[ { "id": 376913, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-300 - Administrator Major Gen Gascoigne Governor Sir Blake - 1900 [7-9]", "page_number": 9, "title": "CO129-300 - Administrator Major Gen Gascoigne Governor Sir Blake - 1900 [7-9]", "content_text": "# Decypher of telegram \n\n## 7 \n\n## Governor Sir H. Blake to Mr. Chamberlain \n\nReceived 1.50 am 1 July 1900 \n\n**DRAFT**. I have just returned. Must await advices from Tientsin. Fortnight before appearance of Boxers servants began to leave. I saw Director of Imperial Railways and Legation Secretary, he said that Viceroys at Hupsh, Hankow, and Canton determined to preserve peace if possible but thousands of Chinese were mounting four Krupp guns on Bogue forts which would command anchorage of H.M. ships. Remembering what led to hostilities at Takau, this was imprudent. I have wired to Viceroy at Hankow and I have just received telegram saying he has ordered all work on the fort to be stopped. Protection of telegraph posts on Yangtse may probably prevent spread of the Boxer movement to the south in provinces. Important Hong Kong garrison be kept at full strength. I will try to further increase volunteers. Boxer movement formidable to security, being semi-religious and fanatic. Manager of Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank Shanghai said he had it on excellent authority that before the outbreak Russian Minister at Pekin...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-300 - Administrator Major Gen Gascoigne Governor Sir Blake - 1900 [7-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 378872, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900", "page_number": 686, "title": "CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900", "content_text": "676 \n\nis distinctly reactionary. \n\nThere are no aspirations for reform in China which are not to come from Chinese sources and to be worked on Chinese lines. \n\nThe solidarity of thought and feeling in China from one extremity to the other is wonderful, and the Boxers have sympathisers, associates, and followers in every province and city of the Empire, by whatever names they may locally be known. \n\n### 3. \n\nThe recent outbreak in the North, if not very speedily suppressed and punished, will be followed by disturbances in all quarters. \n\nThere is unrest along the entire valley of the Yangtze. Shanghai is threatened with a Boxer movement. Ningpo is almost on the point of rising. Kwangtung and Kwang Si are only kept down by the presence of Li Fung-chang; and both these provinces have, as you know, been in a troubled state for some years past. \n\nThe piracy on the West River and its tributaries is only a symptom of the general state of unrest. \n\n### 4. \n\nIt is gratifying to find that, in the face of", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 380519, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7]", "page_number": 48, "title": "CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7]", "content_text": "# No.176.\n\nEnclosure.\n\nExtract from *The Hongkong Daily Press* (dated the 30th April, 1901)\n\nC.O.\n45\n10344\n\nJUN 6\n\nGovernment House, \nHongkong, \n6th May, 1901.\n\nSir,\n\nI have the honour to enclose for your information a copy of an address presented to me by a deputation from a number of Cantonese Medical Students who, with a large number of Cantonese, found themselves unable to escape from Tientsin on the outbreak of the Boxer disturbances last year.\n\n2\\. I was approached by some Chinese gentlemen here, who were prepared to give Ten Thousand Dollars to assist in the repatriation of the Cantonese. I telegraphed to His Majesty's Consul at Tientsin guaranteeing that amount, and Mr. Carles was kind enough to assist the Medical Students and other Cantonese in their escape from Tientsin. The amount expended being repaid by the Chinese gentlemen who had approached me on the subject. The deputation shows that they are not ungrateful.\n\nI have the honour to be, Sir, \nYour most obedient \nHumble servant, \n**Henry Arthur Blake** \nGovernor, H.K.\n\nTHE RIGHT HONOURABLE \nJOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 380520, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7]", "page_number": 49, "title": "CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7]", "content_text": "# ENCLOSURE\n\n## EXTRACT\n\n0.0. 46 13844\n\nFrom the \"Hongkong Daily Press\" dated 30th April, 1901.\n\n### DEPUTATION TO H.E. THE GOVERNOR\n\n#### CANTONESE GRATITUDE FOR LAST YEAR'S ASSISTANCE\n\nAn interesting ceremony, and one calculated to promote Anglo-Chinese good-feeling in South China, took place at Government House yesterday forenoon, when a deputation of Cantonese medical students of the Tientsin Medical College waited on H.E. the Governor to present an address expressing their gratitude to H.E. for the assistance rendered last year to the Cantonese at Tientsin. It will be remembered that H.E. guaranteed the cost of the passages south of Cantonese desirous of leaving Tientsin (where they were at least in as much danger from the Boxers as were the European residents), while the money was raised by subscription among the leading Chinese merchants here. The deputation yesterday was introduced by Mr. Ts'oi Yen-Shan, and after they had been received by His Excellency presented the following address:\n\nHongkong, 26th April.\n\n**YOUR EXCELLENCY**\n\nWe, the undersigned medical students of the Tientsin Medical College, do hereby desire to thank Your Excellency for the kind thoughts of us and our welfare during the troubles at Tientsin when we were placed in imminent danger.\n\nThrough your timely despatches and instructions to the British Officers in authority up the north, we were placed in comparative safety. Indeed, through our own safety we were in a position to render some help to the sufferers, both natives and Europeans. This is due to Your Excellency's endeavours, and not to anything we dare to boast of.\n\nWe humbly wish to place our gratitude on record and sincerely hope that Your Excellency will accept not only our own thanks but also that of our families and countrymen.\n\nWe have the honour to be, Your Excellency, Your Excellency's most obedient servants,\n\n| Name |\n|---------------|\n| YAU KING-SHAM |\n| HSIAO CHI-NAU |\n| WOO WAI-U |\n| WONG MAN TOO |\n| LAI SHUT-WING |\n| WOO CHI-FIN |\n| TSUE YING YANG|\n| KWAU KING SING|\n| WAU PING MAN |\n| TONG FUO-MAN |\n| TSO U HIM |\n| LUENG KING CHEONG|\n| WONG YUN SHIU |\n\nTo H.E. Sir HENRY A. BLAKE, G.C.M.G., Governor of Hongkong, etc., etc., etc.\n\nHis Excellency then replied as follows:-\n\nGentlemen, I assure you that it gave me very great pleasure to be able to assist you and the Cantonese people who found themselves exposed to danger from the Boxer movement in the North, and I congratulate you on your escape from that sorely harassed portion of China. The misguided men who entered upon this anti-foreign movement must now see how wicked and foolish was an outbreak of hostilities that has already cost China hundreds of thousands of lives, and will cost her hundreds of millions of Taels. When you return to your homes you will be able to appreciate the blessings of peace, so happily preserved in the Southern provinces, and I hope the day is not far distant when you may be able to resume your medical work, for the future of China is in the hands of those young men who are now devoting themselves to scientific and economic studies. I am glad to learn from you that you have all been at one time students of Queen's College, as you give a most agreeable evidence of the usefulness of that institution. I thank you for your expression of good will, which I heartily reciprocate, not alone towards you, but towards the Chinese people, in whose welfare the King and the people of Great Britain have always taken a friendly interest.\n\nThe deputation then withdrew.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 381987, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-306 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [8-9]", "page_number": 700, "title": "CO129-306 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [8-9]", "content_text": "GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Hongkong. 25th September, 1901.\n\nSIR,\n\nI have the honour to forward the Blue Book for 1900. The statistics quoted in the Report of the Colonial Secretary show that the Colony is in a sound financial position, and that its business, which is mainly that of a great transhipping port, continues to increase with the expanding trade of the East. The shipping returns show that during the year 1900, 82,456 ships of the aggregate registered tonnage of 18,445,133 tons, carrying 9,862,868 tons of cargo and 2,031,079 passengers arrived and cleared.\n\n2. But this considerable increase of shipping over the previous year by no means represents the enormous increase in the number of ships that entered the harbour during this year of abnormal activity. The Boxer troubles in the North broke out in June, and in July the first contingents of the China Expeditionary Forces began to arrive. Hongkong was practically the British base, and for months the man-of-war anchorage was filled with British and Foreign warships and transports. At first it was feared that there was no available space in which to accommodate the Indian Brigades landed here to await the settlement of details as to future operations, I gave the Major-General Commanding Troops carte blanche to occupy every spot of ground on which a tent could be pitched, and sufficient accommodation was found in the immediate neighbourhood. I may add that the conduct of the Indian Troops landed here left nothing to be desired.\n\n3. With the new road now being completed to Taipo, opening up the plains and hillsides of the New Territory, there is now ample accommodation for any number of troops likely to be required in the East.\n\n4. It will be easily understood that with the paralysis of trade in the North on the outbreak of active hostilities the entire trade of China was affected, and the godowns in Hongkong and Shanghai were filled to overflowing with imported merchandise of which the Chinese merchants were slow to take delivery. In the month of September a rebellious movement was started in the district of Weichou north of the New Territory and Mirs Bay. The movement was not anti-foreign, and the insurgents refrained from interference with the villages in Tung Kun District in which the Basel Missions were established, nor, so far as I could learn, were any atrocities committed by them. It was a movement of a section of reformers that was not joined by the followers of Kang-yu-wei. The disturbance lasted for about a fortnight and collapsed after several engagements with the Viceroy's troops under Admiral Ho, in one or two of which the rebels had some success. About four thousand lives were lost in the fighting, and the movement died out from the want of arms and ammunition, to prevent the smuggling of which the Police of Hongkong left nothing undone. The movement created considerable uneasiness in the district around Canton, one result of which was the transfer of a large amount of Chinese money to Hongkong for investment under the protection of the British flag. This may to some extent account for the increased sale of Crown land at enhanced prices during the year.\n\nThe Right Honourable\n\nJOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P.,\n\nHis Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies,", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-306 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [8-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 393675, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-324 - Governor Nathan - 1904 [10-12]", "page_number": 236, "title": "CO129-324 - Governor Nathan - 1904 [10-12]", "content_text": "235\n\n-1920N 19Jon sei bnɛ exennA tedajɛ adj 70× \n\n,1991] 1851b9# TIVI) (8qroniti add yo barajzintoks ad of ‚aisj BINOJOIV MÅ to bas lejrq8oH LIVIÛ Jasınnevoć od♪ lo lleja 9AJ lliw Jud sidslieve vijusq 90 111# 097bird) bas neno# 70) istiQBON -:RDINOL10] edð ¿d bajosnsiqqua ed oð evrí \n\n,exoana bodeJed \n\nThe Chinese Attendants, Ward Coolles and Cooks for the Matshed Annexe and Peak hotel Hospitals will be engaged at the following rates:-\n\nAttendant...... $15 a month.\n\nWard Coolie... $9 a month.\n\nCook... $17 a month.\n\n18Joł \n\n19JON *897 \n\n3 \n\nSI \n\n$8 \n\nમ \n\nע: \n\nI....... \n\nૉ. \n\n.#nоJooÙ \n\n....... \n\n„aneje12 90IZIUN \n\n...... \n\n...ejneLoojjA 989011Ɔ \n\n..2911000 bre# \n\n*..... \n\nS......... \n\n多 \n\nAjiw benso Jaki sá♬ Jqsoxe) odu pojanen bos (Jaub,1911UŃ .8TÜ eved (stroinuBNOD JÄIN 7951]tv ¡Borbet ¡IVID 18q1on17i ed♬ mode 919AJ 9081Q OJ b9789973 28 Vilanoijibnoonu 29v188a9d‡ b98291710 kas isvad dj ai *0# not Jneannevɔð 10 1880481b Add JB 2991V192 of 9v392 of noqu bs1180 ad ili* 18# to stij mi zlejrq8o8 y98Jfir \n\n21 J1 2# 0002 es zi8jiqzor 193on 1891 kos exsonA £odzjɛl odj \n\nJe a9dj veq oj bezogong 21 J1 .b9iquoc0 90 111# 929dj Jedj a#on* \n\n„agensa 193 0063 lo sjan BAJ \n\n2901v792 edd no jauoo oj sidazivis Jon 21 Ji \n\n(110) 21 911 920dw yno100 91♬ ni zeanuň OJAVITI SVIt add to ynɛ 10 Jdan ned to od no são dauon),zeezo Sjøving anianum af beiquoso -29090 90 9101999ă LLI* si .yonegno19 as ni sidkiievs 90 (id12803 -289 28 insigne #07) Jane sa bluode en9jatë goiena di JBA‡ y188 119dt aniknet .8q1d2 1831gzon ni medj not betivong ed neo 29gka 9dJ ni 291bøi non) bensejdo so bluow 900FJ81828 9308 levi778 111* LIE 2928rio 9008íváns gnitnejj8 Jas297q je 978 od 100100 -viri800 228q yodu 11 bus 927000 9012ɔun # dywordj og vijneupsadua 2901v192 101 29881 19ÁJ 19321997 OJ bower ad lif* EnoIJENIAEXO DAI 99761 8 Jud 9anuoc gij teonen100 eved serbki þf .216jigeon sdƒ AL Jon ene vllleup vedy i nevo Lae eorii*8) 9v8d 929ds to sortnoqong \n\n**30# Dridua nol miositeve 90 OJ (19xfi \n\nStores.\n\nThe Civilian Medical Assistance required at the Military hospitals apart from dholl bearers that will be provided by the Transport Officer are the following:-\n\nCivil Surgeons... 80\n\nChinese Attendants.. 6\n\nWard Coolles... 3\n\nChinese Cooks.\n\nIndian Cooks..\n\nThe following local Practitioners who have agreed to serve will be told by the Principal Civil Medical Officer on outbreak of war to report to the Principal Medical Officer:-\n\nDr. Forsyth,\n\nDr. Forster,\n\nDr. Lucban,\n\nDr. Azavedo,\n\nDr. Swan,\n\nDr. Jehangir.\n\nThe Principal Medical Officer will himself engage Chinese Attendants (in place of the Chinese dressers provided for in the Defence Scheme which cannot be obtained), Ward Coolies and Cooks at the rates as regards Chinese above mentioned.\n\n6.\n\nAs regards stores the Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals has sufficient for the Naval hospital and hospital Ships and with some additions, to be made by local purchase,", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-324 - Governor Nathan - 1904 [10-12].