
(Here follow signatures.)
To R. W. Mansfeld, Esq., H. B. M.'s Consul, Canton.
THE STEAMER COMPANIES TO H. B. M. MINISTER.
Hongkong, 28th March, 1899.
Sir,
We have the honour to enclose copies of certain correspondence relating to the opening of the inland waters of China to steam navigation, from which it will be seen that in addition to an evasive policy with regard to the publication of the Rules to be in force at the various Likin barriers promised in clause 8 of the Supplementary Rules, the Chinese Government seek to impose such restrictions on the opening of those waters as will render the whole concession valueless.
Before any advantage can be taken of the opening of these waters by foreign steamers we are of the unanimous opinion that
1st. The prompt publication of the Rules and Regulations promised in Rule 7 of the Inland Regulations and Clause 8 of the Supplementary Rules, and also of the appointment of the provincial officer referred to in Clause 9 of the latter;
2nd. The rescinding of the Inspector-General's decision that inter-treaty-port steamers shall not also be registered for inland navigation;
3rd. The strict enforcement of Clause 3 of the Supplementary Rules must be insisted on.
As explanatory of this letter we attach a memorandum dealing fully with the subject.--We have the honour to be,
(Here follow signatures.)
To His Excellency Sir Claude Macdonald, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., H.B.M.'s Minister in China.
MEMORANDUM RE INLAND NAVIGATION.
In order that the nature and meaning of these restrictions may be fully understood it is necessary to enter into somewhat lengthy details, but the importance of the stake at issue will, we think, form ample apology for doing so.
At the opening of the West River to foreign trade two lines of steamers were started by us to engage in the carrying trade of it--one for the direct trade between Hongkong and Wuchow via Samshui and the "ports of call"; the other between Canton and Wuchow also via Samshui and the "ports of call". On the direct route the advantage accruing to merchants from the payment of a fixed sum for import duty and transit dues which franked their goods through to the remote parts of Yunnan and Kweichow caused a considerable rush of imports to find their way in from Hongkong by water carriage instead of via the Pakhoi overland route, etc., which they had followed previous to the opening of the river. The Likin authorities have from time to time held out threats of reducing their import duty on goods, thus diverting them from foreign to native craft, but although the Canton provincial authorities have adopted these tactics with the success which usually characterizes their actions of this sort, there
Page 24