CO882-6 — Page 139

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

LLC.O. 882

سلسلسسلينيا

6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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Police on Liu Kung Tau are not required for civil purposes and that they ought to be a military charge.

17. It will be observed that these charges give no special allowance to Mr. Barton, who is entered simply at the salary to which he is entitled as a consular officer. There is no provision for any allowance to the Civil Commissioner (Colonel Dorward, R.E.) or for Colonel Bower (who does some civil work at Matou on the mainland), or for the military surgeon who attends to civil patients, or for any share in the salary of a Mr. Schaler, interpreter to the Regiment, part of whose salary was, I understand, to be charged to the Civil Government.

18. All this sounds very indefinite and rather complicated, but it appears to me that some attempt should be made to explain what has been going on up to the present time, when, the boundary of the territory having been defined and accepted (see copy of telegram from Governor of Shantung), the administration has been prac- tically taken over and must now be conducted systematically.

19. Reverting then to paragraph 14, I have gone over with Commander Gaunt, R.N., the figures he kindly prepared to show what had been collected and expended in `Liù Kung Tau, and if the salary of the Commander-in-charge is not included, and due economy is exercised, I think the revenues of the island should meet its ex- penses. The receipts (chiefly from house rents and Court fines) amount, at present, to about £520 a year, and I agree with Commander Gaunt that this sum may, by judicious administration, be raised to about £1,000 a year. That will cover all the ordinary expenses of administration, even including the up-keep of roads, drains, and other small works.

I think the Police ought, in future, to be charged as an ordinary cantonment expense, but I cannot see what need there is for an expensive European inspector, a sergeant, and twelve constables. The island belongs to the Crown, and almost all the houses upon it. They are all close together in one village; the Chinese are quiet and peaceable folk, who must realise that it is to their interest to be on their best behaviour; and I should say that three constables would find very little Police work to do, and might even help to collect some of the revenue.

I should not suggest that course under ordinary circumstances, but at Liu Kung Tau I think it might be safely adopted.

The Commander-in-charge should have a clerk and interpreter, if possible a Chinese speaking and writing English, and I think such a man ought to be got for 75 dollars a month. If the Court work is sufficient to occupy any considerable part of this man's time (as interpreter and clerk), a second clerk would be necessary to

assist in the collection of house rents and other taxes.

A health officer for the port ought also to be provided, and the duties could be discharged by any naval surgeon detailed for the duty. This officer could be paid by a monthly allowance, or by a fee for every ship visited, in either case 50 dollars a month would cover the service.

I heard great complaints about the want of a British Post Office in Weihaiwei, and if the place is patronised by Europeans I think something must be done. Hitherto I believe the Hong Kong Government has appointed a Postal Agent in Weihaiwei, and treated the place as a branch of the Hong Kong Office, but there are great com- plaints against this arrangement, and I understand that what is principally wanted is that the General Post Office in London should make up a bag for Weihaiwei to be sent to the British Postmaster at Shanghai, whence it would be forwarded by the first steamer. The covers would be distributed by the Weihaiwei Post Office, where stamps could also be sold, and a mail made up for Shanghai. There may be insur- mountable difficulties in the way of carrying out this suggestion, but, if it were pos- sible to do something to meet the reasonable wishes of the English residents in Wei- haiwei, it would be greatly appreciated. There is on the island of Liu Kung a Chinese Imperial Post Office, an also a telegraph office, and they are very useful, but their position there seems indefinite and is not (so I was told) the result of any ar- The Chinese Post Office has, of course, rangement with the Chinese Government.

no control over mails from England, but forwards to Chinese Post Offices all the covers received.

The Commander-in-charge at Liu Kung Tau should have a boat and boatmen.

For the island expenses I think the following estimate should suffice :-

Naval Commander-in-charge

Messenger

$

96

Clerk and interpreter...

900

Second clerk

600

Postmaster

900

Health officer

600

Three constables at $120

360

Boat's crew (one at $108 and four at $96)

492

Stationery and office contingencies

1000

Police uniforms

100

Boat's crew uniforms and up-keep boats

50

Lighting town

700

200

Up-keep roads and streets

1000

$6998

Gardeners and tools

Say £700 a year.

ท

I think the Commander-in-charge might properly be allowed £100 a year in addition to his salary as a Commander in the Royal Navy, and he should be appointed for a term of years, or as most convenient to the Admiralty.

20. Coming now to the mainland, it will be remembered that I have estimated the probable revenues to be derived from the territory at £2,000 a year, and I have said why I think it would be unsafe to expect any early increase in that amount. However economically the administration is organised, it is difficult to keep within that sum and provide the simplest establishment to secure safety and order in 200 square miles of territory, with a population of 80,000 of the poorest Chinese in China.

To begin with, I suggest that the preservation of order be entrusted to the Chinese Regiment, and I shall make no provision for this service beyond the grant of an allowance to the officer in command. About 200 men will be sufficient for all Police purposes.

21. The main work of the Civil officers will be the administration of justice and the collection of the land tax. At present there is no recognised Civil or Criminal Law in the Weihaiwei territory, and I recommend that the Order in Council of 1865 for the government of Her Majesty's subjects in China be extended to the Island of Liu Kung Tau and mainland of Weihaiwei, with the following modifications:--

I. Criminal matters to be dealt with under the Indian Penal Code or tho Straits Settlements Penal Code.

II. The Order in Council to apply only to civil and criminal cases where a European, or non-Chinese, is concerned on one or both sides.

III. In all civil and criminal cases where only persons of Chinese birth are con- cerned the local customary law should be observed and the Court of the Commissioner should be the Supreme Court of the Colony.

The Commissioner should be empowered to delegate to other officers jurisdic- tion in civil and criminal cases, where only persons of Chinese birth are concerned, and similarly he should be empowered to constitute Chinese village Courts to deal with petty debts and trivial offences.

I attach some suggested alterations in the Order in Council of 1865. The Hong Kong Port Regulation might be applied, mutatis mutandis, to Weihaiwei, but I think it would be better and simpler to let the naval Commander-in-charge at Liu Kung Tau introduce such port and harbour regulations as he (acting under the in- structions of the Commander-in-Chief on the China station) thought necessary. The Hong Kong Regulations might be adopted in a few years if found desirable.

22. It is impossible under the circumstances to provide for such a staff of Euro- pean Magistrates as would suffice to deal with the criminal and civil cases which are sure to arise in a rural population of 80,000 people. It will be necessary to continue to deal with such cases through the village tribunals to which the people have been accustomed for generations, and as their system is too elaborate and complex to describe in this memorandum I attach a separate note giving the infor- mation I have been able to obtain on the subject of village organisation, together with a description of the features of the villages, village life, and some particulars