5
detrimental to the security afforded to the bondholders by the bar tax. The Board in question shall be assembled at the instigation of any three of its members.
2. To memorialize His Majesty's Minister to extend the scope of Regulation 7 A, or to add a Regulation to be known as 7 B, to the existing Land Regulations, enabling the Landrenters to impose the tax of per mille on the value of goods on which duty has been paid, or may become payable, in order to give effect to the third condition of the said Resolution.
3. To submit the conditions of the scheme to the Diplomatic Body in Peking, and to the Chinese authorities for approval, and to obtain their sanction to the continuation of the taxes and dues now in existence as provided by the sixth condition of the said Resolution.
4. To consider the Hai Ho Conservancy Board's technical scheme and programme of work for the improvement of the Taku Bar, and when the same has been duly approved by the Council and other interested parties to enter into all deeds and Agreements with the Hai Ho Conservancy Board and other parties as may become necessary to give effect to this Resolution and to the said Resolution passed on the 14th June, 1905, as soon as the offer therein contained has been accepted by the Hai Ho Conservancy Board, to issue or guarantee the loan contemplated by the said Resolution on the terms and conditions therein contained, and to secure the repayment of the same as far as may be necessary by a charge upon the municipal assets, and while safeguarding the interests of the Landrenters to take all further steps that may be necessary to insure that the Board's scheme, as finally approved, may be put into execution with the least possible delay.
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Draft of Land Regulation 7 B.
At such annual general meeting or at any extraordinary general meeting it shall be competent to the said Landrenters or a majority of them duly assembled in order to provide ways and means for the improvement of the Taku Bar and the conservancy and improvement of local waterways to impose and levy in addition to the rates, taxes, and dues by Regulations 7 and 7 A provided for upon all goods and merchandize landed, shipped, or transhipped at any place within the limits of the said Settlement wharfage dues not exceeding one-twentieth of 1 per cent, on the value thereof, provided always that all goods, stores, or material so landed, shipped, or transhipped being the bona fide property of or intended for the use of the Chinese Government or any Treaty Power shall be free of such wharfage dues.
Your Excellency,
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Tien-tsin Municipal Council to Baron Mumm.
Tien-tsin, April 18, 1906.
I have the honour to address you with a view to securing the approval of the Diplomatic Body in Peking of a scheme for the improvement of the Taku Bar, which has been adopted by the Landrenters of the British Concession, the Tien-tsin General Chamber of Commerce, the "Deutsche Vereinigung," the leading Shipping Companies trading with the port, and the Hai Ho Conservancy Commission.
At the same time, for the information of your Excellency and of your Excellency's colleagues, I have the honour to inclose eleven copies of the following documents* :—
1. Book containing-
(a.) Minutes of a meeting of Landrenters of the British Concession held the 14th June 1905, and (at pp. 2 and 3) resolution passed thereat;
(b.) Minutes of a meeting of the Tien-tsin General Chamber of Commerce held the 16th June, 1905, and (at p. 6) resolution passed thereat;
(c.) Minutes of a meeting of the "Deutsche Vereinigung" held the 25th June, 1905, and (at p. 8) resolution passed thereat.
2. Minutes of a meeting of the Landrenters in the British Concession, Tien-tsin, passed the 6th April, 1903.
3. Letter from L. C. Hopkins, Esq., Senior Consul at Tien-tsin (with inclosure), to his Excellency H. H. Conger, Esq., United States' Minister and doyen of the Diplomatic Body, dated the 27th May, 1903.
4. Letter from his Excellency Baron Czikann de Wahlborn, Austrian Minister and doyen of the Diplomatic Body, to L. C. Hopkins, Esq., Senior Consul at Tien-tsin, dated the 30th June, 1903.
5. Resolution of the Landrenters in the British Concession, Tien-tsin, passed the 26th February, 1906.
6. Resolution of the Tien-tsin General Chamber of Commerce, passed the 5th March, 1906.
7. Letter from the Secretary of the Hai Ho Conservancy Commission to the Chairman of the British Municipal Council, dated the 10th April, 1906.
8. Conditions of the scheme for providing the necessary funds for the improvement of the Taku Bar in its final form.
I need not enter here upon the early history of the Hai Ho, as it is set forth with considerable detail in the Minutes of the Landrenters' meeting held the 14th June, 1905 (No. 1). I propose, therefore, to confine myself to recent developments.
The position may be summarized by saying that the condition of the Taku Bar is, and for many years has been, a serious handicap to the trade of the port, and that those most nearly interested have some time since formed the conclusion that measures for its improvement should not be further delayed.