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 394582, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-325 - Public Offices & Others - 1904", "page_number": 572, "title": "CO129-325 - Public Offices & Others - 1904", "content_text": "THE TIMES, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1904.\n\nLANSDOWNE'S declaration. Year by year the imperative need of a definite policy, and, we think, the broad principles on which it should be based, become more manifest. The time has come when it is hopeless for private enterprise, without the assurance of State support, to compete successfully in the prosecution of large undertakings in China. Its rivals are no longer private individuals or associations of individuals; in one form or another they represent powerful European Governments, and against the resources of each Government, which are firmly directed to fixed aims upon consistent and intelligent principles, it is in vain for private Englishmen to struggle. They too must enjoy State support, if they are to be on even terms with their competitors. It need not necessarily take the form of pecuniary support, though the brilliant financial and political success achieved by the genius of LORD BEACONSFIELD, in the purchase of the Suez Canal shares, and the political results accomplished by the construction of the Sudan and Uganda railways demonstrate that, on occasion, a bold departure from the hide-bound traditions of the Treasury may prove of the highest advantage to the Empire. It need not often take the form of guarantees—which are only pecuniary support in the second degree of under...\n\nIn the years before the outbreak of the South African war there were few questions of foreign politics in which the public took a deeper interest than in the railway problem in China. Our Correspondents at Peking and Shanghai carefully laid the main factors of the problem before the nation and explained their political and commercial importance. They realized, as most intelligent Europeans in the East do realize, how intimately policy and commerce are of necessity knit in Oriental lands, and they exerted themselves with great ability to bring this fundamental truth home to their fellow-countrymen. Their efforts were attended with a large measure of success, and, under the pressure of the opinion which they did much to create, British Ministers reluctantly discarded some of their most comfortable illusions and awoke to the revelation that in half-civilized lands railways under foreign control are powerful political weapons. Under the same pressure our diplomacy was authorized to take part in what was called the \"battle of concessions\" in China, and at the end of 1898 our Minister at Peking officially recorded the results. These made a good show on paper, but unfortunately most of them have remained mere paper ever since. Two years ago our Shanghai Correspondent reviewed the then condition of the nine concessions, embracing more than 2,800 miles of railway, which our Government paraded with so much self-gratulation in 1898. The other day he repeated that salutary survey. The result is practically the same. We have completed 570 miles out of the 2,800 allotted to us, and there is a prospect of our building another 180 this year. The lines which we have finished are the Northern railway from Peking to Tien-tsin and Niu-chwang and the Pekin Syndicate's short line from the Shan-si mines to Wei-hui. The line which we are about to begin is the line from Shanghai to Nanking through Su-chau. The other concessions are either concessions and nothing more, in 1904, as they were in 1898, or they have altogether evaporated into mere interesting reminiscences. Other nations in the meantime have been actively developing the concessions made to them; Germany, France, and Russia have all displayed energy and enterprise in making the railways which our Foreign Office used to disparage as very dubious speculations. These nations appreciate the principle, recognized by CAPTAIN MAHAN, that in China, as in Persia, \"local commercial interests now underlie political and military control.\" Even Belgium, as we have recently seen, which cannot be suspected of this kind of ambition on her own account in China, has fearlessly embarked in railway construction across the British sphere, with a shrewd appreciation of the fact that the political and military \"value of her concessions will always enable her to find champions to protect them, or purchasers to take them off her hands upon terms to her advantage.\n\nThere has been one object-lesson, our Correspondent points out, which might have been expected to enlarge the views of the Government on railway policy in China. In January, 1899, they screwed their courage to the sticking-place and officially \"took note\" of the promise given by the Tsung-li-Yamên to the Hong-kong and Shanghai Bank that China would not alienate any of the Northern Railway lines to any foreign Power. \"The far-reaching and fortunate results of this 'undemonstrative support have been,' he declares, \"sufficiently conspicuous.\" They include, in a great measure, not only the maintenance of our own position in North China, but also that of the independence of the Chinese Government. The guarantee saved the railway from remaining in Russian hands after the Boxer troubles, and with the railway in Russian hands the subjugation of the Palace to Russian influence would have been complete. But, in spite of this lesson, the Foreign Office seems to have relapsed into its traditional attitude. When SIR ERNEST SATOW went back to Peking, more than twelve months ago, Lord LANSDOWNE declared that he went back with fuller powers and with a definite policy on the railway question. We are unable to believe that it is the fault of so able a diplomatist as SIR ERNEST SATOW that so little has been done to justify Lord LANSDOWNE's declaration.\n\n...undertakings in foreign lands. But, if Englishmen are to engage in such undertakings, as they must do if we are to maintain our place in the remoter markets of the world, our Government must back them up with the zeal and the perseverance which other Governments display in encouraging their countrymen. When British concession is as sure of diplomatic support as a Russian or a German concession or even as a Belgian concession—British capital will be forthcoming in plenty for opening the Chinese markets to British trade and manufactures. It is the plentiful lack of that support which is largely responsible for the undeveloped condition of so many of the concessions we have obtained, and which is leading foreigners to hint, and Chinamen to suspect, that we do not intend to develop them at all.\n\nPage 569\n\n0.0\n\n38877\n\n0\n\nThe necessity of doing something with our concessions may be illustrated by the case of the Hang-chau line. This is to be an extension of the Shanghai-Nanking line. The latter is described as the most valuable concession of its kind in China, while its control in British hands is indispensable to the protection of our interests at Shanghai and in the Yang-tze valley. We have had the preliminary contract since 1898, but the work has not yet been begun, and it is only after a strong remonstrance from our Minister that the obstructive attitude of SHENG TA-JÊN has been at last overcome and authority given for the issue of the bonds. But, though SHENG has done his best to retard the construction of the Nanking line, China has alleged this delay as a reason for refusing to discuss the final agreement for the Hang-chau extension. The gentry of Che-kiang have displayed an unexpected interest in the railway question. They have witnessed with concern the prospect of a British \"monopoly\" of concessions in that region, and they thought out—or adopted—an ingenious proposal to defeat it. It appears from the documents which our correspondent \"YANG-TSZE\" supplies this morning, that, in order to \"balance the power\" which we might ultimately acquire, they proposed to build a second line from Shanghai to Hang-chau. They offered to subscribe half the capital themselves, and they made an agreement with a German firm to provide the other half. They do not seem to have placed implicit reliance in their German associates. They applied for and obtained a guarantee for the 2,000,000 taels which were to be provided by the German firm from Dr. KNAPPE, the German Consul-General at Shanghai. The project, we understand, has fallen through. Its history survives as an instructive warning of the dangers of delay in carrying out our concessions, and as a practical reminder that, while Germany claims for herself a special position in Shan-tung, she also adheres to the contention—which LORD SALISBURY repudiated in 1898—that the Yang-tsze region is still \"unreservedly open\" to her enterprise.\n\n&\n\n14 NOV C", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-325 - Public Offices & Others - 1904.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 394752, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904", "page_number": 89, "title": "CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904", "content_text": "(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.)\n\nSOUTH-WEST CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\nNo. 1.\n\n87\n\nJanuary 31.\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nSir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.~(Received January 31, 1904.)\n\n(No. 415.) My Lord,\n\nPeking, December 5, 1903.\n\nI HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Lordship's despatch No. 300 of October 9, instructing me to make a further communication to the Chinese Government respecting the question of the boundary between Burmah and China in the N'maikha region.\n\nBefore proceeding to make a formal communication in writing, it appeared to me, after careful study of the previous correspondence, desirable to discuss the subject with the Foreign Board, in order to ascertain what likelihood there might be of inducing the Chinese Government to accept amicably the proposal they had rejected in so uncompromising a manner in the spring of 1900. It is difficult to resist the impression that their attitude at that time was influenced by the hostile sentiments they then entertained towards foreign Powers in general, which shortly afterwards manifested themselves in the Boxer outbreak against foreigners and the sieges of the Legations at Peking, and of the Settlements at Tien-tsin. The affray at Hpare in the N'maikha Valley, when Mr. Hertz's peaceful exploring party had to fight for their lives, and the attack on members of Sir George Scott's Boundary Commission at Meng Tum, when two officers were murdered and Mr. Litton nearly lost his life in February of the same year, appear to be attributable to the same cause. I thought that, under the altered circumstances of the present time, it might be possible to induce the Chinese Government to take a more reasonable view of the proposal to adopt the eastern watershed of the N'maikha as the permanent boundary between Burmah and China in that region.\n\nIt appears from the correspondence that the Government of Burmah, while anxious to prevent further extension of Chinese control into the valley of the N'maikha, are not desirous of immediately undertaking any administrative responsibilities in the territory which they claim as belonging to Burmah, and that, provided the Chinese Government will abstain from crossing the watershed, they are not disposed to take any active steps at present to establish control there either.\n\nThe language in which I am instructed to address the Chinese Government, which is in accordance with the terms of the telegram to the Indian Government of the 24th July, agreed to between Sir Hugh Barnes and myself when I was at Rangoon, implies that His Majesty's Government intend to regard the watershed as the actual boundary, unless and until a settlement is arrived at. I concluded that this leaves still an opening for discussion between the two Governments, though at the same time it seemed to me undesirable to employ the term \"provisional boundary.\" The word \"provisional\" appears to have been first used in Sir Claude MacDonald's note of the 29th November, 1898, to the Chinese Government, and I am not sure that it was intentionally inserted.\n\nIn the course of the discussion between Captain Townsend, the Deputy Commissioner of Myitkina, and the Sub-Prefect of Teng-yüeh, held at Erhtaipo on the 17th May, 1900, the latter said that he was prepared to produce documentary evidence in the shape of native annals and Imperial orders issued to the hereditary Chiefs of the tracts of country subject to Mien-kawng-ai (which is east of the watershed), in order to show that the Chinese Government had for 250 years at least administered the territories as far west as the N'maikha, and in the Note of the Tsung-li Yamên to my predecessor of the 3rd March, 1900, a claim is made that Tz'uchu, Pai-lai (Hpare), and several other posts are situated in Chinese territory. Mr. Adamson, in his Report of the 23rd May to the Government of Burmah, approves Captain Townsend's refusal to examine the evidence, as he had no means of testing it. Mr. Adamson goes on to say that we are able to prove that the Chinese have never governed the tract in question, but that the evidence on our side had not been fully collected, and was not available at the meeting. It might be useful if the evidence here alluded to were communicated to His Majesty's Legation, for use hereafter, if required.\n\nThe strong point in our favour is the omission of the Chinese Government to claim...\n\nPage 87\n\n[1822 hh--1]\n\nB", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 395867, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-327 - Individuals - 1904", "page_number": 411, "title": "CO129-327 - Individuals - 1904", "content_text": "## CHINESE RAILWAY CONCESSIONS\n\nIt was announced in the House of Commons on the 28th March by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that the negotiations which had previously been going on between the concessionnaires of the Shanghai-Nanking Railway and the Chinese Board of Commerce with the view to the early floatation of the loan and commencement of construction, had been broken off, and a postponement of the issue resolved on till after peace is restored. In this advantage was taken of a clause, said to have been in the agreement, to the effect that such might take place in the event of an unfavourable condition of the Money Market resulting from an outbreak of war. During the six years in which this concession has been in force it should be noted that there was perfect peace for the first two years, followed by the Boxer troubles, which lasted about one year, while over the last two or three years a state of peace has again reigned, so much so that advantage was largely taken to raise money in France and Germany for investment in Chinese enterprises. The present state of war, however, it is apparent is not the cause of the non-issue of the intended loan. Before the beginning of February last, when hostilities commenced between Russia and Japan, the corporation for several months had put forward as the cause of their inability to raise the required capital the lack of a British Government guarantee to the bonds to be issued. To this it was replied that such was not required in February, 1899, when it issued the North China Railway Newchwang Extension bonds, nor did French and German concessionnaires receive such support from their respective Governments; and yet these had found enormous sums without difficulty (said to be about £20,000,000) within these six years.