2
(5
It is surmised that the Japanese are spreading into the interior east of the railway, but, whatever the cause may be, there is no doubt that the number of civilian Japanese in the railway Settlements of Liao Yang, Ta Shih Ch'iao, and Newchwang has considerably diminished. Farther north, where, on the one hand, the main trade and producing centres are situated, and where, on the other hand, Japanese railway and military activities employ a larger number of men, the better opportunities for the small trader have so far kept the Japanese mercantile population at a higher figure. However, even there the Chinese maintain that the Japanese are poorer than they themselves, and, but for the earnings of prostitution, they could not subsist.
That the present railway is not sufficient for strategical purposes is clear, and the building of the railway from Antung to Mukden or Liao Yang will not solve this difficulty. As Kirin is about the same distance as Mukden from the Corean frontier, the only solution would be a railway from the Tumen River to Kirin and Kuan Cheng Tzu, so that the triangle Dalny-Kuan Ch'eng Tzu-Hun Chun would form a buffer to North Corea and a Japanese sphere of influence. This point has evidently been grasped by Japan. The Yalu Timber Concession, the purchase of a share in the Bush Concession, the Chien Tao affair, as well as the suspected Tumen-Kirin Railway project (the survey pegs of which near Yen Chi Ting, according to a native newspaper report, were removed by order of the Chinese officials), all tend to confirm this view, especially as they are seriatim contiguous to, and protect the whole of, the north boundary of Corea.
This eminently strategic railway scheme would at the same time prove a great commercial success, as it places Kuan Ch'eng Tzu, the commercial centre of Manchuria, within half the distance from Japan that it is now. In fact, such a railway would seriously injure the earning power of the South Manchuria Railway, and at the same time the commercial prosperity of Newchwang, by diverting the important export trade of bean products, which come from the north, to a shorter route through North Corea to the Sea of Japan.
Commercial Policy.
The Japanese policy in Manchuria being primarily military, the commercial policy has to subordinate itself to it, and it can only become active where it does not conflict with military requirements. Thus the South Manchuria Railway, after having accomplished the work of the army, was handed over to the civil authorities. The latter, animated by the two objects of, firstly, to make the railway pay, and, secondly, to use it as a stimulus to Japanese trade, at once inaugurated an active commercial policy by endeavouring to boom the Tairen terminus and strangle Newchwang. For that purpose preferential rates were given to Tairen over Newchwang traders. Every inducement was offered to Japanese merchants to settle at Tairen. Every hindrance was placed in the way of foreigners coming there to trade. It was even rumoured at the time that the Railway Company may abolish the Newchwang-Ta Shih Chiao branch as unremunerative.
This policy, however, failed to work. Tairen would not boom. The Japanese merchants would not come. In spite of preference and other inducements, the Japanese still traded via Newchwang. It came finally to be realized that Tairen, by its very remoteness from the centres of Manchurian trade, could never be more than a transhipping place, that the Kuantung Peninsula was too poor to support any local trade, and that the wealthy Chinese merchants preferred Newchwang, and could not be induced to come to Tairen.
A change of policy became necessary, and, with the advent of Baron Goto as President of the South Manchurian Railway, it was decided that Newchwang must be developed and not crushed. The Japanese in Newchwang had in the meantime consolidated their position, enlarged their scope and numbers (estimated now at 2,500 persons), and they could have had no small influence in inducing this change of policy. Thus the question of preferential treatment was given up as hurting the Newchwang Japanese more than it benefited the Tairen merchants. It may have, and presumably, in view of the strong commercial Government subventions to Japanese trade, it has been, replaced by a system of secret rebates to Japanese traders in addition to the published rebates on freight totals of 180,000 yen and upwards per annum open to any body; but no evidence can be procured of this.
As a consequence of this change of policy, the Japanese Municipal Council here purchased land with a view to its subsequent development. It also came to be realized that the station at Newchwang of the Japanese line was too far away from the town, and therefore steps were taken to have the station moved nearer to the Chinese town (it is at present some 3 to 4 miles to the east of it). Pourparlers for the purchase of land were reaching an end, and some land had even been bought by the railway, when suddenly, about three weeks ago, negotiations were suspended. It is suggested that the Chinese official protests, presumably based on Article 4, section 3, of the Russo-Chinese Agreement with regard to Manchuria of the 8th April, 1902, hitherto disregarded, have become more definite and insistent, but the probable explanation is that matters are in abeyance pending the realization of Baron Goto's mission to Russia.
In this connection the minds of the future neighbours of the railway, if extended nearer the town, have been exercised with the question whether such extension will be accompanied by the administrative control over neighbouring land, which the railway is claiming as a right in those parts, inherited from Russia, and whether, therefore, these neighbours, some British, might not one day find themselves dictated to by Japanese authorities.
(Signed) R. T. TEBBITT.
Newchwang, May 29, 1908.
