CO129-295 - Public Offices - 1899 — Page 681

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2. The rescinding of the Inspector-General's decision that inter-Treaty port steamers shall not also be registered for inland navigation."

This decision does not appear to have any raison d'être as far as these waters are concerned. The steamers plying between here and Wuchou had been so registered hitherto, and no abuses had occurred. I understand that no demand for the abrogation of the privilege had been made by the local authorities bere, and I see nothing in the Regulations debarring inter-Treaty port steamers from it. I would very strongly urge that the inspector-General's decision should be reconsidered in so far at any rate as Canton is concerned. I think the petitioners have an undoubted grievance here.

"3. The strict enforcement of clause 5 of the Supplementary Rules must be insisted on."

This Rule places cargo in boats towed by steamers on the same footing as steamer cargo, Obviously the only way to secure this is to provide that all such cargo should be dealt with, as regards duties, by the Imperial Maritime Customs. The present system, under which the steamer comes under the maritime customs, while its tows are under the native customs, is cumbrous and bound to lead to abuses.

That the working of the Inland Navigation Regulations as they stand at present is altogether unsatisfactory is apparent from the fact that hardly any cargo is carried under them, such traffic as there is being confined to passengers.

싶다

Gentlemen,

I have, &c.

(Signed)

R. W. MANSFIELD.

Inclosure 8 in No. 1.

Mr. Bax-Ironside to Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co. and others.

Peking, May 17, 1899. IN continuation of my letter to you of the 27th April, I beg to inform you that I have been in communication with the Inspector-General of Maritime Customs with reference to the observations on the Rules and Regulations for inland steam navigation in China, made by you in your letter to this Legation of the 28th March.

Sir Robert Hart was intrusted by the Chinese Government with the task of drawing up these Rules and Regulations, and his views on the subject are, therefore, of con- siderable importance. He has written to me a reply dated the 12th instant, copy of which I inclose for your information.

The system is, of course, upon its trial, and is being watched carefully and reported upon by Her Majesty's Consuls in all parts of China. It should be given due time to afford a fair test of its merits.

Your remarks as to the West River trade will be borne in mind in case revision prove to be necessary.

Sir,

I am, &c.

(Signed)

Inclosure 9 in No. 1.

Sir R. Hart to Mr. Bas-Ironside,

H. O. BAX-IRONSIDE.

Inspectorate-General of Customs, Peking, May 12, 1899.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your communication of the 27th April concern- ing steam navigation inland.

2. When the Ministers of the Yamén originally decided to memorialize for authority to open the inland waters to steam, the idea was simply to permit steamers to do what junks and boats do subject to the same inland charges, but when the privilege was extended to include foreign flag steamers some modifications were introduced in the Rules first drafted; while the object of these modifications was to secure for the foreigners concerned the benefit of certain Treaty stipulations therewith connected, their effect has been to create difficulty for the scheme generally, for, whereas, the original plan was to apply inland local Regulations in all their integrity to steamers as well as junks, and, by thus protecting the revenue, insure the support of the provincial officials, the introduction of the Treaty element necessitates an exceptional procedure which interferes with former practice, makes taxation more difficult, tempts Chinese owners to buy foreign flags, and alarms and alienates both the inland authorities respou- sible for, and the inland administration dependent on, inland revenue. The very sanction

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ing of the modification referred to created a necessity for strictuess in interpreting the other parts of the inland steam privilege, and accordingly, in order both to protect and keep separate the Imperial Maritime and the Provincial Inland Revenues, the open- ing of the inland waters to steam, has had to be defined as forbidding licensed vessels to quit Chinese waters, and as excluding vessels that trade between Treaty ports.

3. What precedes will suffice without further detail to suggest explanations of, and reasons for, the restrictions foreign merchants now complain about, but in point of fact there is no differential treatment; whatever licensed Chinese steamers can do inland, foreign flag licensed steamers can do also, and whatever interport foreign steamers cannot do inland, interport Chinese steamers are likewise forbidden to do; but, just as Chinese waters and foreign waters are two different things, so interport trading and inland trading are also two different things, and belonging to two different fiscal systems, the Imperial and the Provincial, must be differently treated. The hybrid character of the West River has, of course, its inconveniences; from one point of view it is a continuation of the sea and a highway leading to the two open ports of Samshui and Wuchowfoo, while from another it is an inland water; to one set of eyes it is, notwith- standing its double character, one and the same thing, while to another it possesses, while one and the same thing, a double entity; the interport owner wonders why his interport steamer cannot do what he sees done by inland steamers passed here and there, while the responsible revenue officials require the two trades and the two vessels to be kept separate; while the apparent anomaly of two treatments existing side by side on the same stream is a puzzle to one party, there is the further fact that at its mouth are the foreign waters and the foreign Colonies of Hong Kong and Macao, and for the other party-the revenue officials-this fact opens up possibilities which render it all the more necessary to distinguish between the two trades and act accordingly. Treaties, Conventions, and Rules being what they are on one side, and fiscal responsibilities being what they are on the other, the principle of the present treatment-distinction between inland and interport trader-secins both logical and necessary, and any revision which ignores that distinction will be but a one-sided and, therefore, onpalatable remedy. It is not for a moment to be supposed that the Inland Steam Navigation Concession was intended to either abolish provincial taxation or kill native trade, and it is not unreasonable to ask for a recognition of provincial conditions and assent to provincial requirements; the expectations that heralded the opening of the West River were somewhat sanguine, but, even granting they could ever be realized, it is not the distinction between inland and interport trade that is either postponing or impeding that realization. The Concession was launched without sufficient consideration or preparation, and, as it now is, it does not satisfy either side.

The foreign trader fears that the restrictions which provincial officials call for will thwart development, and the provincial official fears that the development which the foreigner aims at will destroy revenue; but both the one and the other are alarmed, and perhaps unnecessarily before the event, and plead from fears rather than from facts. If steam navigation inland is to work quietly and be a benefit, it will be necessary to legislate locally at many different points and in accordance with many different sets of circumstances, conditions, and requirements; it will only be when that is done that regulations and procedure will be suitable, and also contain in the eyes of both sides the proper proportion of support and control.

4. As regards the Rules and Regulations promised in Rule 7 of the Regulations, and clause 8 of the Supplementary Rules, there has been much consulation and much passing and repassing of draft rules for consideration, but up to the present none have been issued for publication; and as for the appointment of the Provincial Officers referred to in clause 9 of the Rules, such appointments are to follow publication and have not yet been announced.

It is hardly likely that this delay has caused either inconvenience or damage, seeing that it has not taken from or interferred with the enjoyment of any existing rights, and that foreign capital is neither known nor expected to be invested-at least to any con- siderable extent-in the petty craft to which the depth and width of inland water channels necessarily confine the steam navigation privilege, and this privilege itself, whether rightly or wrongly thought valuable, will require years of patient nursing before it can possibly answer any expectations.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

ROBERT HART, Inspector-General of Customs.