\n\nThus we have been given one reason in time of peace, and in time of war we are asked to accept another. One thing, however, is patent and ought to be clearly kept in view—namely, the real cause, whatever it is, has existed continuously over six years, or nearly so. Neither of the causes adduced by the corporation conform to this. We must, therefore, look elsewhere for the real cause. There must be something the effect of which has been coterminous, or nearly so, with the existence of the concession itself. It ought to be found at a point subsequent to the very successful issue of the Newchwang Extension bonds in February, 1899, and prior to December of that year, when these same bonds of the corporation fell to £81 net, and from which they have never permanently recovered their stability. When the parties interested have ascertained the root cause, and recognised the same as the essential factor in the situation, some progress may be looked for.\n\n### See-saw arguments\n\nAs this concession was obtained only by means of the assistance rendered by His Majesty's Government, it would be interesting to know if it has fully satisfied itself that all difficulties are now removed, and nothing further is necessary to secure a successful issue of the bonds but the cessation of hostilities between the present belligerents. Should this be the view of the Government, need hardly be said that many well-informed people on Chinese affairs hold a very different opinion: if this is not the Government's conviction, then why not press on the interested parties the urgent necessity of at once setting their house in order and having everything in readiness for the floatation under the happiest auspices on the return of peace, should such delay be thought desirable?\n\nPage 3 \nRES MAY 04 \n15912 408", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-327 - Individuals - 1904.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 411195, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "page_number": 372, "title": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "content_text": "366 \n\nWellington she would not have been so long in conquering the Transvaal. The man who crushed Napoleon would have made short work of the Boers.\n\nChina would never again have a Boxer rising. The spread of modern education was dissipating the ignorance of the masses and offered a far better guarantee against the outbreak of any similar fanaticism than any Imperial Edicts could do.\n\nSpeaking of the recent reorganisation of the Government, the Prince said that however excellent it might be in theory, it had still to stand the test of actual experience, and he seemed to think that further changes would be required if any real progress towards Western standards was to be made. England had only reached her present position by a gradual process of evolution, and China could not hope to do in a few years what it had taken centuries to accomplish in Europe.\n\nAsked whether he thought China would succeed in carrying out her opium programme, he said he felt confident that", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 411297, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "page_number": 474, "title": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "content_text": "## AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n[6014]\n\nNo. 1.\n\n9970 \n(February 2 \nREG: 19 MAR 07)\n\n### Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey--(Received February 23.)\n\n**(No. 5. Confidential.)** Sir,\n\nPeking, January 4, 1907.\n\nI received a visit yesterday from Prince Kung, and some of the remarks which he made, although of no striking importance in themselves, may not be without interest to you as an indication of the views held by prominent young Chinese of a progressive type.\n\nHis Highness is the grandson of the Prince of the same name who concluded the Treaty of Tien-tsin with Lord Elgin, and was for many years afterwards the leading statesman of China. He bears a marked resemblance to his grandfather, and has the frankness of speech and decision of manner which characterized the elder statesman.\n\nThe Prince spoke very freely of the Boxer movement, and is the only Chinese of any standing who has voluntarily broached the subject in conversation with me. Amongst the common people, I have noticed a marked reluctance to speak of the events of that year.\n\nPrince Kung referred to the missionary troubles in Shantung as the exciting cause of the outbreak, and alluded to the great difficulty of holding an even balance between the Christians and the ordinary population. The Edicts which were at first issued for the suppression of the disturbance were of commendable severity, but the attitude of the Emperor and Empress weakened as the Throne gradually became surrounded by Boxers.\n\nHe recalled an audience at which he himself had a sharp encounter with Prince Tuan in the Imperial presence. The Empress asked Prince Tuan if he was quite confident that he could exterminate the foreigners, and on receiving a very decided reply in the affirmative said \"Very good; but how do you propose to do it?\"\n\nThe reply being unconvincing, Prince Kung pointed out that even if the foreign Legations were razed to the ground it would not mean the disappearance of foreigners, as foreign soldiers would come to Peking as they did in 1860. This expression of opinion was unpalatable, and the Prince gave me to understand, exposed him to considerable danger.\n\nPrince Ching, not being in the Privy Council at the time, appears to have sat on the fence, and the safety of the Legations, according to Prince Kung, was largely attributable to Yung Lu and his influence over the troops. He held that the movement, when all is said and done, was a patriotic though misguided one, and had been a blessing in disguise for China. Washington he regarded as a Boxer and a successful one, but his patriotism had been directed into the proper channel.\n\nEven as it was, the rising could easily have been suppressed at the outset, and had his grandfather been alive it would never have attained formidable proportions. His grandfather had steered China through a far more difficult crisis in 1860, when the English and the French occupied the capital and the west was in the hands of Mahommedan insurgents, and the whole Empire was barely recovering from the effects of the Taiping rebellion.\n\nChina, however, was not the only country that had suffered from the loss of great men. If England had had a Wellington she would not have been so long in conquering the Transvaal. The man who crushed Napoleon would have made short work of the Boers.\n\nChina would never again have a Boxer rising. The spread of modern education was dissipating the ignorance of the masses and offered a far better guarantee against the outbreak of any similar fanaticism than any Imperial Edicts could do.\n\nSpeaking of the recent reorganization of the Government, the Prince said that, however excellent it might be in theory, it had still to stand the test of actual experience, and he seemed to think that further changes would be required if any real progress towards Western standards was to be made. England had only reached her...\n\n### Inclosure 4 in No. 1.\n\n**Extract from Hangchow Intelligence Report for December Quarter, 1906.**\n\n#### Suspected Anti-Dynastic Movement.\n\nA German merchant from Shanghae who visited the port in October sold some 400 rifles here, alleging that they were for the officials; it turned out afterwards, however, that they had got into unlicensed hands—probably those of salt smugglers. A Japanese was also discovered some time ago landing with a hand-bag containing forty-five revolvers which he had omitted to declare at the Customs, and the latter have recently become very strict in examining all luggage and house-boats—of foreigners as well as Chinese—for arms and ammunition.\n\nI understand that this is done in consequence of orders from the officials who seem to suspect that some anti-dynastic movement is on foot, and that advantage has been taken of the former laxity of the Customs to import arms and ammunition. I have ascertained the above from casual remarks made by members of the local Customs staff, who decline, however, to speak about the matter if approached directly. The Chinese officials are equally secretive on the subject. Personally, I am unable to obtain any evidence of an agitation of the kind mentioned being on foot here.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n468 C. O.\n\n6 \n\npolice, when the troops absolutely disobeyed the orders of their officers, and the latter were afraid to try to enforce them. Two soldiers lost their heads over this, but I understand misplaced leniency was shown to the officers, the Viceroy being afraid.\n\nI cannot ascertain that the authorities have anything beyond suspicion to go on as regards their belief in the importation of arms. The Viceroy told the Commissioner of Customs a wild story about mail steamers stopping between Hong Kong and Shanghae to discharge arms and ammunition into native boats. No seizures have been made, so far as I know. A German named Hoffman, agent of Arnhold, Karberg, and Co., came up with guns to exhibit, and my informant suspects he was engaged in illicit traffic in arms because he and his compradore remained in Nanking for several months, ostensibly to try and secure a contract for machinery for waterworks, though he must have known that the proposed Waterworks Company could not succeed in raising the necessary capital. But this, again, is only suspicion.\n\nMy informant is of the opinion that \"anti-dynastic\" and \"anti-foreign\" are interchangeable terms, as the anti-dynastic movement seeks to embroil the Government with foreigners. He has promised to let me know if he hears of danger. He says he will send his family away if he does. He recommended me to have a gun-boat here, but I see no reason at present to ask for special protection for Nanking, though I should be glad, if it could be arranged, by concert with the other fleets or otherwise, to have a British or other foreign man-of-war here pretty constantly during the winter.\n\n**(Signed) W. P. KER.**\n\n[2876 x-5]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 411402, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "page_number": 579, "title": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "content_text": "## AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\nNo. 1.\n\n573\n\nMarch 13, 1907 \nSECTOR 10 APR 07, FR 07\n\n### Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received March 23.)\n\n**(No. 54. Confidential.)**\n\nPeking, January 30, 1907.\n\nTHE exclusive protectorate over Catholic missionaries in the East which France exercised for fully a quarter of a century after the Tien-tsin Treaty of 1858 has undergone considerable modifications of recent years. The attitude of the French Government towards the Church in France is reacting to some extent on the situation in the East, and the improved relations between the Italian Government and the Vatican have also probably contributed to the change.\n\nIn 1888, Germany and Italy both made arrangements, embodied in an exchange of notes with the Tsung-li Yamên, in accordance with which the German and Italian missionaries in China were to be considered as coming within the jurisdiction of their respective Legations. Germany lost no time in bringing this agreement into operation, and the large German Mission in Shantung was at once placed under the charge of its own Legation, and served some years later as an important instrument in the advancement of German designs in that province.\n\nAlthough Italy had, during the Franco-Chinese war of 1884, taken under her protection all the Catholic Missions in China, she made no attempt for a considerable time to enforce the compact of 1888. After the Boxer outbreak of 1900, the Italian Mission in Shansi pressed their claims for an indemnity through their own Legation, and the result was so satisfactory that the Bishop on his own authority transferred his allegiance from the French to the Italian Legation. For this, he was recalled, but the Mission continued to remain under its own Legation. Since then, the Italian Missions in Honan and Kiangsi have followed the same course, and the probability is that the French protectorate will soon be confined to the Belgians, who are perforce obliged to accept it in the absence of any prospect of protection on the part of their own authorities.\n\nThe change does not imply any abatement of the pretensions of Catholic missionaries in China, for the Italian Legation claims for its missionaries all the privileges conceded to the French by the Agreement of the 25th March, 1899.\n\nI have, &c. \n(Signed) J. N. JORDAN. \n`[2418-2]`", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 411743, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "page_number": 243, "title": "CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "content_text": "# AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n## CONFIDENTIAL\n\n242 \n21013 \n\nReceived Prď 13 JUN 07 [April 30.]\n\n### SECTION 1\n\n[13976] \n\nSir, \n\n**No. 1.** Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co. to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received April 30.) \n\nHead Office, Northwich, April 29, 1907. \nAT the request of our Chairman, Sir John Brunner, we beg leave to inclose you herewith extracts from letters from our General Manager in China, Mr. E. S. Little, of Shanghae, on the political situation in that country, which we have no doubt will be of interest to you. \n\nYours, &c. \n\nFor Brunner, Mond, and Co. (Limited), \n(Signed) \n**THOMAS H. FORGAN**, \nManaging Director. \n\n### Inclosure in No. 1.