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arrived at Shanhaikuan, where the Great Wall of China, leaving the mountains crosses the plain to the sea and divides China from Manchuria, I was informed by an officer detached from the Customs at Tien-tsin, that it was his intention to search my baggage for arms. Explanations followed, and the search was dispensed with, but when one considers that the offscourings of Europe followed the armies during the war, and that many of them still remain in Manchuria, it is evident that some such precautionary measure is necessary. A Customs officer engaged in this special work has been stationed at Shanhaikuan for about six months.
Imperial Railways of North China and Taxation of Traffic,
Since the purchase by China from Japan of the railway, 3670 miles in length, built by the latter between Hsin Min Fu and Mukden during the war and military occupation of Southern Manchuria, the section from Shanhaikuan to Mukden has become the main line of the Imperial Railways of North China in Manchuria, and the line from Shanhaikuan to Ying-kou, or the port of Newchwang, is now a branch line leaving the main line at Kou-pang-tzu junction. As complaints have been made that foreign goods imported into Newchwang and afterwards forwarded by this railway to Mukden are taxed at Kou-pang-tzu, I interviewed the Traffic Manager on the subject. He informed me that there is a tax office of the Hu Pu, or Board of Revenue, in the neighbourhood of the station, and that foreign goods unaccompanied by exemption certificates are taxed. He further stated that Chinese merchants had frequently complained to him that they were unable to obtain exemption certificates from the Imperial Maritime Customs at Newchwang; but the Commissioner of Customs there, with whom I discussed the matter, assured me that applications for exemption certificates made in due form and showing that import duty had been paid had never been refused. As, however, exemption certificates are granted only for goods liable to duty, and on which duty has been paid, duty-free goods, such as foreign flour, are not protected, and it seems to me that the Customs at the port of entry should, if called upon, issue certificates that would exempt duty-free goods from taxation between the port and the open marts in the interior. The Imperial Railways of North China have for some years proved a veritable gold mine to the Government: in the year ending the 30th September, 1905, the gross earnings amounted to 12,943,383 dollars, and in 1906 to 12,191,188 dollars; but during the present year there has been a considerable falling off in traffic due to trade depression—which, however, is not confined to Manchuria—and the earnings for the year ended the 30th ultimo will probably amount to about 10,000,000 dollars. There is another method of taxing trade on the railway which is still less legitimate. The Chinese station-masters are known to derive considerable incomes for granting, or pretending to grant, special facilities to the consignors or owners of goods, and I have been assured by a foreign official connected with the railway that some men have drawn as much as 2,000l. a-year from this source; but every effort is being made to suppress the irregularity, and suspects are being removed.
Newchwang.
A steam ferry-boat belonging to the railway now plies between the railway wharf on the right bank of the Liao and the town of Newchwang, and passengers are landed free of charge at a wharf just below the custom-house.
Many changes have taken place at Newchwang since I visited it in the spring of 1906. It was then under the military administration of Japan; there were some 4,000 Japanese civilians in the town; a good road had been built from the town east and north-east to the railway station at Niu-chia-tun, 3 miles distant; and a Japanese Settlement was being marked out between the town and the station. The administration of the town was restored to China on the 6th December, 1906; Japanese civilians now number about 2,000, and are housed for the most part in their own Settlement of red-brick buildings, the most imposing of which are a hospital and municipal offices, the latter not yet completed; and a line of rails has been laid from the goods station to, but not through, the Settlement. This branch line was laid for carrying bricks and building materials, and is not used for ordinary traffic. The Settlement did not impress me as being at all prosperous: the houses on the main street leading to the railway station were mostly occupied by small shopkeepers, and in other streets I noticed that many houses were tenantless. The Settlement was at first policed by Japanese, but these were subsequently replaced by Chinese from the Kuantung leased territory. The Japanese possess little land on the river bank, most of the river frontage having been bought up by speculative foreigners in the hope that the Russians would bring the railway to the town. In this they were disappointed; but a proposal is now on foot to bring the line nearer the town with its terminus on a piece of frontage purchased by the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha—the largest Trading Company in Japan—from the Russian Government who acquired it for docking the gun-vessel "Bobr" previous to the war. This piece of land was seized by Japan, but afterwards restored to Russia. Negotiations have been opened by the South Manchurian Railway Company with the foreign proprietors of the land through which the line must pass, but the terms offered are such as to lead one to think that the Railway Company is not serious in its project.
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For many years the Liao River has been eating away its left bank in the bend which it takes before reaching the town of Newchwang, especially from the railway station down to the remaining four lots of the old British Concession. The Japanese have attempted to stop the encroachment by piling (20 feet into the mud) and boarding the river face; but much of the new bunding near the railway station has slipped bodily into the river, and it is feared that, owing to the absence of hard bottom, the remainder will follow. But there is an even graver danger threatening the port from the river higher up. Some years ago, when I was stationed at Newchwang, I had occasion to measure the neck of land which separates the tortuous course of the river opposite the western half of the native city, in view of acquiring a British Concession on the right bank to the east of the Chinese railway station, and I found the breadth to be about 600 yards. I am told that the breadth at the present time is only 400 yards, and as the main current of the river now runs between Duck Island and the right bank, and mud flats are exposed at low water between Duck Island and the left bank, it seems only a question of time when the river will pierce through the neck, find a much shorter channel to the sea, and leave the whole of the foreign quarter of Newchwang high and dry. The danger has become so imminent that Mr. de Rijke, the Engineer-in-chief of the Wangpoo Conservancy, has recently visited Newchwang for the purpose of studying the question and giving his opinion as to what steps should be taken to conserve the waterway.
The Liao was exceptionally low during the present year, and the bean-boats did not come down freely until July. The state of the river is greatly exercising the minds of the Chinese merchants and dealers, and there have been frequent meetings of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to discuss the whole situation with a view to finding a remedy. It appears that some years ago a channel or trench was dug from the right bank of the Liao to the Shuang-tai-tzu River further west, the object being to drain off the surplus water of the main river and prevent flooding, to which its valley was frequently exposed, and it has been proposed to block this channel to a certain height. This may be a slight remedy, but as I afterwards found the Liao exceedingly shallow between Mukden and Hsin Min Fu, and as a severe drought visited Central and Northern Manchuria in spring and summer, the lowness of the river was probably due to absence of rain.
Newchwang's main industry has always been the extraction of oil from beans and the manufacture of bean-cakes as a resulting product. In addition to numerous native mills of the old pattern there are now six mills with foreign machinery engaged in this industry, the two latest additions being a large Chinese mill within the Chinese railway reserve, and a Japanese mill between the town and the Japanese railway station. The latter is worked by hydraulic pressure instead of hand-presses, and has not proved a success. It has been found difficult to regulate the pressure, and the cakes turned out are too dry and liable to crumble. The ordinary hand-presses turn out cakes which can be handled without falling to pieces. Beans were scarce and dear, and only four of the mills were working at the time of my visit, and that intermittently.
A scheme for supplying Newchwang with water is now being carried out by a Japanese concern called the Electric Light, Telephone, and Waterworks Company of Yingkow. Reservoirs are being constructed on the left bank of the river opposite the town of Tien-chuang-tai, 13 miles up-river. It is expected that the town will be supplied with electric light early next year. The power house is in the vicinity of the Japanese railway station at Niu-chia-t'un.
The feeling of the mercantile community of Newchwang is that that port will hold its own with Tairen, and that in any case there will be ample room for both places. This is evidenced by the fact that many foreign houses have recently been built, and that others in course of construction are leased even before they are
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