[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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[16214]
No. 1.
21622
[May
SHOTION
205 18 JUN 07
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 18.)
(No. 165. Confidential.) Sir,
Peking, April 2, 1907. INFORMATION which reaches me from several trustworthy sources indicates that a feeling of uneasiness has been produced in the Customs service by certain circulars recently issued by the Inspector-General, and by the promotion to indoor rank as assistants of four Chinese clerks in the outdoor service.
Although I have seen Sir Robert Hart frequently, he has not alluded to this subject, and I am therefore obliged to rely largely upon hearsay reports.
The first circular, dated the 8th February, copy of which I have the honour to inclose herewith, instructs the Commissioners to make more use of the Chinese staff, both indoor and outdoor. The indoor members are to take a larger share in the work which is generally confided to the foreign assistants, and to the outdoor members are to be assigned such parts of the duties of tide-waiters and examiners as they may be found competent to perform.
This was reinforced by a second circular, of which the following has been given me as an extract :-
"You will therefore reduce the duty assigned to non-Chinese to a minimum, and increase that of Chinese to a maximum.'
Divorced from its context, this passage may not convey an accurate idea of the scope of the circular as a whole. But there can be no doubt that general instructions have been issued for the transfer to Chinese of a considerable portion of the work hitherto performed by foreigners, and as little doubt that Sir Robert Hart has taken this action under orders from the Shui-wu Ch'u.
His own policy during the last forty years has been the exclusion of Chinese from the indoor staff of the service. The wisdom of this policy has at times been questioned by Commissioners and others, who held that it was a waste of money to pay foreigners high salaries for doing mere clerical work which could be done equally well by Chinese, but it is safe to assume that it was not these considerations, but the influence brought to bear upon him by the Shui-wu Ch'u which has led to the change. And it is hard to see how the Chinese claim to a reasonable share in the personnel of a branch of their own Civil Service can be resisted.
Ability and integrity of character are perhaps the first requisites of an efficient Civil Service, and the ordinary Chinese is not wanting in either. He has proved himself not inferior to Europeans in the former quality, and, as regards the latter, he has received spontaneous testimonials from bankers and others who have had the best opportunities of testing his honesty and loyalty to obligations. A plébiscite of the foreign merchants in the East would certainly place the Chinese trader on a higher level in this respect than his Japanese compeer.
But with the official classes it is different, and there corruption seems to be much the same as it ever was. There are no fixed salaries; men purchase their offices, and are left to recoup themselves at the expense of the people.
If China, therefore, is gradually to substitute Chinese for Europeans in the Customs service, it is essential that the recruitment should from the outset proceed on European, and not on Chinese lines, and this seems to be the objectionable feature of the new appointments.
It is rumoured-with what amount of truth I am not in a position to state--that the four Chinese assistants all paid large sums for their ranks before being appointed by the Inspector-General, and, if this is so, it is certainly not calculated to maintain the purity of the service. It is said that the same thing took place in the case of six appointments made in December lust. It should be added that most of these assistants, with the exception of one who goes to Tsingtau, are attached for the present to the Shui-wu Ch'u in Peking.
Sir Robert Hart is also making arrangements for the establishment of a school in
[2494 s--5]