\n\nExtracts from Letters from Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co., Shanghae, China. \nJanuary 22, 1907. \n\nDR. TIMOTHY RICHARD informed a meeting of the Directors of the Diffusion Society, of which Mr. Hobson, Commissioner of Customs, is Chairman, and at which I was present, that the Provincial Treasurer of Shansi had informed him of a very serious plot being hatched in Peking. He had also received information from another high official, who stated that he could not return to Peking, as it was too dangerous for him to be there, and that the reactionaries were plotting some fearful outbreak similar to or worse than the Boxer disturbance of 1900. \n\nBearing in mind what I have already stated as to the extreme difficulty of forecasting the future in a country like China, I am still of opinion that Dr. Richard's views are extremist and alarmist. I recognize the fact that great changes are going on in this country, that there are strong anti-dynastic movements afoot, and that the Government seeks in every way possible to curtail the rights of foreigners and to deprive them of all privileges. \n\nThe Central Government is very much alarmed at the activity of revolutionary bands all along the Yang-tsze. North of the famine district also there is a turbulent section in revolt against the Government, and information arrived to-day shows that the missionaries are in considerable danger, owing to an outbreak of the people against the student class and the foreign model schools established by the Government. The people say that the foreign model schools run entirely by the Government are owing to the work of the missionaries, and in their attack on the Government schools they include also the missionaries. Tang Shao-yi informed me when I was in Peking that the Government was quite strong enough to hold all these and similar movements in check. Since that date, however, this statesman is in disgrace. \n\nI do not consider that any revolution has a ghost of a chance of being successful unless headed by the very highest mandarins with trained troops and sufficient financial resources in support. There is no such person in view along the political horizon. Sporadic outbreaks will occur in this huge Empire; and while there are symptoms of unrest, I do not think that the Government will be at all likely to sanction any such outbreak as that which occurred in 1900. All these disturbances, however, militate against trade. There is a feeling of unrest abroad throughout the Empire, but I believe that progress is being made along certain lines all the time. \n\nI regret to say that I do not see any sign of improvement in official and governing circles. The Chinese mandarin is the same to-day as he was fifty years ago. They know now very much more about foreigners and western methods, and have persuaded themselves, as I heard one of the leading return students state, that whatever a foreign man can do a Chinaman can do. Filled with this notion, they blunder into new and untrodden paths, and frequently come to grief. Many of their... \n\n[2450 gg-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 411744, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "page_number": 244, "title": "CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907", "content_text": "## reforms are hastily adopted, methods of procedure are ill-considered, experiments result in costly failures. Consequently the Imperial and all the Provincial Treasuries are in debt. The country, financially, is in a bad way. The Chinese Government has muddled through somehow up to now, and I have no doubt will continue to do the same, unless by chance they fall foul of some foreign Power, in which case they will immediately come to grief. It behoves foreign Powers to deal fairly with the Chinese Government, at the same time China should be held strictly to her obligations. At the moment she ignores the Treaties and pursues her own sweet way. Undoubtedly there are dangers ahead on the international horizon; time alone can tell what the upshot will be. The Japanese are pouring all over this country in great numbers and establishing themselves throughout the Empire. In years to come there may be danger in this direction, but not yet.\n\nThe Opium Edicts.-I am as yet unable to state what is likely to be the result of the Opium Edicts. The Chinese have become possessed with a wave of enthusiasm, and with a great flourish of trumpets announced the cessation of the trade throughout the Empire. Viceregal Proclamations were issued in Tien-tsin ordering the closing of all opium dens within one month. That period has long since passed, and the time has now been extended to Chinese New Year. It remains to be seen whether the Proclamation will take effect on that date. Since the first Imperial Edicts the Chinese Government has awakened to the fact that there will be about 20,000,000 taels (3,000,000l.) of revenue to be replaced. Their treasuries are depleted, and they are unable to arrange without careful consideration for the replacing of this revenue. It would not surprise me, therefore, if the carrying out of the Government's decision should be delayed to some later date. Locally the Taotai wrote to the Council asking us to immediately close all opium shops in the Settlement. A reply was sent stating that when the Council was satisfied that the Chinese authorities had closed the shops under the native jurisdiction the Council would immediately follow suit.\n\nIn this connection you will probably remember that Imperial Edicts were issued abolishing flogging and torture in judicial procedure through the country. The only place where the Edict has been made effective is inside the foreign Settlement in the Mixed Court. Consequently the criminals are free to ply their trade, and we have no means of repressing them. We do not wish this experiment repeated in Shanghae in connection with the opium trade. It yet remains to be seen how far the Government are influenced by genuine motives of reform, and how far they are actuated by a desire to head off the foreign trade.\n\nFebruary 8, 1907.\n\nThe political situation becomes steadily worse. I cannot imagine what possesses the officials in Peking that causes them to adopt the tactics which have been adopted since the year 1840 and before. That there will be a general outbreak against foreigners like the Boxer rising I still disbelieve. At the same time there is undoubtedly a wide revolutionary movement on foot and a spirit of restlessness abroad. There are rumours of large importation of arms from Japan. I am still of opinion that this movement can be disregarded-that is to say, that it does not have a ghost of a chance against the Government forces. The danger is that the Chinese Government will push its present policy to extremes, until the breaking point has been reached, and China involved in war with some Western Power. There seems to be an unalterable determination to exclude foreigners at all costs. The most innocent trading scheme is immediately blocked if it is known that a foreigner is connected with it. This state of affairs cannot of course go on indefinitely. If the Chinese Government were only persuaded that the foreign Powers were acting without international jealousies and as a unit, and that it will be prepared to bring pressure upon China to compel her to fulfil her obligations, there would be an immediate clearing of the political atmosphere.\n\nFebruary 25, 1907.\n\nReferring once again to the political situation in China, I desire to add the following observations :----\n\nYesterday I was conversing with an English gentleman of high rank in the Customs service employed on Treaty revision work, who informed me that a diplomatic Secretary in one of the Legations in Peking visiting him within the last few days had stated that all the Legations in Peking viewed with the greatest concern the present situation, and that all the indications corresponded very closely with those obtaining before the Boxer outbreak. These remarks coincide with those reported to you by me recently as coming from Dr. Timothy Richard.\n\nEvery one who pays any attention to the tendency of current events is impressed with the fact that a dangerous situation is arising. There are many conflicting theories of course, but there is a general expectation that \"something\" is going to happen.\n\nThere are three general ideas in the minds of foreigners. Each has its own advocates. They are (1) that another outbreak similar to the Boxer outbreak is imminent; (2) that a revolution is on the point of breaking out; (3) that the tendency of the present movements is towards another foreign war. I comment briefly on these three points, but would point out the fact that it is notoriously the \"unexpected\" that happens in China, and that any or all of these opinions may be wrong. I should not like to be held closely to any of them, and it is quite possible that a complete change may come over the situation even before this letter reaches your hands, which would require a modification. I can only write you as things seem to present themselves at the moment. I say seem because appearances in this country are often exceedingly deceptive. Changes occur with almost kaleidoscopic rapidity in Peking, and those now in power may be disgraced and in obloquy in a few weeks or months, and those at present degraded and reprimanded take their places at the top of the ladder. Another set of conditions might then conceivably prevail.\n\n### 1. The probability of another Boxer Outbreak.\n\nI have reported to you more than once the opinion which has been held by many foreigners for several years past that another attempt will be made on the part of the Chinese to complete the work they attempted in 1900, but which they then failed to carry out. In 1900 two Manchus-namely, Kang I and Yung Lo-guided the course of Empire to disaster. There were others who aided and abetted the movement, especially Prince Tuan and Yu Hsien. All these have paid the penalty with their lives.\n\nIn my own personal opinion I should consider it to be impossible that the Government in Peking, especially the Empress Dowager, should have forgotten the lesson taught so recently as six years ago. It seems incredible that the Government would attempt the repetition of any such movement.\n\nThe Boxer bands were primarily anti-dynastic, but the Government skilfully turned the blows from themselves to foreigners, and practically adopted the bands as a patriotic Association formed in defence of the Empire, their policy and acts being directed from the Palace itself.\n\nI cannot bring myself to believe that the reactionary officials, ignorant as they are, are so foolish as to attempt to permit another outbreak of the nature of the Boxer movement against foreigners. There are supposed to be something like 80,000 foreign-drilled troops in North China, and it is absolutely certain that if the Government attempt to wipe out foreigners from China they are in a position to do so. They could kill every white man, woman, and child in North China before any relief could reach them, but of course a terrible retribution would follow. There is no doubt that the condition of the troops, as described by certain correspondents, has been grossly exaggerated. There has been some improvement in the drill, but probably no improvement in the weapons. It yet remains to be seen whether the leadership and discipline would give any better results to the Chinese Government in actual war than those obtained in 1900. They would therefore present no very great obstacle to a second capture of Peking.\n\nI cannot bring myself to believe that there is any probability of another outbreak like that of the Boxer, but I may be mistaken. Subsequent events alone will prove.\n\n### 2. Revolution.\n\nRecently the Empress issued an Edict that all class distinctions between Chinese and Manchus were to be abolished. This was very good as far as it went. It has, however, been followed up by a substitution of Manchus for Chinese in a great number of important offices. One notices on all hands an increase in the number of Manchu officials, not only in the higher ranks but in the lower offices, which formerly were almost entirely in the hands of Chinese. This step is naturally commented with resentment by large numbers of Chinese, especially by those in official and literary circles, who are thus deprived of preferment.\n\nIn addition to the facts above related, the revolutionary cause has been more popular through several other developments, amongst them-perhaps the most important is the new spirit of education which is abroad in the land. 20,000 students have gone to foreign countries, chiefly to Japan, where they have...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 415710, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-350 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 405, "title": "CO129-350 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "403\n\n12\n\n4. That the detailed arrangements connected with the outstanding affairs of the Company will be equitably arranged between Chang Yi and General Manager Nathan.\n\n5. That the Company will not interfere with the territorial jurisdiction of the Chinese Government respecting the land and harbour at Chingwangtao.\n\n6. At Chingwangtao on the land obtained by the Company through purchase and on that held in trust for the Chinese Government the sovereignty of the Chinese Government and Chinese local officials in exercising their territorial powers and rights shall be fully respected and recognized by the Company.\n\nRespecting the information of a Settlement and the establishment of a municipality, &c., these will be arranged by the Customs Taotai of Tien-tsin according to the original despatch of the Viceroy of Chihli and subject to the approval of the Viceroy. The Imperial Edict strictly ordered Chang Yi to make complete restoration and what has been presented cannot be called restoration. Restoration means that the registration in England of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company as a Limited Company should be entirely cancelled and the Company revert to Chinese control, and that all the Company's lands and buildings, and all the steamers for shipping coal, &c., belonging to the Company should be also restored and be under Chinese control. The matter of the land and harbour at Chingwangtao to be clearly settled by a payment to the Limited Company of a certain sum of money incurred in expenses and to become Chinese Government property again, and in so doing will he act in accordance with the Imperial Edict, as it points out to strictly order Chang Yi to make complete restoration. These six Articles were agreed upon and still exist in the Limited Company, and the Company has not been cancelled yet. Respecting the sovereignty of the Chinese Government, the Limited Company cannot, of course, encroach upon that and the duties, taxes, li-kin, and royalties the Company has not forgotten to pay. The report sent to me is made up of useless language and most of it is full of ineffective thoughts.\n\nIn the sixth Article it is evidently recognized that the arrangements for the converting of Chingwangtao Harbour have not been decided on and that the Limited Company having already recognized it as a commercial port it can be arranged that the Customs Taotai of Tien-tsin will have the decision regarding the arrangements in accordance with the despatch of the former Viceroy. In this there seems a slight chance of being able to deal with the matter.