The first overt manifestation of this view and the first serious step towards a policy took place in April 1903, when the Landrenters in the British Concession, in order to provide the funds necessary to finance any scheme offering a reasonable prospect of success, agreed to advocate enhanced taxation and the continuation of existing taxes and the proposed further tax until existing loans and loans raised under resolutions of that date had been amortized (No. 2), on condition, inter alia, that the Shipping Companies trading at the port should also take upon themselves a share of the burden.
These proposals were sanctioned by the Diplomatic Body on the 20th June, 1903 (Nos. 3 and 4), but the Shipping Companies did not at that time see their way to co-operate.
Meanwhile, the Hai Ho Conservancy Board had formulated a scheme of bar improvement, which it is estimated will require a sum of 450,000 taels for initial expenditure, and an annual outlay of between 70,000 taels and 80,000 taels.
The next move was made on the 14th June, 1905, when the Landrenters of the British Concession formulated a comprehensive scheme whereby the financial requirements of the situation would be met.
This proposal aims at providing the capital sum of 450,000 taels required by the Board by the issue of a loan for that amount, a portion of which, amounting to 200,000 taels, is to be taken up by the British municipality on terms which are exceptionally favourable to the scheme. It is proposed that the service of the loan and the necessary maintenance expenses of the river shall be met by the imposition of a further tax on the value of goods on which duty has been paid or may become payable and a tax on shipping; and that all taxes now in existence shall be continued until the amortization of the proposed loan has been effected. The loan will be guaranteed by the British municipality.
Such are the main features of the scheme, which is elaborated with all necessary detail in the Resolution of the 14th June, 1905 (No. 1, pp. 2 and 3).
The next step was to approach the Shipping Companies. This was done, with the result that in the early part of the present year the 4th condition of the Resolution of the 14th June, 1905, imposing a tax on shipping was accepted by the Shipping Companies with certain modifications.
The letter was submitted to the Landrenters at the annual general meeting held on the 26th February last, and accepted by them by Resolution (No. 5).
The scheme, as set forth in the two Resolutions, was thereupon laid before the Conservancy Board. The latter, however, required certain modifications to be made in two of the conditions (numbered respectively 10 and 1 E), introduced by the Shipping Companies and embodied in the second Resolution (No. 5). These the Shipping.
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5
detrimental to the security afforded to the bondholders by the bar tax. The Board in question shall be assembled at the instigation of any three of its members.
2. To memorialize His Majesty's Minister to extend the scope of Regulation 7 A, or to add a Regulation to be known as 7 B, to the existing Land Regulations, enabling the Landrenters to impose the tax of per mille on the value of goods on which duty has been paid, or may become payable, in order to give effect to the third condition of the said Resolution.
3. To submit the conditions of the scheme to the Diplomatic Body ia Peking, and to the Chinese authorities for approval, and to obtain their sanction to the continuation of the taxes and dues now in existence as provided by the sixth condition of the said Resolution.
4. To consider the Ilai Ho Conservancy Board's technical scheme and programme of work for the improvement of the Taku Bar, and when the same has been duly approved by the Council and other interested parties to enter into all deeds and Agree ments with the Hai Ho Conservancy Board and other parties as may become necessary to give effect to this Resolution and to the said Resolution passed on the 14th June, 1905, as soon as the offer therein contained has been accepted by the Hai Ho Con- servancy Board, to issue or guarantee the loan contemplated by the said Resolution on the terms and conditions therein contained, and to secure the repayment of the same as far as may be necessary by a charge upon the municipal assets, and while safe. guarding the interests of the Landrenters to take all further steps that may be necessary to insure that the Board's scheme, as finally approved, may be put into execution with the least possible delay.
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Draft of Land Regulation 7 B.
AT such annual general meeting or at any extraordinary general meeting it shall' be competent to the said Landrenters or a majority of them duly assembled in order to provide ways and means for the improvement of the Taku Bar and the conservancy and improvement of local waterways to impose and levy in addition to the rates, taxes, and dues by Regulations 7 and 7 A provided for upon all goods and merchandize landed, shipped, or transhipped at any place within the limits of the said Settlement wharfage dues not exceeding one-twentieth of 1 per cent, on the value thereof, provided always that all goods, stores, or material so landed, shipped, or transhipped being the bond fide property of or intented for the use of the Chinese Government or any Treaty Power shall be free of such wharfage dues.
Your Excellency,
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Tien-tsin Municipal Council to Baron Mumm.
