2
The Newchwang Chamber of Commerce have informed the consular body at that port that a tax, commonly known as consumption tax, is collected in the treaty tourts on goods arriving there under exemption certificates and elsewhere in the interior on foreign goods sent up from the treaty ports under transit pass. In the province of Kirin an additional tax of 1 per cent, ad valorem, called the "business tax," is imposed on all goods, and a special tax of 15 candareens per case on kerosene oil, both of which are levied in contravention of the regulations, and specific cases in which the exemp- tion certificates have been disregarded by li-kin officials at Liao-Yang and Tung- Chiangtzu have been brought to the notice of the Viceroy,
Your Highness will readily understand how important it is to commercial interests that the regulations of 1907 and the treaty provisions should be faithfully observed by the li-kin and other provincial authorities of Manchuria, and by the desire of my colleagues I have the honour to request that instructions may be issued by the Chinese Government to the Viceroy which will remove the just causes of complaint of foreign merchants.
I avail, &c.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
[B]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[47229]
No. 1.
110
2755
RECO
Rro 28 JAN 10
[January 14.]
SECTION 1.
Sir Edward Grey to United States Chargé d'Affaires.
Sir,
Foreign Office, January 14, 1910. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Whitelaw Reid's note of the 29th ultimo, stating that the United States Government have reason to believe that the Chinese Government are ready to appoint a plenipotentiary to discuss with repre- sentatives of the treaty Powers not only the question of the abolition of li-kin in return for the increase of the import tariff, but all questions of fiscal and financial reform related thereto.
His Excellency goes on to say that the United States Government are of opinion that the proposed discussion should take into consideration not only the subject of the abolition of li-kin and the increase of import dues, but also that of the fulfilment of the treaty pledges given in the commercial treaty of 1903 between the United States and China and in the British and Japanese treaties of 1902 and 1903 respectively, and that the representatives of China and of the other Powers concerned should agree upon plans which will ensure the introduction, so far as practicable, of the most urgent of these promised reforms at the same time that the revised tariff shall become effective.
His Excellency adds that your Government are of opinion that the present is an opportune time for such a discussion as the Chinese Government have proposed, and he enquires what is the attitude of His Majesty's Government towards the views set forth, and expresses the hope that they may be in sympathy with those of the United States Government.
When his Excellency approached me on this subject in May last I had the honour to inform him that important stipulatious of the commercial treaty of 1902 between Great Britain and China, such as reform of the currency and the introduction of mining regulations, had not been carried into effect by the Chinese Government; and that in the case of the latter the limit of time within which they should have been issued had in fact been exceeded by over four years; nor had any practical steps been taken by the Chinese authorities for the proper provision or regulation of a national coinage, though it was more than five years since China had agreed to move in the matter. I further pointed out that although the declared object of the Chinese Government was to obtain the abolition of li-kin in return for an increase of customs duties, it was well known that new li-kin stations were being established both iu North and South China, and that foreign trade was being subjected to li-kin exactions of greater frequency and amount.
I regret to state that, notwithstanding the fact that the Chinese Government bave lately framed regulations for the control of the issue of bank-notes, it still remains to be seen whether they will succeed in practically enforcing them, and there is no need to point out that in any case this reform is only one of the many which would have to be made in order to bring about a uniform and satisfactory currency throughout the Empire--a state of things of paramount importance to foreign commerce and men of business trading with China.
As an instance of this, it has just been brought to my notice that during the three years 1906-1908 the colony of Hong Kong has incurred an average annual loss of 184,209 dollars in the demonetisation of Hong Kong small coins as a result of the depreciation of Chinese currency, which, though not legal tender, circulates in Hong Kong, and that the depreciation of the subsidiary coinage has seriously affected the business of nearly all the mercantile firms in the colony.
Nothing further has been heard in regard to mining regulations since my note to Mr. Whitelaw Reid of the 28th May; and as to ti-kin, I regret to say that the situation at this moment is, if anything, less satisfactory than it was in the spring. Complaints reached me last September in regard to the levy of a tax
[2605 - -1]