\n\nThe Customs Taotai, Tang Shai Yi, reports that he has consulted with W. S. Nathan on several occasions regarding Chingwangtao, and that the understanding come to is similar to the sixth Article, but I should still be allowed to order the Customs Taotai to arrange terms for a proper settlement which may enable us to get back a portion of the land, and in this case we can consider that the portion of the land recovered has been rescued in conformity with the wishes of the Chinese Government orders which is so careful about territorial land. The outcome of this case depends purely on whether the mine and properties can be restored or not.\n\nChang Yi in the spring of last year received several Imperial Orders ordering him to make restoration, but one year has now elapsed and he has been still unable to restore it. According to the opinion of some of the English people here, if Chang Yi were to go to England and be present in Court during the lawsuit which has been instituted for the recovery of the property the desired result might be arrived at easier, but even then it is not certain that this would be the case. Again, I have consulted foreign lawyers on the subject four different times and their opinion is that Chang Yi in the 27th year (1901) made an Agreement to sell Government land and that he undoubtedly used the official seal. That, although this has occurred several years ago, it had been so far impossible for him to make restoration as he was ordered to do, and that even if it could be restored a sum of 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 taels would have to be paid back to the English people as an indemnity for their loss, but as China is overburdened with debt it is, of course, quite impossible to raise such a sum. Further, that Chang Yi was a poor man and only owed his success to the great favour shown him at all times by the throne, and that instead of exerting himself to repay their favours by noble deeds he seized the first opportunity to sell the mines and land of the Imperial Government to a foreigner, and this during the Boxer outbreak in 1900, and while Prince Ching and Li Hung-chang were negotiating for peace at Peking, and that the degraded Chang Yi did make the sale above mentioned on his own accord and without having first obtained the very necessary permission and that he used the official seal in connection with this sale.\n\nA.\n\n13\n\nHe never waited for Li Hung-chang to compose the Memorial to the throne and, moreover, he caused the impression to be spread that Li Hung-chang, acting conjointly with himself, had memorialized the throne, but it is apparent that the real truth was never presented to the throne. He has been guilty of fraud. He wished to raise foreign shares and to change the Company into an Anglo-Chinese Company, and the Agreements and Memorandums entered into with the foreigners have never been copied or memorialized to the throne. I have justified my statement that he had the full intention to cheat and disregard the throne, and when his follies began to come to light he was still unwilling to take steps for a speedy restoration of the mine and lands, but kept putting it off and concealing his follies until the matter has gone on entirely too long and it seems that no remedy can be effected. Surely he is too ungrateful, and with regard to the steps that should now be taken, I earnestly beg the Imperial throne to give their decision, hence my Memorial which I lay before the throne.\n\nRescript received, written with the Vermillion Pen, thus\n\nTo strictly order Chang Yi to make complete restoration as quickly as possible.\n\n18th, 2nd moon.\n\nAnnexure No. 12.\n\nViceroy Yuan Chi Kai to Chang Yen Mao.\n\nI understand by your Excellency's letter that you have recently come to an understanding with Major Nathan, Agent and General Manager of the Limited Company, and the points agreed on are roughly as follows:-\n\n1. That the Limited Company shall on no account encroach on the rights and powers of the Chinese Imperial Government as the Lord of Soil.\n\n2. That the Limited Company agree to pay the taxes and li-kin, royalties, &c., which have been imposed on the produce of the mines.\n\n3. That the proceedings of the Limited Company and its annual accounts shall be reported regularly to the Viceroy of Chihli. That the Regulations laid down by the Central Government shall be observed by the Limited Company.\n\n4. That the general administration of the Company shall be only discussed and settled by you and the Agent of the Limited Company.\n\n5. That with regard to the establishment of the Port of Chingwangtao, the rights and powers of the Chinese Imperial Government shall be in no way infringed by the Limited Company.\n\n6. That at Chingwangtao there are lands owned by the Company and those which were put under the charge of the Company, in dealing with them the Customs Taotai of Tien-tsin shall refer to the original despatch of the late Viceroy wherein he ordered the Company to buy lands.\n\nIn reply to your letter I am obliged to intimate to you that, in full conformation with the Imperial Edict issued last December, you are ordered to effect a complete restoration of the said Company to the original Chinese ownership. By complete restoration we mean that in the first place the registration of the newly incorporated Company in London should be cancelled and nullified. And further all the properties of, and those in connection with the Company, such as lands, rails, canals, wharfs, buildings, depôts, coal-yards, manufactories and other branches of mining enterprise, ships, &c., must all be received back, and reinstituted to the management of our own people. And thirdly, as to the Port Chingwangtao, the money spent by the Limited Company should be estimated and refunded to them in order that it may become a purely Chinese port and to be managed by proper officials. This is the meaning of the term \"Complete Restoration,\" as it is used in the said Imperial Edict.\n\nIn the agreement you presented, the said Limited Company enters therein as a party, this of course shows that the same is in full existence, and therefore the very first requirement has not been fulfilled. As on other points, the limitations laid down to the powers of the Limited Company seem all superfluous. The rights and powers of the Imperial Government cannot be, never were, nor will be encroached by the said Company. They paid their taxes, and reported their proceedings and annual accounts. To what purpose, therefore, your newly signed agreement was meant, I fail to see.\n\nHowever, in the 6th Article about the Port Chingwangtao the Limited", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-350 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 415892, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 57, "title": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "2\n\nMiscellaneous.\n\nNovember 22. Students.----“In consequence of the activity of students in connection with the opposition to railway loans, an Edict has been issued to the effect that students should give their whole attention to their studies and leave politics alone, and commanding the Board of Education to issue the necessary instructions.\"\n\nNovember 27. Footbinding.\"The Empress Dowager is said to intend issuing a prohibitory Edict against footbinding, making it not only an offence punishable as disregard of an Imperial Edict, but also excluding girls, whose feet begin to be bound after the publication of the Edict, from the respectable classes who are eligible for honours.\"\n\nWest River: Suppression of Piracy.\n\nNovember 19.-\"Much indignation is felt in Kuangtung against the Wai-wu Pu for allowing the British to arrest pirates on the West River. Meetings are to be held to consider the matter.\"\n\nNovember 24.-\"An Association for the recovery of national rights which has been formed among the students of Canton has telegraphed to the Wai-wu Pu strongly urging the necessity of recalling the permission to capture pirates on the West River.\"\n\nNovember 26.—“The Cantonese residents in Shanghae have telegraphed to the Wai-wu Pu asking them to oppose permission being granted to foreigners to arrest pirates on the West River. The merchants at Canton are much irritated over the West River question, and are getting up a violent agitation against it.\"\n\nNovember 27.-\"The people of Canton, regarding the policing of the West River by foreigners as detrimental to sovereign rights, telegraphed to the Army Board asking for ships of war to be sent. The Board, being of opinion that there were not sufficient vessels at disposal, took no notice. The provincials are very indignant, and have sent a further telegram offering to pay the expenses of the ships. Ten representatives of the gentry have also telegraphed in very strong terms to the Grand Council.\"\n\nNovember 28.-The Wai-wu Pu have telegraphed to the Viceroy at Canton, on the subject of West River piracy, that the intention of the Government was that the Commissioner of Customs should provide additional steamers to co-operate with the police in arresting pirates, and that there was no other intention. The Board adds that inquiry should be made into the agitation which has been caused by the misrepresentation of their former telegram. The gentry of Canton, however, are resolved to continue their opposition, since they regard it as bad policy to grant the Commissioner of Customs a share of military power.'\n\nSoochow-Ningpo Railway.\n\nDecember 4.-\"The Chekiang Railway Delegate has had an audience lasting three hours. The Empress Dowager explained the railway situation to him in detail. She said that the irresponsible talkers did not know the difficulties encountered by the officials, deprecated the excitement got up among the people of the south-east, and pointed out the terrible consequences of a breach in amicable foreign relations. Lu replied that, while the people of the south-east were loyal and patriotic, yet it was due to the influence of the high authorities there, and to the growing enlightenment of the people, that there had been no serious outbreak during the long course of the present controversy. If the British brought too much pressure to bear in this difficult situation, a serious outbreak might result. \"He did not know what solution the Wai-wu Pu might have to offer, but he thought the best plan would be to command them to make every effort to negotiate a satisfactory settlement with the British Minister. The Empress Dowager said that the British Minister was immovable, and that, while popular feeling must not be offended, international relations were not to be lightly regarded; and she directed him to go into the question fully with Wang Ta-hsieh, bearing in mind both the popular and international aspects of the question.\n\nNanking.\n\nHis Majesty's Consul reported on the 31st October that the closing of the opium dens throughout the city and suburbs was effected without disturbance on the 8th August. It is generally believed that the order was on the whole enforced strictly,\n\nOrder seems to have been restored at Anking, the scene of the assassination of the\n\n3\n\nGovernor in July, and the 700 troops sent there to assist in preserving order returned to Nanking on the 25th September. Two battalions (about 1,000 men) were dispatched on the 1st October to Kanchow-fu, in the south of Kiangsi, in consequence of the Boxer disturbances there.\n\nEducational. The latest proposed addition to the Government educational institutions in Nanking is a \"school of languages,\" in which German and French are to be taught. The services of Dr. Kratsch, Interpreter of the German Consulate, have been engaged for a few hours a day to supervise the school and teach German. It is proposed to look for a teacher of French, but English is omitted from the curriculum on the ground that there are already many opportunities here for studying English.\n\nRailways. At the beginning of October 20 miles of permanent way out of the 44 miles between Chinkiang and Nanking had been completed, and the opening of railway communication between Shanghae and Nanking is confidently expected in February next.\n\nThe route for the light railway to connect the main line with the city has now been selected, and is being staked out. The railway will enter the city at an old gate which has long been closed, but will be reopened for this purpose in defiance of superstition. The gauge is the same as that of the main railway, and the motive power will be steam. One of the British engineers on the Shanghae-Nanking Railway has been engaged by the Viceroy for the construction, and the plant will come from England.\n\nHankow.\n\nSome of the articles in the Hankow press are of interest :-----\n\nOctober 15. River Gun-boats for the Yang-tsze from Japan.--A newspaper states that \"the late Viceroy Chang placed orders through the Mitsui Bushen Kaisha with the Kawasaki Dockyard Company for ten shallow-draught river gun-boats, the contract price being fixed at 5,000,000 taels. The limit of time for completion of the contract and for payment was fixed at six years, and the transaction got Imperial sanction. Of these ten ships, four have already been handed over last winter and this spring, and the Viceroy has managed to pay the instalments, 3,000,000 taels through the Yokohama Specie Bank to the Nagisaki Bank. The dockyard have twice written for a deputy to be sent to accept ships Nos. 5 and 6, which are now ready, but the Acting Viceroy Li, thinking the matter very serious, and acceptance involving payment, intends to await his Excellency Chao's arrival to make permanent provision.\n\n44\n\nThe Hupei fleet now consists of a dozen ships, which are very burdensome to keep up, even though the Japanese sailors and engineers employed on the four already received have been sent home. The present position is an earnest of what will happen in future, and we think his Excellency Chao on arriving will surely devise steps to meet it.\"\n\nBridge over Yellow River at Lanchou, in Kansu.\" At Ho Chou, in Lanchou-fu, Kansu, a floating bridge of boats bound together with chain cables is at present used for crossing the Yellow River, but the officials have condemned this bridge as not permanent and when the river is full liable to collapse. They have therefore ordered materials for a proper iron bridge from the Hupei ironworks, and have also summoned several skilled workmen to Lanchou to supervise the construction of the new bridge. The materials have already got to Changchan, Honan, and all the officials on the route have been asked to assist in forwarding them.\"\n\nJapanese Employés.\" At the Wuchang hemp factory Japanese experts were employed to assist and instruct. The term of their agreement having now expired, and the Chinese women working in the factory having taken so readily and intelligently to the work, twenty-seven men and forty-five women of the Japanese originally employed have been dismissed and have returned to Japan.