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respectively due by the railway company, and have not yet been placed to the credit of the municipal administration since the latter, on entering upon its functions, received a monetary advance from the railway company, and certain matters of account between them have yet to be adjusted. The remaining sums outstanding are owing by private parties, and the greater proportion will, it is hoped, be collected during the current year. The same thing is expected of the taxes unpaid by com- mercial undertakings, factories, and distilleries, &c., though some loss is to be anticipated from the fact that certain establishments, which were in arrears, have now ceased to exist. The revenue obtained from lodgings shows a deficit of 10,000 roubles; but 6,500 roubles of this amount represents taxes due by railway employés which have been deducted from their salaries, and for which an account will subsequently
be rendered.
Expenditure.--The total expenditure is 4,000 roubles in excess of the estimate. The sum of 55,000 roubles, which appears as a refund to contractors under miscellaneous expenses, has already been explained when considering revenue, and is not true expenditure. The amount expended upon town improvements, town buildings and enterprises and public education apparently falls short of the estimate by 37,000 roubles; but I understand that the amount actually voted under these heads has, or will be, disbursed, and will be shown in the full statement of accounts to be published in September next. Under medical, veterinary, and sanitary expenses, the outlay upon medical treatment of the poor pending the completion of the town hospital is 10,000 roubles less than the estimate, and is, I gather, due to the fact that the bills of the various hospitals in which sick people of no means have been temporarily treated have not yet all been presented. It is anticipated that on their presentation the actual expenditure under this head will have reached the budget figures,
Special mention should be made in regard to the maintenance of the police force and, under medical, sanitary, and veterinary, the cost of the measures taken to prevent the occurrence of epidemics and epizootics. Provision for these matters is made in article 7 of the regulations of December 1907, and the actual arrangement now in force is, I am informed, as follows:
Police. The municipal administration pays to the railway company 10 per cent, on various heads of expenditure, certain special items appearing thereunder being, however, excluded. These heads are:-
Maintenance of municipal council. Expenses of detention-house.
Town improvements.
Public education.
Medical, veterinary, and sanitary.
The total sum due for the year 1909 was, as is shown in the budget, 26,810 r. 44 C., being 10 per cent. of 268,404 r. 13 c., the estimated expenditure under the above- mentioned heads. This amount was not, in fact, paid, and is held over pending the adjustment of the account outstanding between the municipality and the railway company to which reference has already been made.
Prevention of Epidemics and Epizootics.--The municipality pays to the railway
These items are company
2 per cent. upon certain items of revenue. Taxes on land, houses, and buildings.
Taxes on commercial undertakings, factories, breweries, distilleries, &c., and
" izvozchiks."
Licenses for horses, carriages, &c.
Notarial fees.
Shipping fees.
The total amount due for 1909 was, according to the budget, 6,444 r. 35 c., being 2 per cent. on the estimated revenue obtainable from the above items. It will be noted that a sum of 750 r. 59 c. only appears against the cost of preventing epidemics and epizootics in the statement of actual expenditure; the balance, as with the police contribution, is held over pending the settlement of the outstanding account between the railway company and the municipality.
It will be understood that the above is merely a rough survey since account has not been taken of the smaller items of revenue and expenditure which require explanation. According to information from a confidential source, when all accounts
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have been finally adjusted the year's working will not show a loss. A deficit, however, of some 70,000 roubles is expected for the current year, and an endeavour is being made to raise a loan of 100,000 roubles from the Russo-Chinese Bank.
I now propose to pass in general review the whole system of municipal administration. A detailed criticism of the 1907 regulations is unnecessary as they have long since been held to be generally objectionable, and my remarks will therefore be confined to certain matters which have seemed to me deserving of particular attention either because of their peculiar significance or because of the closer knowledge of them which actual residence in Harbin has afforded.
The Assembly of Delegates.These delegates are (vide article 32 of the 1907 regulations) elected for a period of three years, and a point which appears to call for special consideration is that the annual budget is not submitted to the ratepayers. The power of the delegates and the executive body--the town or municipal council- is, saving the control of the railway company and such authority as the Chinese Office of Foreign Affairs may endeavour to exercise, supreme for the period above stated.
A full assembly should, according to article 32 of the 1907 regulations, consist of sixty delegates. The present body was elected in February 1908; two elections were held, but even then only thirty-three persons received the requisite number of votes. Seven delegates and twelve "candidates
were therefore nominated by the manager of the railway company in virtue of the powers vested in him by article 30 of the said regulations. "Candidates" are reserve delegates and are selected to fill automatically vacancies in the assembly caused by the retirement of members originally elected.
At clections of delegates--see articles 25 and 26 of the 1907 regulations-votes are recorded "for" and "against." To secure election it is necessary to have the ayes" of more than half the number of electors present: thus, if there are 500 voters, 251 "ayes" is the minimum which a successful candidate can obtain.
By article 37 of the 1907 regulations certain matters which come within the province of the assembly of delegates, such as new taxation, require the assent of two- thirds of all the delegates; this has, with the consent of the railway administration, now, I understand, been reduced to three-fourths of two-thirds and means that, reckoning the total composition of the assembly of delegates with the three represen tatives of the Chinese clamber of commerce as forty-three, the assent of twenty-one members is necessary to permit of the adoption of proposals of the kind.
The Town or Municipal Council. The present membership of the town or municipal council is seven. Its proper complement is nine: that is, six under the 1907 regulations-three elected, two nominated by the manager of the railway company. and the chairman of the assembly of delegates-and the three representatives appointed by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Two of the members of the original council, one elected and one appointed by the manager of the railway company, resigned early last year and their places were not refilled as it was thought that the May agreement would involve certain changes.
The salaries of the members of the council would appear to be somewhat high- more especially since, with the exception of the railway representative, none of them devote their time exclusively to municipal affairs. On the other hand, I am confidentially informed that the present meinbers are all honourable men and that it would not be possible to obtain men of the same character to give their services
gratis" or in return for an insufficient honorarium.
$5
The present list of annual salaries is :-
The chairman
Six members at 4,200 roubles
Total
•
Roubles.
7,200
25,200
32,400
The remuneration of a full council would therefore amount to 40,500 roubles, a somewhat heavy charge on the existing revenue. None of the councillors have, as before stated, had any previous experience as municipal administrators, and the same observation applies to the members of the assembly of delegates.
Qualification of Voters.--The qualifications of voters as set forth in article 12 of the 1907 regulations are not clearly explained. The land tax on improved or unimproved land of the value of′ 1,500 roubles would, according to the present rates of assessment, be respectively & roubles and 3 roubles; the building tax on houses or buildings of the same value would be 12 roubles. The lessee of a short-termed lease of land or houses
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