CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904 — Page 487

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would be arranged each year, in advance, between the Governments of Burmah and Yunnan. The salt should be moulded into blocks of some peculiar shape (as, for example, an hexagonal cylinder), the use of which should be forbidden to private manufacturers; and each block should be of fixed size. The wrappers (or, as in China, the salt itself) should be stamped by the Burmah Government, and counter-stamped on delivery by the delegate of the Salt Commissioner.

Each such delegate should be under the supervision of the Commissioner of Customs at Tengyueh or at Ssumao as the case may be.

With some such regulations it might be found possible to fulfil all the conditions of the problem; to supply, that is, the borderers with salt, and yet to inflict no loss on the provincial revenues of Yunnan; to put a stop to smuggling, and to meet, at least in part, the desires of the British salt industry.

A very similar problem, M. Beauvais tells me, confronts the authorities of Tonquin; but he agrees with me that the solution is to be found, in the first instance, rather at Peking than at Yunnan-fu. If the Provincial Government is approached, it will advance a non possumus, pleading the Treaty restriction, which restriction it will declare and of course with perfect truth—it is not at liberty to set aside. If negotiations are begun at Peking, reference would doubtless be had to Yunnan-fu, when at last the true objections, if any such exist, of the Provincial Government will reveal themselves.

Should my present proposals be approved by you and by the Government of Burmah (to whom I am sending a copy of this despatch), I would venture to suggest that the Minister for France should be consulted to the end that identical arrangements may be made for the "sea-salt" of Burmah and of Tonquin.

Inclosure 4 in No. 1.

Consul-General Wilkinson to Governor-General of Yun Kuei.

March 21, 1904.

I HAVE received, from His Majesty's Consul at Tengyueh a despatch, in which he informs me that the Tengyueh Li-kin Office has allowed its runners to be more than ever extortionate, and to act like highway robbers. In the 12th moon of last Chinese year the men of Changfeng barrier set upon some Kachins at Ching K'an in Mengwan, killing one and wounding three others. The Kachins assembled and came down into the plain to take vengeance, stopping, it was feared, for the time the high road. Again, the districts round about Tengyueh have long consumed salt from Burmah, and although of late the Yunnan authorities have made many arrests and issued distinct prohibitions, still, as no Government salt is to be bought along the border, the sale of Burmese salt continues to increase, as an inspection of the books of the Bhamo traders would show. The deputies sent to arrest smugglers take bribes from the caravans conveying the salt, but demand also fees from the consumers. If the fees do not satisfy them, they bring serious charges against the consumers of infringing the law; what is worse, they implicate the innocent and seize their animals and goods. The numerous disturbances of late along the frontier are largely due to this system, which has no advantages for the State, while it injures the people. If steps are not taken to arrange matters, it is to be feared that the Government of Burmah, which has to take precautionary measures when disturbances are reported, will be involved in trouble and expenditure beyond all bounds. The Consul has written to the Tantai of the Western Circuit stating the true facts, of which he has himself been an eye-witness, and he now asks me to communicate with the high Provincial authorities, requesting them to issue such orders and to make such arrangements as will secure the peace of the border and nip trouble in the bud.

In face of such extortion and malversation on the part of the Li-kin Offices, still more in view of the blocking of the trade route, it becomes my duty to ask that stringent orders may be issued to prevent trouble from arising. With regard to the consumption of Burmese salt in the Tengyueh districts, this arose from the great distance that separates those districts from the places of production of Government salt and the consequent excessive cost of carriage. The Shans on the border have become accustomed to Burmese salt; besides which, there is at the present time no Government salt for sale. Under these circumstances, infringement of the prohibitions can hardly be avoided, yet the deputies sent to stop smuggling take advantage of it to fill their pockets.

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I would accordingly beg your Excellency to consider earnestly what are the best measures to be taken to put a stop to these abuses, and insure for the future tranquillity to the Tengyueh frontier.

Inclosure 5 in No. 1.

Consul-General Litton to Government of Burmah.

April 13, 1904.

I HAVE mentioned the matter to the Commissioner of Customs here, and he agrees with the Consul-General and myself that trouble is likely constantly to occur on the border, if Chinese tax collectors not under the Taotai and so not amenable to Consular pressure, are allowed to carry on their depredations in the Chinese Shan States. The Customs, subject to any instructions of the Inspector-General, would, I doubt not, co-operate in working any scheme sanctioned by the Governments interested. However, if His Majesty's Government will see its way to give the very strong support necessary to carry through the whole of Mr. Wilkinson's proposals, as the Salt Department is the most powerful stronghold of mandarin corruption, and the officials will, I expect, furiously resist any reforms such as those proposed by the Consul-General. Further, I observe that the British Government in the Mackay Treaty has recently disclaimed any intention of upsetting the Chinese salt arrangements.

A sharp distinction has, however, always until last year been drawn by the local Mandarins between salt consumed in China proper (which has always been official salt from Yunnan wells) and salt consumed in the Chinese Shan States. In the latter, Burmah salt has, in point of fact, always been consumed; in the former never, or hardly ever. The Sawbwas used to pay so much per annum nominally for the purchase of official salt from the Provincial Department, but in fact, it was well known that they never purchased such salt, but recouped themselves by admitting and taxing on their own account the Burmah salt which came across the frontier. If the local Government would consent to return to this, the old way, most of our grievance will be remedied; and if Mr. Wilkinson presses his proposals, I think the officials may offer something of the kind, but they are not at all likely to consent to the extension of the use of Burmah salt in Tengyueh proper, much less in Yun Lang where most of the West Yunnan official salt is produced. The reason why the officials have adopted the present plan of letting loose a salt "weiyuan" is that thus officially no tax is collected, but they all get handsome squeezes for their own pockets.

GEORGE LITTON.

(Signed)