Tien-tsin, April 18, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to address you with a view to securing the approval of the Diplomatic Body in Peking of a scheme for the improvement of the Taku Bar, which has been adopted by the Landrenters of the British Concession, the Tien-tsin General Chamber of Commerce, the "Deutsche Vereinigung," the leading Shipping Companies. trading with the port, and the Hai Ho Conservancy Commission.
At the same time, for the information of your Excellency and of your Excellency's colleagues, I have the honour to inclose eleven copies of the following documents* :—
1. Book containing-
(a.) Minutes of a meeting of Landrenters of the British Concession held the 14th June 1905, and (at pp. 2 and 3) resolution passed thereat;
(b.) Minutes of a meeting of the Tien-tsin General Chamber of Commerce held. the 16th June, 1905, and (at p, 6) resolution passed thereat;
* Some of these inclosures are not printed owing to their length.
(c.) Minutes of a meeting of the "Deutsche Vereinigung" held the 25th June, 1905, and (at p. 8) resolution passed thereat.
2. Minutes of a meeting of the Landrenters in the British Concession, Tien-tsin, passed the 6th April, 1903.
3. Letter from L. C. Hopkins, Esq., Senior Consul at Tien-tsin (with inclosure), to his Excellency H. H. Conger, Esq., United States' Minister and doyen of the Diplomatic Body, dated the 27th May, 1903.
4. Letter from his Excellency Baron Czikann de Wahlborn, Austrian Minister and doyen of the Diplomatic Body, to L. C. Hopkins, Esq., Senior Consul at Tien-tsin, dated the 30th June, 1903.
5. Resolution of the Landrenters in the British Concession, Tien-tsin, passed the 26th February, 1906.
6. Resolution of the Tien-tsin General Chamber of Commerce, passed the 5th March, 1906.
7. Letter from the Secretary of the Hai Ho Conservancy Commission to the Chairman of the British Municipal Council, dated the 10th April, 1906.
8. Conditions of the scheme for providing the necessary funds for the improvement of the Taku Bar in its final form.
I need not enter here upon the early history of the Hai Ho, as it is set forth with considerable detail in the Minutes of the Landrenters' meeting held the 14th June, 1905 (No. 1). I propose, therefore, to confine myself to recent developments.
The position may be summarized by saying that the condition of the Taku Bar is, and for many years has been, a serious handicap to the trade of the port, and that those most nearly interested have some time since formed the conclusion that measures for its improvement should not be further delayed.
The first overt manifestation of this view and the first serious step towards a policy took place in April 1903, when the Landrenters in the British Concession, in order to provide the funds necessary to finance any scheme offering a reasonable prospect of success, agreed to advocate enhanced taxation and the continuation of existing taxes and the proposed further tax until existing loans and loans raised under resolutions of that date had been amortized (No. 2), ou condition, inter alia, that the Shipping Companies trading at the port should also take upon themselves a share of the burden.
These proposals were sanctioned by the Diplomatic Body on the 20th June, 1903 (Nos. 3 and 4), but the Shipping Companies did not at that time see their way to co-operate.
Meanwhile, the Hai Ho Conservancy Board had formulated a scheme of bar improvement, which it is estimated will require a sum of 450,000 taels for initial expenditure, and an annual outlay of between 70,000 tacis and 80,000 taels.
The next move was made on the 14th June, 1905, when the Landrenters of the British Concession formulated a comprehensive scheme whereby the financial require- ments of the situation would be met.
This proposal aims at providing the capital sum of 450,000 taels required by the Board by the issue of a loan for that amount, a portion of which, amounting to 200,000 taels, is to be taken up by the British municipality on terms which are exceptionally favourable to the scheme. It is proposed that the service of the loan and the necessary maintenance expenses of the river shall be met by the imposition of a further tax on the value of goods on which duty has been paid or may become payable and a tax on shipping; and that all taxes now in existence shall be continued until the amortization of the proposed loan has been effected. The loan will be guaranteed by the British municipality.
Such are the main features of the scheme, which is elaborated with all necessary detail in the Resolution of the 14th June, 1905 (No. 1, pp. 2 and 3).
The next step was to approach the Shipping Companies. This was done, with the result that in the early part of the present year the 4th condition of the Resolution of the 14th June, 1905, imposing a tax on shipping was accepted by the Shipping Companies with certain modifications.
The letter was submitted to the Landrenters at the annual general meeting held on the 26th February last, and accepted by them by Resolution (No. 5).
The scheme, as set forth in the two Resolutions, was thereupon laid before the Conservancy Board. The latter, however, required certain modifications to be made in two of the conditions (numbered respectively 10 and 1 E), introduced by the Shipping Companies and embodied in the second Resolution (No. 5). These the Shipping.
[2105 n-2]
0
680
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