\n\n\"The factory have only retained the services of six Japanese men.\"\n\nSzechuan-Hankow Railway.\n\nText of representation by Tu, a Secretary of the Board of Finance, regarding the Szechuan-Hankow Railway, which has been laid by the Censorate before the Throne:-\n\n\"This line was the first to attain native control, but after three years not an inch of the track is fixed and nothing definitely arranged. Of nearly 8,000,000 taels collected the pay and work office expenses have run away with 1,600,000 taels and the Copper-piece Bureau has embezzled over 2,000,000 taels. Such horrifying extravagance and peculations have happily been shown up by the Board of Commerce, and the Court's acumen has\n\n54", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 417108, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 434, "title": "CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "the Eastern Extension Company (under an arrangement which should not be made public) in providing the British share of the new cable between Japan and Hong Kong. A reply has been given to the effect that no objection is seen to such an arrangement, but that it is possible that His Majesty's Government may wish to reserve the right of purchasing the British share of the cable at any time on payment of its value as plant, subject to a suitable allowance for depreciation.\n\nThe Great Northern Company also ask that some guarantee should be given of the transmission via Northern of a fair share of the unordered traffic to and from Japan. A reply has been given to the effect that such an arrangement is already in force in the case of unordered traffic to Japan from the United Kingdom, and that no objection is seen to a similar arrangement in the case of traffic in the reverse direction. This point is one which His Majesty's Government would desire to leave to the Companies and the Japanese Government.\n\nI am to add that, in view of the reduction of tariff which is proposed in the case of telegraphic communication with Japan and China, His Majesty's Government think it reasonable that a corresponding progressive reduction should be made in the rates for telegraphic communication with the Straits Settlements; and I am to inquire whether the Eastern and Eastern Extension Companies are prepared to make such a reduction.\n\nI am, &c.\n\nSir,\n\nInclosure 9 in No. 1.\n\nPost Office to Mr. F. Nielsen.\n\n[Unsigned.]\n\nJ\n\n1908.\n\nGeneral Post Office, August\n\nWITH reference to previous discussions at the Lisbon Conference on the subject of telegraphic communication with Japan and China, I am directed by the Postmaster-General to inclose, for the confidential information of the Great Northern Telegraph Company, a copy of a communication in which the Japanese Delegates to the Conference have been informed that His Majesty's Government have no objection to the proposed \"Heads of Agreement between Japan and the Administrations interested in the Telegraphic Traffic in the North Pacific,\" except that they think that a definite date of termination should be inserted, and that the proposed new direct cable between Hong Kong and Japan should be laid independently of an increase of traffic, and in any case not later than 1912.\n\nThe Postmaster-General understands that the Great Northern Company desire that they should be allowed to participate with the Eastern Extension Company (under an arrangement which should not be made public) in providing the British share of the new cable between Japan and Hong Kong. No objection is seen to such an arrangement, but it is possible that His Majesty's Government may wish to reserve the right of purchasing the British share of the cable at any time on payment of its value as plant, subject to a suitable allowance for depreciation.\n\nIt is understood that the Great Northern Company also desire that some guarantee should be given of the transmission via Northern of a fair share of the unordered traffic to and from Japan. Such an arrangement is already in force in the case of unordered traffic to Japan from the United Kingdom, and no objection is seen to a similar arrangement in the case of traffic in the reverse direction. This point, however, is one which His Majesty's Government would desire to leave to the Companies and the Japanese Government.\n\nI am, &c.\n\n{Unsigned.]\n\n[B]\n\nThis Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Gov3.2.3.\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[27708]\n\nNo. 1.\n\n431\n\n4 SEP 08.\n\n[August 10.]\n\nSECTION 4,\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received August 10.)\n\n(No. 284.) Sir,\n\nPeking, June 24, 1908. IN my telegram No. 120 of the 9th instant I had the honour to report an unfortunate occurrence on the Franco-Chinese frontier, in which a French lieutenant and six soldiers had been shot by Chinese troops who were, so far as could be gathered from the accounts received here, supposed to be pursuing insurgents flying for refuge across the border.\n\nThe French Minister, from whom I received the first intelligence of the incident, complained of the indifference shown by the Chinese Government, who had not even tendered an expression of their regret, and had merely ordered an investigation by the Taotai of Mengtzu.\n\nIn the course of an interview which I had at the Wai-wu Pu on the 16th instant, one of the Ministers, introducing the subject of his own motion, said there was a mystery connected with it which the Chinese Government found it difficult at such a distance to unravel. They could not for a moment believe that Chinese regular troops had deliberately fired upon French soldiers, and they thought it more likely that the act had been committed by insurgents who had got possession of Chinese military uniforms. However that might be, one of the French demands appeared to them to have assumed a peculiar form, and they failed to realize what connection there was between a railway extension from T'ai Yuan Fu to Hsi An Fu, in the extreme north of the Empire, and a regrettable incident on the southern frontier, over 1,000 miles away. They were willing to make suitable reparation, but not to concede demands of this kind.\n\nAs their language clearly implied that they regarded the French claim as a reversion to the policy which preceded, and in some degree caused, the Boxer outbreak of 1900, I felt it to be my duty to communicate its substance to you by telegraph, and to express the opinion that it could not fail seriously to prejudice the prospects of the Anglo-French combination formed to promote and undertake railway projects in China.\n\nYour reply of the 18th instant authorized me to let my French colleague know unofficially that the proposal would militate against the success of the Anglo-French scheme for a railway from Hankow to Szechuan, and, as M. Bapst happened to call at the moment, I lost no time in carrying out your instructions.\n\nI told him frankly that I had learnt with considerable concern the nature of the demand which had been made by the French Government. We had entered into a partnership for railway exploitation in China on an industrial basis, and any action of one of the partners was sure to affect the common interests. When the Chinese had objected to French participation, as in the case of the Canton-Hankow line, we had always met the objection by laying stress upon the purely commercial character of the undertaking, but this would be no longer possible now that France had reverted to the policy of approaching railway questions from the point of view which obtained some ten years ago.\n\nIndications which had reached me from Chinese sources left no doubt that this was the impression the demand had made in Chinese official circles.\n\nM. Bapst explained that the request for the extension of the Chêng-t'ai-Tai Yuan Fu railway to Hsi An Fu had been made some six months ago, and that its renewal now was not meant to be regarded altogether as in the nature of reparation for the recent outrage. It was rather a concession which China was invited to make by way of redressing the debit balance which stood against her in the account of frontier relations. While France had done her utmost to restrain revolutionary activities in Tonquin, even going so far as to keep some hundreds of revolutionists in prison, China had maintained in office in Yunnan mandarins imbued with anti-French feeling, and had in every way proved a most disagreeable neighbour. She had now an opportunity of making amends for all this by granting a favour to France.\n\n[1905 k-4]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 417170, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 496, "title": "CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "Minister will doubtless have reported to them the fact of your having mentioned the matter to him yourself.\n\nFrance has received into her army for a long period of military training thirty Chinese cadets to whom she grants special facilities, and if we required the quid pro quo suggested by the Admiralty a contrast might be drawn to our disadvantage. Admiral Sali, whom I met two months ago at Shanghae, expressed his high appreciation of the Admiralty's courtesy in training young Chinese officers, and the Central Government are aware of their obligations to us in the matter.\n\nThe Japanese Government, I may mention in conclusion, presented the Empress Dowager a few days ago with a steam-yacht, appropriately named \"Everlasting Peace,\" and they are evidently aiming at having a share in the reconstruction of the navy they destroyed in 1894.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.\n\nC.0.\n\n33035 493\n\nThis Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.\n\nPage 9\n\n06\n\n[August 24.]\n\nSECTION 5.\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[29338]\n\nNo. 1.\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received August 24.)\n\n(No. 309. Confidential.) Sir,\n\nPeking, July 7, 1908. I am informed on good authority that when Mr. Rockhill, the American Minister here, recommended to the President the remission of a portion of the Boxer indemnity of 1900, he did so relying on the assurance of Tong Shoa-yi that the money would be expended upon the education of Chinese students in the United States.\n\nSome time afterwards Tong became Governor of Manchuria, and while there he entered into negotiations with Mr. Straight, the American Consul at Mukden, with the view of raising a loan in America on the strength of the sum to be returned by the Government at Washington. The proceeds were to be applied to the development of Manchuria, and Mr. Straight, who was apparently ignorant of Tong's understanding with Mr. Rockhill, claims that the project had the approval of Mr. Taft, who passed through Manchuria on his way to Russia in December last.\n\nThe Chinese Government are now reported to have some intention of sending Tsai Chen, Prince Ch'ing's dissolute son, and Tong Shoa-yi on a mission to Washington to convey their thanks to President Roosevelt, and it is believed that Tong will take advantage of the opportunity to urge his loan proposal.\n\nMr. Rockhill is strongly opposed to the money being diverted to loan-mongering purposes, and will do all he can to block the project.\n\nStrictly speaking, I believe China does not become entitled to the money until some eight years hence, when the United States shall have been recouped by the annual payments under the protocol for the actual outlay incurred in connection with the Boxer outbreak.\n\nI have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN,\n\n[1905 aa-5\n\n-51", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-352 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 418010, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 722, "title": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nREC P: 29 DEC 08\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL,\n\n[43869]\n\nNo. 1.\n\nDecember 16.]\n\nSECTION 1.\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received December 16.)\n\n(No. 521) Sir,\n\nPeking, November 21, 1908.\n\nTHE comparatively slight impression which the almost simultaneous deaths of the Emperor and the Empress-Dowager of China have made on the country illustrate once more the futility of attempting to prophesy about events in China. It is safe to assert that a year ago almost every well-informed foreigner and a large majority of Chinese would have viewed the possibility of such a coincidence as almost certain to lead to a struggle for power in Peking, if not a revolutionary movement in the country. And yet in Peking itself the life of the city has gone on almost as usual, and the reports from the provinces, some of which a year ago were in a disaffected state, indicate a similar calm acquiescence in the new order of things. In the capital and some of the larger towns of the Empire there has been a run on the banks, but thanks to the timely intervention of the Government, this has not assumed the character of a financial panic.\n\nThat the predictions of trouble in connection with the vexed question of the succession have been falsified is largely due to the stability which the presence of Yuan Shih-k'ai in Peking has for some time past given to the Central Government and to the laudable determination with which both Manchus and Chinese have agreed to sink minor differences and to act in concert in meeting a common danger. It is too early yet to affirm with certainty that the surprising quietude which exists at present will be maintained, but the crisis has so far been met in a way which justifies confidence in the future and attests the reality of the progress which has been made since the Boxer outbreak of 1900.\n\nThe Emperor, who has been in a state of chronic ill-health for years, was known to have been gradually growing weaker all the summer, but it was only during the fortnight preceding his death that his condition became really serious. There was no great surprise, therefore, when it was announced on the evening of the 14th instant that His Majesty had died a little after five o'clock that afternoon, but there was a feeling almost of consternation when less than twenty-four hours afterwards it became known that the Empress-Dowager, who had so long guided the counsels of the Empire, had also passed away.