0
274
2
(
5
It is surmised that the Japanese are spreading into the interior east of the railway, but, whatever the cause may be, there is no doubt that the number of civilian Japanese in the railway Settlements of Liao Yang, Ta Shih Ch'iao, and Newchwang has considerably diminished. Farther north, where, on the one hand, the main trade and producing centres are situated, and where, on the other hand, Japanese railway and military activities employ a larger number of men, the better opportunities for the small, trader have so far kept the Japanese mercantile population at a higher figure. However, even there the Chinese maintain that the Japanese are poorer than they themselves, and, but for the earnings of prostitution, they could not subsist.
That the present railway is not sufficient for strategical purposes is clear, and the building of the railway from Antung to Mukden or Liao Yang will not solve this difficulty. As Kirin is about the same distance as Mukden from the Corean frontier, the only solution would be a railway from the Tumen River to Kirin and Kuan Cheng Tzu, so that the triangle Dalny-Kuan Ch'eng Tzu-Hun Chun would form a buffer to North Corea and a Japanese sphere of influence. This point has evidently been grasped by Japan. The Yalu Timber Concession, the purchase of a share in the Bush Con- cession, the Chien Tao affair, as well as the suspected Tumen-Kirin Railway project (the survey pegs of which near Yen Chi Ting, according to a native newspaper report, were removed by order of the Chinese officials), all tend to confirm this view, especially as they are seriatim contiguous to, and protect the whole of, the north boundary of Corea.
This eminently strategie railway scheme would at the same time prove a great commercial success, as it places Kuan Ch'eng Tzu, the commercial centre of Manchuria, within half the distance from Japan that it is now. In fact, such a railway would seriously injure the earning power of the South Manchuria Railway, and at the same time the commercial prosperity of Newchwang, by diverting the important export trade of bean products, which come from the north, to a shorter route through North Corea to the Sea of Japan.
Commercial Policy.
The Japanese policy in Manchuria being primarily military, the commercial policy has to subordinate itself to it, and it can only become active where it does not conflict with military requirements. Thus the South Manchuria Railway, after having accom- plished the work of the army, was handed over to the civil authorities. The latter, animated by the two objects of, firstly, to make the railway pay, and, secondly, to use it as a stimulus to Japanese trade, at once inaugurated an active commercial policy by endeavouring to boom the Tairen terminus and strangle Newchwang. For that purpose preferential rates were given to Tairen over Newchwang traders. Every inducement was offered to Japanese merchants to settle at Tairen. Every hindrance was placed in the way of foreigners coming there to trade. It was even rumoured at the time that the Railway Company may abolish the Newchwang-Ta Shih Chiao branch as unremunerative.
This policy, however, failed to work. Tairen would not boom. The Japanese merchants would not come. In spite of preference and other inducements, the Japanese still traded via Newchwang. It came finally to be realized that Tairen, by its very remoteness from the centres of Manchurian trade, could never be more than a tran- shipping place, that the Kuantung Peninsula was too poor to support any local trade, and that the wealthy Chinese merchants preferred Newchwang, and could not be induced
to come to Tairen.
A change of policy became necessary, and, with the advent of Baron Goto as President of the South Manchurian Railway, it was decided that Newchwang must be developed and not crushed. The Japanese in Newchwang had in the meantime consolidated their position, enlarged their scope and numbers (estimated now at 2,500 persons), and they could have had no small influence in inducing this change of policy. Thus the question of preferential treatment was given up as hurting the Newchwang. Japanese more than it benefited the Tairen merchants. It may have, and presumably, in view of the strong commercial Government subventions to Japanese trade, it has been, replaced by a system of secret rebates to Japanese traders in addition to the published rebates on freight totals of 180,000 yen and upwards per annum open to any body; but no evidence can be procured of this.
As a consequence of this change of policy, the Japanese Municipal Council here purchased land with a view to its subsequent development. It also came to be realized that the station at Newchwang of the Japanese line was too far away from the town,
and therefore steps were taken to have the station moved nearer to the Chinese town (it is at present some 3 to 4 miles to the east of it). Pourparlers for the purchase of land were reaching an end, and some land had even been bought by the railway, when suddenly, about three weeks ago, negotiations were suspended. It is suggested that the Chinese official protests, presumably based on Article 4, section 3, of the Russo-Chinese Agreement with regard to Manchuria of the 8th April, 1902, hitherto disregarded, have become more definite and insistent, but the probable explanation is that matters are in abeyance pending the realization of Barou Goto's mission to Russia.
In this connection the minds of the future neighbours of the railway, if extended nearer the town, have been exercised with the question whether such extension will be accompanied by the administrative control over neighbouring land, which the railway is claiming as a right in those parts, inherited from Russia, and whether, therefore, these neighbours, some British, might not one day find themselves dictated to by Japanese authorities.
(Signed) R. T. TEBBITT.
Newchwany, May 29, 1908.
0
274
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.