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the Customs Service would suffer great and irreparable deterioration if placed under native control at the present time. But there is no evidence, so far as I know, to show that the authority of the foreign Commissioners at the ports has been generally weakened vis-à-vis the Taotais by recent events, although there is in this, as in all other matters where foreigners are concerned, an increasing desire amongst the Chinese of all classes to assume the exclusive management of their own affairs-a task for which they are, in my opinion, still very inadequately equipped.
The China Association in London apparently indorse the view of the Shanghae branch that the Inspector-General's recent Circular has proved futile. It is difficult in a question of this kind to do more than quote the opinion of those who are most closely interested and in the best position to judge, and I beg to adduce the evidence of two such persons.
M. Piry, a Frenchman, who is at the head of the Postal Service and one of the oldest Commissioners, and whose son is also in the service, volunteered to me a few days ago the statement that the very grave apprehensions which had been felt during the summer about the future of the service had lately almost completely disappeared.
Another piece of evidence is contained in the inclosed letter from Sir R. Hart, in which he cites the views of the Deputy Commissioner at Tien-tsin. These views, I need hardly say, were expressed without any idea of their being used by me, and I have never seen the writer. Mr. Hausson states that Ts'ai Taotai, in introducing the subject of the Shui-wu Ch'n, declared that the question of doing away with the foreign staff in the Customs had been shelved for the next forty years. Although this forecast appears to me to be unduly sanguine, I agree with Sir R. Hart that the pronouncement, coming as it does from one of the right-hand men of the Viceroy Yuan, to whose support the Decree of the 9th May is supposed to have owed its origin, is especially significant.
On the other hand, there is a strong sense of grievance amongst the student class, some of whom have won distinction in competition with foreigners in Europe or America, at being excluded from an important branch of the public service in their own country, to which Japanese and members of most other uationalities have admission. As illus- trating this side of the question, I beg to transmit to you herewith an extract from an article which appeared a few days ago in a vernacular journal.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
(Signed)
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Extract from Canton Intelligence Report, January-June, 1906.
Registration of Cargo Boats.--On the 4th April the Viceroy sent a despatch to all the Consuls stating that a River Police Office had been established, and that it regarded the protection of ships and junks as one of its primary duties. Consequently it had started by registering all the junks in the harbour and waterways. It had already registered 2,800 craft, and now desired to similarly register all cargo boats in foreign employ.
His Majesty's Consul-General replied to the Viceroy on the 17th April to the effect that hitherto all cargo boats and small craft in British employ had been already registered and numbered by the Harbour Department of the Chinese Customs, and that this system had worked very smoothly. The assumption of the same powers by the River Police was a new departure, which would lead to complications, and His Majesty's Consul-General could not see his way to countenance it without express orders from his Minister.
The Viceroy's letter was more or less ignored by the other Consuls. The Customs Department, however, has been in constant communication on the subject with the Chinese officials with a view to its remission.
It is alleged that the scheme is the creation of the Provincial Treasurer, Hu Hsiang-lin, a very reactionary man, with the intention of subsequently imposing & tax to assist the depleted coffers of the province.
The baneful influence of the new River Police is being already felt. On one occasion some sampaus, lying too near a British steamer in rough weather, were ordered to move off, but they refused to obey the Customs officer's command, on the ground that their authority had been superseded.
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The real object of this Police Department revealed itself when it issued licences to the "Flower Boats" to resume their old position in the middle of the harbour. It is Tumoured that the "squeeze" paid was 20,000 dollars for this permit. These boats had formerly encroached on the fairway of this congested harbour, and on each occasion of constantly-recurring fires had increased in size and unwieldiness, so that they formed a great danger to navigation. The Customs finally succeeded in getting them removed to near the eastern harbour limits. Being thus relegated to comparative obscurity, these "Flower Boats" have been trying every means in their power to get back, and at last they found a complacent authority. This action, however, elicited a joint protest from the river captains to His Majesty's Consul-General. The latter thereupon sent a strong remonstrance to the Viceroy, with the result that the boats are gradually being relegated to their former position.
Dear Sir John,
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Sir R. Hart to Sir J. Jordan.
January 13, 1907. IN a letter just received from Hausson, the Deputy Commissioner in charge of the Native Customs at Tien-tsin, I find the following passage: "The day before yesterday was indeed a red-letter day with us. The Adjunct Commissioner put in an appearance again after a deliberate absence from this office of more than half a year. As he is one of the most sensitive weathercocks I know of, I was pleased to see in his coming here again that your hands have again been strengthened. Tsai himself, in introducing the subject of the Shui-wu Ch'u, declared the question of the doing away with the foreign staff to have been finally shelved for the next forty years. Après nous, le déluge ?'"
Tsai is the man who acted as Haikuan Tao when Liang Tun Yen was absent on special duty in Kiangsi, and is one of Yuan's right-hand men. So his pronouncement and reappearance may be taken as another sign that the storm has blown over and that we have lost no spars.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Newspaper Extract, dated January 17, 1907.
CHINESE CENSURE SIR R. HART.
[Unsigned.]
WE publish below a strongly-worded article from a native paper censuring Sir Robert Hart for his alleged unfair treatment of Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs clerks, and bis "short-sighted policy" in keeping out of the service natives who have been educated abroad.
The article is as follows:-
"In a recent leaderette of ours, we mentioned the fact that, notwithstanding Sir Robert Hart's valuable services in China for nearly half a century, he has in one respect at least done gross injustice to the Chinese Government and people. We referred to the fact that, in spite of the altered condition of affairs in China in recent years, when men of excellent character and education have come back from foreign countries, fully capable of occupying positions of responsibility in the Customs Service after a certain period of training, Sir R. Hart has never taken steps to have them trained or to offer any inducements whatever to such men to enter the said service, except as candidate clerks, on the same rank as schoolboys with a smattering of foreign education, on a salary of 25 taels a-month to commence with, and with no hope whatever of rising beyond a Chinese clerkship.
"To show how Sir R. Hart, by his unfair and short-sighted policy, has kept all well-educated men out of the Customs Service, it is necessary to give a few facts concerning the manner in which Chinese employés in the said service are treated, and to which treatment all other Chinese, irrespective of their education, character, and social position, must submit if they desire a post in the same service.
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