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his colleagues-the Kowloon, Lappa, Samshui, and Wuchow Commissioners--to discuss the matter in the way suggested and propose any workable compromise. To be of any use proposals ought not to be made without a full knowledge of the subject, nor will they do away with difficulties unless they are locally acceptable, approved of by the Chinese officials, and not detrimental to the interests of the Chinese traders. One of the first things that we ought to be possessed of is a detailed chart of the Canton waters, showing the various official points at which passing boats or merchandize are taken cognizance of, whether Customs, li-kin, or other, and tariffs and regulations ought also to be got.
2. You will see that the Minister suggests immediate action regarding passengers, It will be well to attend to this at once. Is there any written rule in existence? What is really the practice? And ought there to be a positive and permissive regulation? I rather think Li Chung-tang, when Viceroy, was opposed to permitting passengers to embark and land everywhere.
3. With the proposals we ought also to be supplied with copies of the present regulations, both Customs and Inland Steam Navigation-explanations of the present practice as regards registration, control, and movements of inland steamers-and also the numbers registered for inland traffic under each flag.
Sir,
am, &c.
(Signed)
ROBERT HART,
Inspector-General.
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
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Mr. R. Breden to Sir R. Hart.
Shanghae, March 28, 1901. I HAVE received the inclosed despatch and correspondence annexed to it from the Inspector-General, concerning questions of trade on the West River, raised by His Britannic Majesty's Minister, which questions he has handed over to me to be dealt with on lines which the despatch lays down in a general way.
my
2. I have already pointed out in the inclosure of Circular Memorandum, No. 19, p. 16 I (f) that the West River is likely to come up as a subject of discussion with the Powers, and you have yourself already given some consideration to the matter, and possibly discussed it with the local authorities.
3. In any action to be taken in the matter one has to bear in mind three points :- (1) that the West River question is only to an extent a local one; (2) that fiscal and Customs changes having a general effect over all China, and probably having a very special aspect in the Kuang Provinces; and (3) that local arrangements which may of necessity have to be made now should be made to as limited an extent as is really necessary for the time being, and should be framed with a view to their not impeding and not being at variance with the larger schemes of general and local importance which we foresee the almost certainty of.
4. The duty which the Inspector-General's despatch imposes upon you, as I read it, is twofold: (1) to find a modus vivendi in certain connections pointed out in the despatch of the British Minister and in Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co.'s letter to him; and (2) to prepare and have ready for the Inspector-General against the time when the big question comes up, all the information which can be collected regarding the trade, routes, taxation, &c., under the now existing conditions in the Kuang Provinces; what exactly is wanted you will readily gather from the Inspector-General's despatch to me.
5. What is actually pressed for at the moment is some settlement of certain questions raised by Jardine, Matheson, and Co. affecting the West River trade with Canton, the question of trade with Hong Kong and Macao being left for consideration later.
6. Yesterday, at my request, Mr. Inglis, the local Head of Jardine, Matheson, and Co., and Mr. G. W. Sheppard, till recently the firm's agent at Wuchow, called upon me to discuss the grievance they feel themselves labouring under, and the points they consider call for remedy :
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(1.) They state that they want the privilege of landing and shipping passengers their steamers everywhere and anywhere along the river. The Inspector-General does not think there is any objection to this proposal, and has said he knows no rule prohibiting it, The former Viceroy, Li Chung-tang, after consultation with Mr. Schoenicke, laid down the dictum that no such privilege could be accorded, presumably holding that no trade-other than such as the I.W.S.N. Rules allow to vessels trading under them--is permissible to foreign vessels anywhere but at the Treaty ports.
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I suggested to Mr. Inglis that passenger traffic might be permitted at named places, as is the case on the Yang-tsze. Although he stands out for "everywhere"--as does also the Governor of Hong Kong-I imagine "named places" liberally specified would meet the case.
(2.) They complain that by a local taxation arrangement special classes of goods are practically prohibited from being carried in foreign vessels from Wuchow, and they give cassia as a case in point. I inquired from Mr. Sheppard if he could give me any infor-mation about other articles besides cassia, the steamer shipment of which was restricted by any local rule or tax system; he could not recall any. I assume, therefore,
that this particular form of grievance does not extend to many articles, and I think it possible we could arrange as a provisional measure and for a limited time some arrange-ment by which cassia, &c., can be carried by the steamers under a special covering docu-ment, until a plan can be devised by the provincial authorities for doing away with the existing restrictions entirely.
(3.) Messrs Jardine, Matheson, and Co.'s great grievance, however, is, that the pro-vincial authorities, by allowing native steamers to tow native vessels under rules of their own, which are entirely independent of and more liberal than those which both the West River and I.W.S.N. Regulations force us to act upon, practically monopolize all the trade, both inland and interport, and render freight carrying by foreign vessels under the Imperial Maritime Customs impossible.
7. From what I have been able to gather I am inclined to believe that launches in the Canton district which trade under licences issued by the Canton Shan Houc-hu, and of which a certain number trade on the West River and the inland waters leading to it, do to all intents and purposes, either directly or by towing native boats, what our reading of the I.W.S.N. Rules does not consider legitimate, i.e., a combined interport and inland trade, both cargo (generally in towed boats) and passenger (on the steamer herself). Trade carried in native vessels fulfilling native tax requirements is perfectly free between ports and inland, and the towing of these vessels by a steamer, even if that steamer is not registered with us for inland trade, does not make the trade irregular or illegitimate unless we assume that all steamers going inland must be registered with us, a view which the action of the Shan Hou-chü does not seem to support,
8. To put the thing bluntly, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co.'s statement that the native system does permit what the Inspector-General's despatch quoted in the Blue Book says may not be done, i.e., the carrying on an interport and inland trade by the same steamer, seems to have appearance of plausibility; we believe we act up to the law. Jardine, Matheson, and Co. practically say the Chinese authority evades it, and evades it expressly to divert the trade from foreign vessels and Imperial Maritime Customs control to the provincial advantage.
9. I have pointed out to Mr. Inglis that it might be possible to allow the firms interport steamers to do the inland trade with towed junks as the native steamers do, provided these junks stopped at all li-kin stations, and were placed fully under Chinese local control en route.
Mr. Inglis objects that such an arrangement-suggested, I admit, to give an appearance of legitimacy--would only involve expense, trouble, and delay in doing a business in a make-believe way by a native tow, which might be just as well and more easily done by the steamer itself.
10. Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co.'s suggested solutions of the question (a) that all the local trade of the West River, including interport, should be done as inland water trade instead of as Treaty Tariff trade; or (b) that all the trade done with steam, either direct or by towing, should be transferred bodily to us, seem, however desirable in themselves, too sweeping to attempt by local arrangement-though failure to effect the latter will pretty surely lead to its being forced on the local officials through the capital--I cannot offer any suggestions on this point. You can only work on the lines you find the Consuls and provincial authorities willing to accept, and report in detail what you have done, and where you have made a success or a failure.
11. Regarding the maps called for, the one recently compiled at Canton by Mr. Nielsen will serve as a basis. I am taking steps to have it photo-lithographed here, and if it can be successfully done will send you some copies.
I am, &c. (Signed) R. E. BREDEN,
Deputy Inspector-General.
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