4
"Assuming that the foregoing figures are a fair representation of land taxation in the area traversed by the railway, it has next to be considered how far the region can be taken as a standard for the whole province. The region in question forms part of the great plain of China, extending as it does from the base of the Tai Hang range of mountains easterly to the sea, and southerly across the Yellow River to the Yang-tsze and beyond. The general characteristics of the great plain are very similar. Except the few spots here and there which have been recently devastated by outbreaks of the Yellow River, the whole of this plain is under cultivation, and though there are better and worse soils, it is probably easier than in most countries to strike an average. Three-fourths of the area of Honan lies within the great plain, the remaining one-fourth being the hilly country to the west, leading up to the mountains of Shensi. The plains area, it goes without saying, is under a high state of cultivation, and even the western portion, though hilly, is not mountainous, and holds numerous rich and fertile valleys. Taking it all round, and allowing for the hills on the west and for certain areas south of the Yellow River which have been or are liable to be inundated, we may consider at least two-thirds of the whole area of Honan as good plains laud, and therefore not materially different in point of production and ability to bear taxation from that portion of the plain traversed by the Peking Syndicate's railway. This portion is not indeed of uniform quality. The eastern part is poor and sandy, reminiscences of an old bed of the Yellow River, through one of the ancient banks of which, long gone from the memory of man, the railway cuts its way, The present bed of the river is now some 30 miles to the south. The western portion is better and may be regarded as fair average land. It bears as will be seen from the table a taxation of 20 to 25 tael cents per mow, as against 7 and 9 cents for the castern portion. But on the whole there is nothing to mark this region out as being materially much better or worse that the bulk of the area of Honan and the average taxation may fairly be taken as an average of the whole,
"The area of Honan province is about 60,000 square miles. Assuming that two-thirds of this is under cultivation, the taxable area would be over 25,000,000 acres, or at 6 mow to the acro, say 150,000,000 mow of ground. In the Hwei Tien, the standard though a somewhat antiquated statistical record of the Empire, the area actually registered as cultivated is given as 63,986,185 mow. This was on the authority of the returns of the 17th year of Chía Ching (1812). The amount is likely to have increased since, and may now be approximately 150,000,000 mow. But take it on the Chia Ching returns, and supposing the taxation levied on the lands held by the Syndicate is general, the yield of the land tax for the whole province should be 12,642,200 taels. Or if we suppose, as seems more probable, that approxi- mately 150,000,000 of mow pay taxes, the sum levied from the people would be well over 28,000,000 taels, a sum which is not very far short of what is now returned for the whole Empire of China.
F<
Compared with the insignificant sum of less than 3,000,000 taels now returned by the Province of Honan as the utmost that can be wrung from the people, these figures may well seem incredible, but I simply state facts as I find thom.
"I insert here as cognate to the subject translation of a paper which appeared a short time ago in one of the native journals of Shanghae, and which purports to be a balance sheet of the revenue and expenditure of the Province of Honan for the year 1900.
It would appear to have been obtained from official sources, surreptitiously, no doubt, for such documents are never given out to the public, but from intrinsic evidence it bears marks of authenticity. It is probably an abridgment or résumé of the accounts as sent by the Provincial Treasurer to the Board of Revenue at Peking for that year.
The interesting feature about it is that it gives at a glance both sides of the account, and so far purports to be complete. The provincial returns, as printed in the Gazettes, are almost always fragmentary, that is to say, they deal with only one group of accounts, be it income or expenditure, at a time, and one is never sure, even after collating these reports for a number of years, that the account for any one province is complete, much less for the whole Empire.
372
5
Land tax
,, (supplementary)
tax commuted grain t
Description.
RECEIPTS,
PROVINCE Of Honan, 26th Year Kwangsu, 1900.
Amount.
Item.
fixed allowance for Yellow River repairs Deduction of 6 per cent. on all payments (ordinary service)..
Miscellaneous (7 categories of taxes, details not stated)
Economies on courier service..
Li-kin
..
..
..
..
[NOTE-The l-kin revenue is said to amoaut to 100,000 taels, but as 80,000 taels are remitted direct by the Li-kin Administration
for the service of foreign loans, the balance only is entered as Provincial Revenue.]
Deductions from the salaries (Yanglien) of the severni civil and | military officials, 10 to 30 per cent...
..
Payments by the various district magistrates in respect to surplus in the collection of land tax arising from difference of scale.. Rent of public lands and various other items
Total
[NOTE. Apparently there is a deficit in the Provincial Budget of 38,000 taels, even allowing for Items 13 and 14 of Expenditure,| which are tersely marked not paid "no funds." Moreover, Items 5, 6, 7, and 9 on the Revenue side are not revenue at all, Į but are counted as such, probably on the Skimpole principle that money not spent is money earned.]
SO KO J
EXPENDITURE.
Description,
Amount.
Kuping
Taels.
200,000
610,000
..
170,000
Imperial or Extra Provincial Expenditure...-----
Peking supply (fixed charge)..
Kansu Province, subsidy to ..
Service of foreign loaus
[NOTE--The fixed charge for this Item is 390,000 taels, of which, : however, the Changlu Salt Department remite 60,000, the Grain Tax Department 80,000, and the Li-kiu 80,000, leaving,
as above, 170,000 as the charge on the general revenues of the Province.]
Subsidy to the I-chun army corps
in tax commutation
Yomitance in aid of the Sangkiang-Shunghae Li-kin Ofice Copper Supply Administration Remittances to Imperial Household ..
Remittance to Board of Revenue from grain tax - Subsidy to Sung-wu army corps in Shangtung ...
་་
for upkeep of Yuen-ming-yuen Palace
Purchase of silks, damask, &c., for Court
..
Contribution to Northern Railway construction..
-་
..
..
**
-
•
*-
Subsily for pay of troops in three Manchurian Provinces (not paid, available)
eking supplementary subsidy, tormed Ku-pen (not paid, no funds available).
Yellow River repairs, fixed allowance
Provincial Expenditure-
..
15
16
17
Pay of provincial troops: "Bamer," "Green," and "River" campa Provincial drilled" force
RI
61
20
21
28
Salaries (Yanglicu) to civil and military officials of the province River embankments in the two Heien 1lo" and "Wa”.. Pensions, officials of hereditary rank on provincial list .. Pay of police in eleven flsien
River gun-boats, dockyard expenses.
..
Workshops, &c., under the Shan-hou❞ office ..
Total
**
..
Total, Imperial and Extra Provincial..
>> Provincial ..
..
::
Total
:
000 968 1
1,678,000
8,573,000
Item.
[2168 bb--1]
6
10
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