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"Universal establishment of police.
"Universal education.
"Rules of the council.
Advantages and evils of the 'ticket salt system.'
Regulations of the local Government councils.
"Discrimination in collection between local and Imperial taxes.
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Reorganisation of the affairs of the Chuan-Han Railway Company. "Revision of legal fees.
"Revision of the extra coal and iron taxes at Chungking.
"Reform of the salt-tax system.
"Abolition of excess incidental expenditure by local officials.
"Bank administration.
"Reform of the public granaries.
*
Preparation for a voluntary force.
"Revision of the funds of the various temple societies' for the expenses
of the local Government councils.
"Reform of the receipts given to the payers of land tax.
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Extortion by local officials under the guise of fines.
"The alteration of the Mining Supervisory Company into a model commer-
cial company.
"That the defence of the Szechuan-Thibetan frontier should be an Imperial
charge.
"The necessity for care in the choice of the local educational officers. "Institution of a public library in Chengtu.
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'Appendix (B).
"Proceedings of the Provincial Council on the 17th day of the 9th month (October 30).
Specimen of Debate.-"The sitting commenced at 1 P.M., the following officials being in attendance: the Provincial Judge, Intendant of Commerce, Prefect Yang (Director of the School of Laws), the district magistrate of Chengtu, and Ting, a deputy of the Viceroy's.
The first subject discussed was the reorganisation of the train-bands. "Liu Chih Ch'eng mounted the rostrum and said that the train-bands and the police were both matters of importance.
"Li Wen Bsi: In reorganising the train-bands the leaders and headmen should be first dealt with. These men should be elected.
"Fu Huai Ping: Industrial institutions must be widely established, in order to eradicate the source of thieves and robbers; neither police nor train-bands can be abolished.
place, "Wang Shu Huai: Whether police have or have not been established in a the train-bands cannot be cast aside. The important points are to discriminate care- fully in rewarding and punishing the train-bands; to search out the thieves' dens; to relax the prohibition of the purchase of swords; and to buy larger quantities of weapons, which the officials will then distribute for use in protection.
"Kao Ling Hsiao: The headmen should be elected by ballot, and the train-bands should be drilled in accordance with the military regulations.
"Hsiu Kuang P'u: The train-bands should be divided into classes according to their size, the larger bands consisting of forty men, and the smaller of twenty. They should be drilled for two hours daily, and instructed for two hours. The men 'should he changed annually, so that, in course of time, everybody will have been through a course of military training, and our peasantry will be our army.
"Chou Chang Chao: If the duties of raising funds, controlling expenditure, and administering business all devolves on one man, if he is honest, he will have a heavy burden, and if he is dishonest it will be very easy for him to commit malpractices. The regulations should therefore be revised,
"Ch'en Nien Tsu: There are at present three defects in the administration of the train-bands, (a) the headmen are changed in rotation; (b) expenses are not allowed; (c) no respect is shown to the men. Reform is necessary to produce efficiency. The first step should be to take a census and to distribute weapons.
"Ch'en Ying Tu: The train-bands should be abolished. Even supposing they were properly reorganised, still in course of time local self-government and police
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will be an accomplished fact, and then in the end the train-bands will have to be done away with.
"Li Shu Ch'un: The headmen should be elected by the local self-government councils. Mr. Li further pointed out the advantages of the system of rewards and yunishments, and of the use of modern weapons,
"Ch'ih Chu agreed with Cheng Ying Tu. He added that if the train-bands and police were established side by side there would necessarily arise friction between them. "Liu Sheng Yuan: In deciding whether or not the train-bands shall he dealt with the essential question is, 'Do they keep the criminal classes in order? Even if we have modern weapons, to make good use of them we must also have men trained in science, military matters, and mechanies. Io conclusion he pointed out the need of a reorganisation of the Police Training Department.
Là Chi 1: The two most important matters are the detective department of the police force and the census.
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Tung Ching Chun rose in his seat and inquired whether the question was one referred for discussion, or was originated by council itself. The president replied that the provincial judge had previously written to him about this question, and that therefore it should be considered as referred. The second question on the day's agenda might be classed as 'originated.'
“The Provincial Judge explained that his object was to ascertain the opinion of the council, in order that he might make the necessary reforms.
"This concluded the discussion of the first question.
"The second question was the protection of woods and forests.
"Liu Sheng Yuan: Any scheme for protection must be prefaced by registration.
Cheng Nien Tsu: For the sake of convenience the forestry society should be
a branch of the agricultural society and not a separate institution. Rules for the protection of woods and forests should be drawn up by the proprietors of the same.
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Wang Shu Huai: The protection of public and unowned woods is a simple matter, but difficulty will be found in the protection of those that are private property, hence the starting point should be the protection of the livelihood of the owner. Enlarging on this, the member went on to point out that the taxes on mortgages were harmful to owners of property, and should therefore be abolished. He went on at great length, to the annoyance of the council.
"The president then said that, although the member had already explained clearly, it still appeared that the matter he was discussing was irrelevant; more- over, there would be a separate discussion on this subject, so it need not be dealt with now.
"Kao Ling Hsiao: There is no need to establish any society, for it would be only an empty name. Wax, varnish, rubber, and camphor trees should be cultivated to replace opium.
Cheng Ying Tu: Privately-owned woods should be protected from being cut down by thieves. Societies should be established as occasion demands.
"The Vice-President, Lo Lun: There are three causes of deforestation: (1) Cutting too early; (2) Failure to plant; (3) Theft of trees. Schemes for protection should be divided into direct and indirect. On the one hand, coal mines should be developed so that there should be no need to burn timber; aud on the other hand, forestry societies should be established as branches of the agricultural societies. Regulations and punishments should be defined, markets should be opened up, and so on.
This met with the approval of the council.
"The President: The subject immediately under discussion includes three heads: Unowned woods, public woods, and private woods, and also incidentally embraces three other objects: Preservation of monuments, development of wells and springs, and production of timber.
The Intendant of Commerce expressed his views: These three classes of woods and forests must all be surveyed and investigated, and the unowned woods can then be made the foundation of State forests. While all woods, whether unowned, public, or private, must be surveyed, the unowned and public woods should be dealt with first.
"Several members raised the point that when a census of mulberry trees was taken last year, the people became suspicious and cut down the trees.
"The President: Registration must be the basis of all administration. Suspicion is not aroused in other matters; why should the registration of woods and forests be the solitary exception ? I have no hesitation in asserting that there will be no difficulty.
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