PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TPELLIC.O. 882
6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
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SIR,
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No. 49.
COMMISSIONER SIR A. F. DORWARD to MR. CHAMBERLAIN.
(No. 13.)
(Received September 10, 1901.)
[Answered by No. 58.]
Wei-hai-wei, July 16, 1901. I HAVE the honour to bring to your notice the question of the continuance of Chinese jurisdiction in the walled city of Wei-hai-wei.
2. My predecessor, Commander Gaunt, R.N., had occasion to refer to this subject in connection with the case of homicide by Chinese soldiers in British territory, which occurred in May, 1899.
3. A year later, on May 24th, 1900, I myself, when reporting to the Under Secretary of State for War on the disturbances connected with the demarcation of the boundary here, again alluded to the subject in the following words, which I beg leave to quote:-
"These disturbances had their origin in Wei-hai-wei city, and would never have made head had we been in possession of it. Crowds assembled in the city when the news of the frontier fights arrived, and it was necessary to station a gunboat in the neighbouring bay, to ensure the safety of residents on the mainland.
"I hope it will be seen now how difficult the existence of that small town of about 2,000 inhabitants makes the peaceful administration of the British territory, and how inimical it is to the discipline of the Chinese Regiment. It is a refuge for opium den and brothel keepers, and other bad characters who have been prevented from practising their trades in British territory.
"I trust, therefore, that its acquisition by the British Government will shortly be arranged. As long as it remains a Chinese possession the people will never thor- oughly trust and believe in our Administration."
Sir Frank Swettenham, who was here at the time referred to, gave strong expression to his opinion on the subject of the walled city in paragraph 40 of his report on Wei-hai-wei.
5. Over a year has now elapsed since these two reports were written, and the events of this period have but served to confirm me in my opinion that the continuance of Chinese jurisdiction in the walled city is most detrimental to the civil administration of the territory and to the discipline of the Chinese Regiment.
6. As regards the effect of the city on the civil administration, I would draw attention to the following points:-
(A) The Chinese jurisdiction in the city is absolutely ineffectual, except in so far as it is supported morally and materially by us. The Chinese officials resident in the city are a Sub-District Deputy Magistrate, i.e., the lowest grade of civil official, and a sergeant or low grade military official. The former received till lately a salary of about three hundred dollars per annum, on which he was supposed to maintain him- self and a sufficient staff to control a city of some two thousand inhabitants, including a large proportion of bad characters. Ever since the civil administration was taken over by us in December, 1899, I have found it necessary to pay the Chinese Magistrate an allowance of forty dollars per mensem from civil funds, in order to enable him to carry out his police duties with some small measure of efficiency; and quite recently my representations to the Governor of Shantung have secured a slight increase in his official salary. Even now he is powerless to enforce his orders on the wealthier merchants and opium den keepers, without the assistance of the Assistant Commis- sioner.
As for the military official, he has received no salary at all since the Japanese- war, and is, of course, absolutely useless as a means of preserving order. On the contrary, he depends for a livelihood on contributions from keepers of opium and gambling dens, to protect whom he sometimes interferes with the efforts made by his civil colleague to preserve order.
(B) The walled city is the social and commercial centre of the territory; every five days thousands of the country people congregate there at market and are thus continually reminded that Chinese jurisdiction has not entirely disappeared from their midst.
(c) The walled city being subordinate to the District Magistrate of Wên-Têng, thirty miles due south of Wei-hai-wei, the latter has constant excuses for parading through the territory on his visits to Wei-hai-wei.
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(D) The city is a refuge for bad characters of all sorts. Two months ago a man was murdered there while gambling; and last month, a big robbery having taken place outside the territory, the booty was brought direct to the city for concealment, and it was also proved that the robbery itself was planned at an opium den in the city. A convict, who escaped from Liukungtao gaol and was recaptured nearly a year later, confessed that he had spent the interval in the city, where he received warning of the movements of any search parties.
(E) The city contains some thirty opium dens, whereas these are prohibited in the territory, with the exception of one at Matóu, belonging to the opium farmer, which is kept under constant supervision. Gambling dens, also prohibited in the territory, flourish in the city, together with many brothels.
7. The above are some of the more striking characteristics of the city from a political and police point of view. It is, perhaps, needless to add that the city is very insanitary.
8. In justice to the present City Magistrate, it must be said that he has done his best to carry out the suggestions of this Administration, but, as has been pointed out above, even with the best intentions he is powerless to maintain order without the direct intervention of our Authorities.
9. As regards the military aspect of the question, it needs little argument to show that the existence of such a city as I have described, within a mile of the barracks of the Chinese Regiment-now 1,200 strong is fraught with the greatest danger to the discipline of a newly-raised battalion. Early this month a serious fracas occurred in the city between the men of the Regiment and some Chinese official runners, who had been sent to aid in the investigation of the robbery referred to above. This could not have taken place had the city been under our jurisdiction.
10. The position of the city as interfering with the defence of the territory was referred to in my despatch to the War Office as quoted above, and this fact, in conjunc- tion with the harm done to the Chinese Regiment is, in my opinion, sufficient to justify the application of the stipulation made in paragraph 4 of the Convention for the lease of Wei-hai-wei, that Chinese jurisdiction in the city shall continue unless inconsistent with naval and military requirements for the defence of the territory.
11. I understand that the original motive for excluding the city from our juris- diction was a desire to " save the face" of the Chinese in giving up a walled city. Now, however, that the land tax and junk dues are received by us, the maintenance of Chinese officials in the city is a dead loss to the Chinese Government, and I have good reason to believe that the local.officials, at least, would be only too glad to relinquish their jurisdiction.
12. For the reasons above set forth, I have the honour to submit my opinion that it is a matter of urgent importance that steps should be taken by His Majesty's Govern- ment to secure the abolition of Chinese jurisdiction within the walled city of Wei-hai- wei as soon as possible.
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No. 50.
I have, &c.,
A. R. F. DORWARD,
Major-General,
Commissioner.
MR. CHAMBERLAIN to COMMISSIONER SIR A. F. DORWARD.
(No. 27.)
Downing Street, September 11, 1901.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 6th instant, recommending the appointment of Mr. G. T. Hare, under clause 14 of the Wei-hai-wei Order in Council, 1901, to be a Magistrate for the Mainland District of the territories under your Administration.
2. I telegraphed to you on the same day,t informing you that I appointed Mr Hare a Magistrate for the Mainland District from that date.
I have, &c.,
• No. 47.
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J. CHAMBERLAIN.
† No. 48.
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