Currency Reform.
Shanghaj
Settlement Extension.
XIV.
immense resources she is believed to possess, by framing mining laws to the best advantage of her people and her exchequer. Mining laws, it is true, were promulgated in May, but under them fairly heavy prospecting taxes, mining taxes, and a tax on output value of all minerals are imposed. The burdens, however, do not end there; experience proves that local "squeezes," "cumshaws" of various kinds to an indefinite extent, and likin charges have all to be provided before those who invest capital in this industry can dispose of the produce of the mines,
It is almost incredible that a people who are so practical in their own private affairs should continue year after year to borrow large amounts and thereby incur an increasing burden of interest, while all the time valuable minerals lie under the soil which would bring in revenue to the Govern ment and provide employment for the people, if only businesslike regulations were made for the active encouragement of the mining industry and for the security of capital invested. China must rely upon herself to work out her own salvation, and one of the surest means of accomplishing that end is to develop her resources.
No steps have been taken by the Government to establish a uniform currency throughout the country, but the state of confusion into which the currency in circulation has drifted has brought about a certain amount of improvement of itself.
It is reported that the Government having accepted payment of taxes in depreciated paper money, have withdrawn many of the notes, with the result that a considerable appreciation in the value of the outstanding circulation has taken place. Large quantities of superfluous silver, including subsidiary coinage, have been melted down and converted into sycee. The coinage of cash is at last said to have been stopped, as the depreciation latterly copper became so great that there is no longer any profit in coining it. The quantity of copper coins in circulation is still far in excess of the requirements of the people; depreciation of this currency is a heavy burden on the masses, but if the provincial mints remain closed, there will sooner or later be some recovery from the present depression.
Year by year headings which have appeared in these pages drop out as the subjects which they denote are settled in all probability the heading for this paragraph appears now for the last time since the Committee are able to
XV.
record with great satisfaction the conclusion of negotiations for the long- delayed extension of Shanghai Settlement.
It is a question that has for so long occupied the attention of the Association and figured so largely in its Annual Reports that it is not necessary to enter into details of the protracted negotiations which have led to the present agreement.
The main conditions set out in the draft Agreement presented to the Consular Body by Mr. Yang Cheng, Special Envoy for Foreign Affairs, and approved in Resolution VI. at the Ratepayers Annual Meeting at Shanghai on the 22nd March, 1915, "embrace an extension which will include three adjoining areas: first, the district of Chapei, proper, lying between the railway and Soochow Creek: secondly, the part of Paoshan which is bounded by the railway and Sawgin Creek: and thirdly, towards the west as far as the new railway line which is to link up the Shanghai-Nanking Railway with the Shanghai- Hangchow Railways.
In return for this extension, which it will be agreed is on a liberal scale, the Chinese Government stipulates for the appointment of an Advisory Board consising of two nominees of the Ningpo Guild, two of the Canton Guild and one to be named by the chief local authority. The duties of the Advisory Board are confined to advising at the request of the Municipal Council on matters affecting the interests of Chinese residents in the whole Settlement and to making representatious to the Council with regard thereto. The draft Agreement also provides that the Municipal Council shall take over the police stations, public buildings, as also the waterworks, electric light station and plant in the new area at a price to be fixed by arbitration.
It appears that these terms if they can be carried out should prove a satisfactory solution of a long standing difficulty.
427
Offices in
Towards the end of September the British Consular Authorities at British Foat Shanghai and Tientsin sought the opinions of the Association's Branches at china those ports with reference to a proposal that it was considered probable the Chinese Government would put forward, viz. the abolition of foreign Postal Agencies in China. These Branches were not unfavourable, provided adequate safeguards for the proper aud effective working of Chinese offices were insisted upon, and the right to re-establish foreign offices, in the event