\n\nOne of the last audiences granted by the Empress to foreigners was that at which Vice-Admiral Lambton was received on the 12th October. Her Majesty was particularly gracious on that occasion, but it was noticed that she had visibly aged, and one of the Chinese Ministers remarked at the time that he was greatly shocked by her appearance. On her birthday, the 3rd November, she ate some fruit, of which she was particularly fond, and contracted an attack of dysentery, but on the 9th November she sent for the Minister to whom I have above alluded, and specially deputed him to come to the Legation and convey her congratulations to His Majesty the King. Her death came therefore with unexpected suddenness, but the retention of all her powers almost to the end enabled her to make all arrangements for the succession, Prince Ching, who had been sent some days previously to see that the Imperial tomb, which has been in preparation for years, was in order, was hastily recalled and arrived back in Peking on the morning before the Emperor's death. A Cabinet Council was at once summoned, and it was decided that Prince Chun, the Emperor's younger brother, should be appointed Regent, and that his son, a child of about three years of age, should be designated as future Emperor. This decision, which had, it is believed, been taken some time back, was probably arrived at not only in deference to the views of the Empress-Dowager, who has always favoured the claims of this branch of the Imperial family, but also as affording the only basis of a settlement which was likely to reconcile the views of the different parties. There were some six or seven adult candidates eligible for the Throne, including Prince P'u-lun and Prince Kung, but none...\n\n[2049 q-1]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 418011, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908", "page_number": 723, "title": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908", "content_text": "# \nفي \n718 \n2 \n\n## \nThe selection has not, as was to be expected, given complete satisfaction, and considerable anxiety is still felt as to the attitude of a strong faction of Manchus, headed by his Excellency Tieh-liang, who, as President of the Army Board, has naturally to be reckoned with, but the Viceroys at Tien-tsin and Mukden, and the Commander-in-chief of the Metropolitan province, all of whom have large bodies of troops at their disposal, are understood to be strong supporters of the new régime.\n\nThere is no irregularity, from a Chinese standpoint, in the choice of the successor, as there was in the case of the last Emperor, but the arrangement, although probably the best that could be made in the circumstances, is open to obvious criticism.\n\nFor a period of nearly fifty years the Manchu dynasty, whose early Emperors were men of strong character, has produced no Sovereign fitted to exercise personal rule, and ever since 1860, when China entered into regular diplomatic relations with foreign Powers, the control of affairs has been almost uninterruptedly vested in the hands of the Empress-Dowager.\n\nTwo long minorities or Regencies are now to be followed by a third, which will probably extend over another period of fifteen years. But the situation is not without its compensating advantages. For the first time in history, the supreme direction of Chinese affairs will be in the hands of a man who has seen something of foreign countries, who has come freely into contact with the outer world and will presumably remain in close touch with the life of the Empire.\n\nPrince Ch'un, who is now a man of about 26, went to Germany as a boy of 18 in 1901 on the mission of apology for the murder of Baron von Ketteler, and his experiences on that occasion must have impressed him with the power of the West and given him some insight into foreign customs.\n\nAfter his return, he took little part in public affairs until 1906, when he was appointed President of a Special Committee to examine the proposals made by the Imperial Commissioners who had been sent abroad in that year to study and report on the administrative systems of foreign countries.\n\nIn June 1907, he was created a member of the Grand Council, the Cabinet which meets daily in the presence of the Emperor, and the body on whose advice he will as Regent doubtless be guided in the conduct of State affairs.\n\nIt is evident that a Regent who assumes power in such circumstances is likely to be more amenable to enlightened influence than an autocratic lady whose life had been passed in the seclusion of the Palace, and as the Empress herself foreshadowed in her valedictory address to the Empire, the change of Government gives scope for the introduction of reforms.\n\nThe Prince is favourably known to the foreign Legations and has, since his assumption of office, comported himself with a dignity and sagacity which have made a favourable impression in official circles.\n\nThe training of the young Emperor, who now enters the Palace as a healthy boy of 3, is exciting some attention, and there is among the better class of officials a fairly general feeling that he should not be exposed to the influences to which his two predecessors have in turn succumbed.\n\nBut Palace reform is a large question, all the changes which have taken place in recent years having left the power of the eunuchs untouched.\n\n## \nI have the honour to inclose copies of a series of Decrees which have been issued in connection with the demise of the Emperor and Empress-Dowager and the inauguration of the new reign, together with copies of my replies to Prince Ching's notes announcing the Imperial deaths.\n\nHis other communications have all received the usual formal acknowledgment.\n\nThese papers are naturally couched for the most part in the stereotyped phraseology of centuries, but there are one or two passages which strike a different note and make an appeal to the `nation` on modern lines.\n\nIn their valedictory addresses, both the Emperor and Empress-Dowager lay special stress upon the establishment of a Constitutional Government; the Emperor takes credit to himself for having effected a reconciliation between the Christian and non-Christian elements in the population, for having promoted education and encouraged trade, and for having placed the army on a better footing; while the Empress, as before noted, takes a hopeful view of the future and of the prospect which a long minority affords of pushing forward the cause of reform.\n\nIt may not be out of place, on the threshold of a new era, to place on record as briefly as possible a few of the leading events in the reign which has just closed.\n\nThe last Emperor, T'ung Chih, died on the 17th January, 1875, at the early age of 18. His wife was pregnant at the time, but died without giving birth to her child.\n\nHis mother, the Empress-Dowager, had practically been Regent during the whole of his reign, and determined, in order to give herself a further lease of power, to adopt the infant son of Prince Ch'un as the future Emperor.\n\nPrince Ch'un was the younger brother of her husband, the late Emperor Hsien Feng, and his wife was her sister. The youthful Emperor, therefore, was closely related to her both on the father and mother's side, and to make the tie still closer, she acquired the authority of a mother over him by making him the posthumous heir, not of the last Emperor, but of her own husband, Hsien Feng - an arrangement which gave grave dissatisfaction, and was always regarded as a flaw in his title to the succession.\n\nThe Emperor came of age in 1887, and on the 26th February, 1889, married his cousin, the daughter of the Empress-Dowager's brother, by whom, for reasons well understood, he had no issue.\n\nA Decree of the 11th July, 1886, had announced that he would assume personal direction of the Government early in the following year, but a little later the Empress-Dowager made it publicly known that she would, \"in deference to the desires of the whole nation,\" continue to supervise the young Monarch's acts.\n\nIn March 1891, Kuang Hsü gave his first audience to the foreign Representatives. A fragile, delicate youth with a melancholy face, he gave the impression of having little intelligence or strength of character, and his appearance changed but little in after-years.\n\nAt the audiences of 1891 and 1892, which he conducted himself, he seemed to take some interest in the proceedings, but in recent years, when he occupied a position markedly below that of the Empress-Dowager, he remained an absolutely passive spectator of what was going on.\n\nThe war with Japan in 1894, and the various acts of foreign aggression which followed it, produced a movement in favour of reform which soon began to make itself felt throughout the Empire.\n\nIn 1898, the Emperor came under the influence of a band of young officials and scholars, whose leader, Kang Yu-wei, was generally regarded as a worthless visionary.\n\nA series of startling Decrees appeared in June and July of that year, by which the system of examination was to be radically changed in favour of Western learning; the Government was to be completely reorganized; colleges and schools for the advancement of scientific knowledge were to be established, and the right to memorialize the Throne direct was to be conferred upon all officials without regard to rank.\n\nThese innovations, some of which have since been introduced, were viewed at the time with consternation by the Empress-Dowager and the more conservative of the governing class.\n\nRumours of a plot to remove the Dowager Empress to a place of confinement, where she would be powerless to hamper the new régime, called for immediate action.\n\nThe reformers were executed or fled the country, and all their work was undone by a Decree which purported to be issued by the Emperor himself, and which terminated his brief assertion of authority.\n\nIn a Decree dated the 31st January, 1900, the Emperor was made to recall the arrangement come to at the time of his accession, by which, on an heir being born to him, the child was to become the heir of the late Emperor.\n\nHis Majesty regretted the failure of this arrangement owing to his own ill-health, and announced that the Empress-Dowager had, at his own request, selected Pu Ch'un, the son of Prince Tuan, to be the Heir-Apparent.\n\nOn the outbreak of the Boxer troubles a few months later, and the advance of the foreign troops on Peking, the Imperial family fled to Hsi-an Fu, and only returned to the capital in January 1902.\n\nPu Ch'un, whose father had been the main instigator of the Boxer movement, was disinherited, and the old relations were resumed between the Empress-Dowager and the Emperor.\n\nAlthough Kuang Hsü was almost a nonentity as any Emperor, his reign will mark the parting of the ways in Chinese history as the period which witnessed the national awakening of the Empire.\n\nThe figment of almost universal supremacy, to which China had so long clung, received a rude shock in her exclusion from Corea, Tongking, and Burma, and the loss of Formosa was a still severer blow.\n\nWar and internal troubles have saddled her with a heavy foreign debt, and the navy, which was built up at such expense in the early years of the reign, disappeared with the battle of the Yalu.\n\nForeign Powers have become lessees of important strategic points on the coast and have pushed lines of railway far into the interior as instruments of further encroachment.\n\nHer capital and its approaches are still occupied by foreign troops, and Manchuria, the home of her rulers, has been twice practically lost and is still only partially recovered.\n\nThese are some of the losses on the debit side of the account. The items of the credit side are perhaps less tangible, but not the less real.\n\nIn the first year of Kuang Hsü's reign, the short line of railway from Shanghae to Woosung was torn up, and for years afterwards railways were tabooed by the Chinese.\n\nNow there are some 6,000 miles constructed or under construction, mostly built by foreign enterprise and with foreign capital.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 421895, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 684, "title": "CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "## State of the Country\n\nReports received from His Majesty's Consuls at Swatow and Wuchow give gloomy accounts of the lawless conditions prevailing in those two districts. Practically the whole country round Swatow is in a chronic state of brigandage, housebreaking and highway robbery being alarmingly common, while the authorities have been compelled to dispatch troops to various places on the Fukien border where large assemblies of bad characters are causing considerable uneasiness. The recent seizure of no less than 23 tons of saltpetre that had been smuggled on board a British steamer by her crew has confirmed the belief that extensive smuggling of this article of contraband is being carried on, and gives colour to the persistent rumours of intended outbreaks. As regards Wuchow, His Majesty's Consul reports that the state of law and order is deplorable, cases being not unknown where market towns have been captured and pillaged by robbers, while one night in the middle of December the Wuchow Prefect had to set out, with all his available soldiers, in order to rescue the Kuciping Magistrate, who was being besieged by brigands. Little reliance is to be placed in the soldiers, whose frequent mutinies are as great a public danger as the attacks of the outlaws.\n\n## \n\nConsiderable apprehension was felt in Anhui lest the revolutionary party should take advantage of the festivities at the time of the Chinese New Year (22nd January) to attempt a rising. These fears were fortunately not realized, but great anxiety still exists owing to the possibility of the able Governor sharing the fate of his patron, Yuan Shih-k'ai.\n\n## Commercial Situation in Tien-tsin\n\nOne of the most serious features in the commercial depression prevailing in Tien-tsin is the unwillingness of native firms to acknowledge their liabilities and make honest proposals towards settling their accounts with foreign business houses. The latter are but too prone to conduct their transactions with the Chinese on the basis of unlimited credit, with the result that, as at present calculated, some thirty native dealers of Tien-tsin are indebted to foreign firms to the tune of no less than 14,000,000 taels. The German and Japanese commercial interests are the most deeply involved; the British merchants appear to have followed a more cautious policy, and though Chinese firms are indebted to them to the amount of some 500,000 taels, they do not, it would seem, stand to lose more than 400,000 taels, allowing for goods sold but remaining in their hands. The difficulty, if not impossibility, of obtaining satisfactory settlements through the Shen Pan Ting compelled the Consular Body to consider the practicability of concerted action. The German Consul's scheme for the establishment by the Chinese authorities of a so-called \"Government Relief Bank\" to take over liabilities and issue negotiable bonds was strongly opposed by the British merchants, and eventually the Consular Body confined its action to an interview with the Viceroy on the 29th December, to whom was presented a Resolution couched in general terms. These representations merely elicited the renewal of a suggestion, emanating from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, that the principal of the debts, with no interest, should be repaid, on the Chamber's guarantee, in ten annual instalments. This offer was not unnaturally rejected, and the British merchants would certainly appear to be justified in their conviction that continuous pressure in the case of each individual claim is the course most likely to produce any practical result.