CO129-416 - Public Offices - 1914 — Page 237

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Enclosure in No. 51.

Summary of Events in the Provinces during the first Quarter of 1913.

THE reports received from His Majesty's consular officers during the past quarter reflect an improvement in the general situation from the point of view of security of life and property.

It is true that robber bands still continue their depredations in numerous districts; but the provincial authorities, who now have their troops under better control, have been very active in repressing disorder. They have been hampered in this task by the distress in the northern provinces resulting from the prolonged drought and the discontent fomented in the southern provinces by secret societies which combine politics with highway robbery.

On the other hand, while recovering their local authority, the provincial officials have tasted the sweets of independence from the control of the Central Government, and are in no mood to submit readily to the dictation of Peking. In one or two recent trials of strength the Central Government has proved powerless to enforce its will, and has submitted to the appointment to the higher provincial posts of local officials chosen on the spot. How far this movement may eventually go it is yet too early to tell, but much depends on the line of policy pursued at the present moment by President Yuan

Shih-kai.

Shantung.

Apart from brigandage, which is more or less chronic in certain parts of Shantung, the state of this province has been remarkably peaceful during the past quarter. There have been no mutinies of any importance. The local revolutionary force at Chefoo has been finally disbanded and replaced by 1,500 regular troops. A serious drought has spoilt the prospects of the winter wheat and occasioned a certain amount of distress. The authorities have recently prohibited the export of grain from Shantung and provided for its import into the province free of duty. The drought tends to increase the number of armed robberies, which still occur with some frequency in the neighbour- hood of Tsaochow to the south-west and Loling to the north. Village volunteer corps have been formed in many districts to relieve the regular forces of police duty and to assist in the maintenance of order.

There has been much complaint recently regarding the working of the Tien- tsin-Pukow Railway, the management of which is in Chinese hands. It is stated that freight cars cannot be obtained without squeezes, and that they are often left empty at one station when urgently needed at another. Travellera by the ordinary trains are also exposed to much discomfort. The chief engineer is constantly bringing these defects to the notice of the administration, but is merely informed in reply that the railway is run for Chinese and not for foreigners, and that the latter are under no obligation to make use of it. Nevertheless, the increased facilities which the railway affords are largely increasing its revenue and incidentally drawing off a portion of the trade from the hinterland of Tsingtau. The German Shantung Railway, running from Tsinan to Tsingtau, until recently gave the latter port a monopoly of the railborne trade of the province. The distance from Tsinan to Tien- tain is actually 40 miles less than from Tsinan to Tsingtau, and when the Tien-tsin- Pukow Railway was built, merchants in the west of Shantung found it cheaper to export via Tien-tsin, and the latter port quickly absorbed a large volume of trade that had until then been considered outside its sphere. The German railway has now declared a reduction of 40 per cent, on its freight charges to recover its traffic. It is, of course, open to the Chinese railway to do the same, and the greater length of its line, and, consequently, larger volume of trade that it will handle, together with the advantages offered by its termini, will place it in a strong position should a rate-cutting competition ensue with the other railway. Unless the Germans are able to extend their line further into the interior, and tap the provinces of Shansi and Honan-as it is said they are endeavouring to do-in time the port of Tsingtau will have to content itself with the trade of the immediate neighbourhood, which experience has proved to be much less rich than was originally hoped. Moreover, branch lines have been projected, linking up the various provincial centres of Shantung with the Tien-tsin- Pukow Railway, and giving connection with Chefoo, now at last to obtain its much- needed breakwater.