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Enclosure in No. 18.
MEMORANDUM ON WEI-HAI Wei.
I.
1. An excellent survey of the leased territory has been made and printed, from which it appears that the area is about 260 square miles.
The territory over which we have certain rights and which embraces the whole of the Shantung Peninsula east of the meridian of 121° 40′ is very much more extensive.
2. The country consists of masses of abrupt and rugged mountains from 1,000 to 1,500 feet high, separating and enclosing flat and fertile valleys.
The strata are metamorphic, consisting of thin beds of quartz, clay slate, gneiss and crystalline limestone, cut across by dykes of volcanic rock and granite. at a high angle and run transversely to many of the hills. It is just the country for The beds dip minerals, and in fact gold, silver, tin, and lead have been found. I should not expect to find coal. Good building stone is found, also clay for bricks and tiles, and limestone for burning.
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The valleys are alluvial and rich. The streams are torrential and cut deep gullies. Food crops are grown in the valleys: millet, sweet potato, beans, &c. These are attended to with the usual wonderful skill and care of the Chinese.
The hill sides are either bare or are covered with a dwarf oak, the food of innumerable silk-worms.
The buys and creeks along the coast shelter the boats of a considerable fishing population.
3. The number of the population has not yet been ascertained. There are about 250 villages, i..., about one to every square mile, though they are not evenly distributed, but lie in the valleys.
The number per village I can only guess at. inhabitants.
The number has been put as high as 300,000.
At 400 each there would be 100,000
4. Public works practically do not exist. A road was made to Chifu, but it is falling into ruin, and the streams were apparently never all bridged. The communications by land are by footpath, and goods are carried on mules.
Probably the silk trade is all done by mule, as there would be a market at Chifu only 40 miles away.
water.
I have seen 20 to 30 junks at Mato, and probably all the heavier goods come by
II. Survey.
5. The leased territory has been surveyed and mapped on a scale of two inches to one mile, in four sheets.
The Shantung Peninsula, east of 121° 40′, has been surveyed on a scale of inch to a mile, but the reproduction for printing will take some time.
There is also a 25% survey of Leu Kung Tao and the shores of the bay.
The boundary by the Convention is a line 10 miles from the shore of the Bay of Wei-hai Wei.
This line, as might have been expected, falls somewhat inconveniently in places. A modified boundary has been suggested which was submitted to the Tsung-li-Yamên, and by them referred to the Governor of Shantung.
6. With regard to the present administration, the island of Leu Kung. which has been entirely purchased by the War Office and Admiralty, has been governed by an English Officer from the date of annexation. He has also attended to our interests on the mainland, at Flagstaff Point and Mato. The barracks of the Chinese Regiment are near Mato.
The rest of the territory has been left alone, by agreement with the Chinese Govern- ment, pending the determination of the position of the boundary. The survey having been made, this can now be marked out. few villages on the border.
The minor adjustments proposed only affect a
It is very desirable to begin administering the territory as soon as may be. There is no certain Government; probably the Chinese officials are still collecting the taxes; and questions concerning the ownership of land and mining rights must be becoming pressing.
III.
7. With regard to the future form of administration I would suggest as follows :-
8. The Government to be entirely independent of Hong Kong,
The climate, people, and language spoken at Hong Kong are different to those at Wei-hai-Wei, and it is 1,200 miles off.
Whatever
9. The Government to be administered by a "Governor and Commander-in-Chief.' It is important to avoid any conflict between civil and military interests. decision may be come to with regard to the use to be made of the harbour, military considerations must always be of great importance in such an isolated and distant possession, and one so near to possibly hostile forces.
10. The island of Leu Kung, which is entirely Government property (Admiralty and War Department), should be looked after by a "Cantonment Magistrate," as proposed by the Commissioner, Colonel Dorward, in his letter to the Under Secretary of State for War, dated 18th October, 1899.
This would set the Governor free to attend to the general interests of the territory. It would consequently be advisable that he should reside on the mainland. Probably a site near Mato would be found the most healthy, accessible, and convenient. 11. In the administration of the territory it would be advisable at first to interfere as little as possible with existing organisation.
Presumably this is worked by villages and districts as in the new territory at Hong Kong.
The presence of prospectors for minerals will, however, soon render some modifica- tion of this necessary, so that a judge should be sent out at an early date.
A staff of police will also be required at once.
12. Among the chief requirements of the territory are public works in the way of roads, bridges, piers, water-supply and regulation of torrents.
soil.
A large amount of land is wasted owing to the torrents spreading sand over the
The construction of embankments would enable much of this to be brought into cultivation.
Roads are non-existent, except that there is the ruin of one going to Chifu. There are only tracks running between the fields.
To look after this a colonial engineer is required, with a draughtsman and overseers. One of his first duties would be to prepare a property map, based on the ordnance survey, with a view to assessing the land' tax.
13. Revenue. I do not know much about the present revenue of the territory, but believe it is raised in a similar manner to that at Hong Kong ; i.e., by a land tax, together with licence fees and other minor imposts.
See
The official revenue raised from the territory at Hong Kong is about £5,000 per annum, while the unofficial revenue ("squeeze") brings it up to £16,000. Mr. Stewart Lockhart's Report, dated October 8th, 1898, pages 15 and 16.*
Assuming that the revenue varies as the area, which is probably fairly correct, then the corresponding figures for Wei-hai-Wei would be £3,420 and £10,950.
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It would be undesirable to tax up to the limit of the “ squeeze, but one could probably get £5,000 a year by the existing organization.
In addition, wine and spirits should be taxed, so as to catch the foreign residents. Tobacco, I notice, is not taxed in the Hong Kong territory. As it is the great luxury of the natives, who are constantly smoking, it is perhaps unadvisable to touch it as a new impost.
The question of taxation is the most pressing one, and should be investigated by Bome competent person well acquainted with Chinese ways, and preferably speaking the Northern language.
With regard to Leu Kung Tao, it would be advisable to ask the War Office to allow the rents of their property there to be paid to the Cantonment Magistrate, to be expended by him for the benefit of the island.
14. The question of smuggling into China, especially of smuggling opium, will have to be considered. Hong Kong could supply advice on this matter. As Leu Kung Tao is entirely in our hands that perhaps might be considered a free port except for wines and spirits, and duties equal to the Chinese levied on the mainland. There is no particular object in making the place a free port, as it was not taken with the object of building up
See pp. 48 and 49 of Eastern, No. 66.
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