\n\nApart from the heavy financial loss involved, the situation is worthy of note as tending to dispel, at any rate as far as Tien-tsin is concerned, the legend of Chinese commercial integrity, and the feeling is universal among foreign merchants that the partners in many of the native houses are deliberately seeking to evade their obligations and conceal their share in insolvent concerns.\n\n## Yünnan\n\nRumours have lately been rife foretelling an extensive revolutionary movement in this province, but have fortunately not materialized, with the solitary exception of the short-lived outbreak at Chennan early in January, which was reported in Sir J. Jordan's telegrams at the time. The fears were based on the activity of the secret Societies and on the undoubted discontent caused by the attempts to suppress opium cultivation as well as by the increased taxation for railway purposes. Whether or no the people are as opposed to railways as the Chinese officials endeavour to represent them, they certainly do not welcome the incidence of heavier taxation at a time when they are faced with the possible loss of their most profitable crop. While relying on the rice crop for their food, the Yunnanese have hitherto depended largely on opium for bringing money into the province, and there would seem to be some grounds for the alarmists' statements that serious opposition may meet the Governor-General's persistence in that direction.\n\n## \n\nIn the Shan States, too, the Chinese officials have reason for anxiety. The various Sawbwas have been much perturbed at the prospect of being deposed and of the administration being placed in the hands of Chinese. This change of Government has only been effected in one particular state, that of Chen K'ang, where the Chinese authorities have assumed direct administration in order to put a stop to the constant feuds between contending factions, a step to which the clansmen are offering what opposition they can. The Chinese officials are doing their best to avoid any forcible action such as would be likely to inflame the other Shan States, and it is to be hoped, in the interests of peace on the Burmah frontier, that they will be successful. In this connection Sir J. Jordan has lately renewed the instructions to His Majesty's Consul at Tengyueh to avoid all appearance of intervention in the continuous disputes between the Shans and the Chinese, except in cases where it would be necessary to impress upon the latter their responsibility for any upheavals that may occur on the border.\n\n## Thibet\n\nIt is rumoured in the native press that Chao Erb-feng, the new Minister-Resident in Thibet, is to be recalled. This is probably connected with his reported impeachment for alleged severities during his former campaign against the Lamaserais. As already reported (see monthly summary inclosed in Sir J. Jordan's despatch No. 406 of the 8th September last), Chao asked at the very outset to be relieved of his commission, and should the reports be correct that he is to be offered some Viceroyalty he will probably not be sorry to give up his onerous position in Thibet.\n\n## Chinese Press on Yuan Shih-k'ai\n\nThe native press greeted the announcement of Yuan Shih-k'ai's dismissal with equanimity, when not with actual satisfaction. From the point of view of foreign affairs, the newspapers unite in stigmatizing as absurd the reports sent to Europe and America by various correspondents of foreign papers to the effect that Yuan's fall is the prelude to a policy of reaction and of an anti-foreign tendency. The high estimation in which the fallen Minister was held by foreigners is declared not to be warranted by facts: in 1900, for instance, though his force was sufficient to have nipped the Boxer outbreak in the bud, he is accused of having deliberately encouraged the rebels to invade Chih-li in order to gain credit for keeping peace within his own borders at the expense of his rivals. From a Chinese standpoint he is declared to have been seeking his own advantage rather than that of the State, and laborious efforts are made to attribute to him alone responsibility for the war with Japan in 1894, the unfortunate coup d'Etat of 1898, and the partition of Manchuria as the result of the Russo-Japanese war. In fact, were the various charges brought against him as sound as they are plausible, one would be compelled to agree with the Hankow \"Eastern Times,\" which regrets that Yuan did not receive his congé much earlier in his career.\n\nPage 679", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 422538, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 567, "title": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "# No. 52.\n## The Marquess of Lansdowne to Sir E. Satow.\n**(No. 192) (Telegraphic.) P.**\nForeign Office, November 30, 1903.\n\nTSECHÓW-TAOKOW Railway. My telegram No. 176 of the 30th ultimo.\n\nA copy of Mr. Jamieson's letter to you of the 26th ultimo has been communicated to us by the Peking Syndicate. They urge His Majesty's Government to endeavour to induce the Chinese Government to give immediate effect to the railway arrangement so far as the Tsechow--Taokow Railway is concerned.\n\nHow does the question stand at present?\n\nIt appears to us that Shông's attitude is outrageous.\n\n**(No. 197.)**\n\n# No. 55.\n## The Marquess of Lansdowne to Sir E. Satow.\n**(Telegraphic.) P.**\nTSECHÓW-TAOKOW Railway.\nForeign Office, December 4, 1903.\n\n565\n\nI entirely approve the representations you have made, as reported in your telegram No. 262 of the 3rd instant.\n\nSheng evidently intends to evade the fulfilment of the promises given to Mr. Townley, and to delay the settlement indefinitely. Steady pressure should be exerted on him from Peking.\n\n**(No. 262.)**\n\n# No. 53.\n## Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne (Received December 3.)\n**(Telegraphic.) P.**\nPEKING Syndicate's Tsechow-Taohow Railway.\nPeking, December 3, 1903.\n\nYour Lordship's telegram No. 192. When I received Mr. Jamieson's letter of the 20th October, I complained of Sheng's attitude in a strong note addressed to Prince Ching, laying special stress on his demand for paid-up shares, and for an undertaking that the iron mines should not be worked. I reminded his Highness of the agreement which he had come to with Mr. Townley, and intimated that I should be obliged to ask that the negotiation be transferred to Peking and taken out of Sheng's hands.\n\nThe Prince promised to write to Sheng, but said that the negotiation must be left to Sheng, since the Syndicate's line was to be dealt with as a branch of the Luhan. Shéng had been able to come to terms with the British and Chinese Corporation, and would doubtless be able to arrange this matter also.\n\nI replied that I had no doubts as to Shêng's ability, but as to his willingness, and I asked the Prince to inquire of him whether the demands referred to had been made by him.\n\nCopies of my notes, the Prince said, would be sent to him. The Foreign Board had already telegraphed.\n\nI sent copies of the correspondence to Jamieson on the 23rd November, and telegraphed advising him to see Sheng in person.\n\nThe Foreign Board stated on the 1st instant that Sheng was away at his father's funeral.\n\nI have now received a telegram from Jamieson, stating that Shêng will return about the 9th instant. I infer that no meeting has taken place.\n\n**(No. 196.) (Telegraphic.) P.**\n\n# No. 54.\n## The Marquess of Lansdowne to Sir E. Satow.\nForeign Office, December 4, 1903.\n\nI am informed by the Peking Syndicate that they learn from a source which they consider reliable that a Syndicate has been formed at Paris under the auspices of the French Government to obtain a Concession for a railway starting at Ichang, with the terminal point at Cheng-tu-fu in Se-Chouen, running along the Tsing-Kiang and the Kien-Kiang, crossing the Yang-tsze, a little below Chungking, and then along the Kia-ling up to Cheng-tu-fu.\n\nMr. de Marteau is to return to Peking at once for the purpose.\n\nThis application seems open to objection, and I should be glad if you will keep me informed of anything you may learn respecting its progress.\n\n**(No. 370.) Sir,**\n\n# No. 56.\n## The Marquess of Lansdowne to Sir E. Satow.\nForeign Office, December 4, 1903.\n\nI have received your despatch No. 341 of the 30th September, on the subject of the statement furnished by the Imperial Northern Railway's Administration of China, with regard to losses sustained by them in consequence of the Boxer disturbances in 1900.\n\nIn that despatch you state that Mr. Cousins reports that Item No. 11 (of the Statement of Claim) was exclusive of Item No. 12, that is to say, the amount given covers work done, or to be done, apart from the expenditure of 90,000l., by the British Railway Administration, so that there has been no double charge as at first appeared possible.\n\nMr. Cousins also stated that the sum of 121,655 14s. 11d. charged by the Administration for damage to the extramural section of the railway is exclusive of any repairs executed by the Russians.\n\nMr. Ottewill, in the report inclosed in your despatch, has, after an examination of the accounts and vouchers, passed items amounting to 436,912l. 8s. 11d., and in my telegram No. 191, of the 28th ultimo I have authorized the payment, out of the indemnity funds in the hands of the British Delegate on the Bankers Commission, of interest on that amount, less 90,000l., the sum advanced from British army funds for repairs on the railway while it was under British Administration.\n\nMr. Ottewill has included the remaining items in:\n\n1. Annex III. Among those as to which some decision would appear to be necessary.\n2. Annex IV. Items in regard to which some further information is required before they can be considered as definitely settled.\n3. The claim in respect of the Nanpiao mines.\n\nThere are only two items comprised in Annex III upon which it is necessary for me to express an opinion at the present time, viz., (1) Messrs. Jardine and Matheson's claim for expenditure on telegrams, and (2) Dr. Frazer Hurst's claim.\n\n1. From Mr. Ottewill's remarks opposite the entry in Annex III of the Company's claim, it appears that the claim includes an item of 1,111l. 17s. 3d. on account of telegrams paid by the British and Chinese Corporation previous to the Boxer outbreak, and from the Corporation's letter of the 7th July, of which a copy was inclosed in my despatch to Mr. Townley, No. 205, of the 17th July last, a statement appears to have been submitted which comprised telegrams sent from London commencing April, 1899. Such a claim may be a good one as against the Chinese Government, but it is not understood how telegrams sent previous to the outbreak can be included in the present account. You should inform the Administration that no telegrams should be charged for in this claim except those which were rendered necessary by the disturbances.\n\n2. I am in communication with Dr. Frazer Hurst's solicitors with regard to his claim, and as soon as a settlement has been arrived at a separate communication will be addressed to you on the subject.\n\nAs this Department is not in possession of the terms of the Agreements under which the different officials of the Administration were employed, and as at this distance it is not possible to discuss each claim with the administration in detail, I am unable to express an opinion respecting the unsettled claims under Annex IV, nor with the exception of the two items mentioned, can any decision be come to here as to the...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 422559, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 588, "title": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "# 586\n\n**[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]**\n\n**RECO**\n\n**NEGE 24 JUN 09**\n\n**AFFAIRS OF CHINA.**\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n[21250]\n\n**(No. 179.) Sir,**\n\n## No. 1.\n\n**[June 7.]**\n\n## SECTION 2.\n\n**Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 7.)**\n\nPeking, May 19, 1909.\n\nI HAVE the honour to enclose, in translation, copy of an Imperial decree issued in the \"Gazette\" of the 9th instant, whereby posthumous titles of honour are conferred on five high officials who were executed during the siege of the Legations in 1900 for their denunciation of the Boxer outbreak of that year.\n\nReference to the courageous parts played by these officials is to be found in Sir Claude MacDonald's despatch No. 125 of the 25th September, 1900, and in Sir Ernest Satow's despatch No. 38 of the 29th January, 1901. Of all the influential personages in Peking at that time they alone ventured to oppose the pretensions of the Boxers and to represent in strongly worded memorials the inevitable consequences to the Empire of such a movement.\n\nWhile the court was in exile at Hsi-An-fu in Shensi the late Empress-Dowager recognised that their execution had proved unjustifiable, and issued decrees restoring their memories to honour.\n\nIt is significant at this late period that the Prince Regent should revert to the subject of their unmerited punishment, and assure for them a place amongst the \"immortals\" of Chinese history by the bestowal of posthumous titles. Though the decree was doubtless evoked by a memorial presented by the friends of the deceased Ministers, it is issued in the \"Gazette\" as a spontaneous act of grace, and is generally understood to indicate that the Prince Regent thereby disassociates himself and his régime from the policy which brought about the disasters of 1900.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n**J. N. JORDAN.**\n\n## Inclosure in No. 1.\n\n**Extract from the \"Official Gazette\" of May 9, 1909.**\n\n**IMPERIAL Decree issued on the 9th May directing that Posthumous Titles of Honour be conferred upon certain High Officials executed in 1900.**\n\n**(Translation.)**\n\nWE have reverently read decrees issued in 1900 and 1901 directing that Li-shan, a former President of the Board of Revenue; Hsu Yung-yi, President of the Board of War; Hsü Ching-ch'eng, Senior Vice-President of the Board of Civil Office; Lien-yuan, Sub-Chancellor of the Grand Secretariate; and Yuan-ch'ang, Director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship, who had all incurred unmerited punishment, should be restored to their former ranks, and that their posterity should be chosen for official employment. We dutifully recognise the justice of the action of His late Majesty, taken under the instructions of Her Majesty the august Empress-Dowager, but feel that the patriotism of the deceased statesmen and the sad fate which befell them call for some further mark of favour, and we therefore decree that posthumous titles of honour shall be conferred upon Li-chan, Hsü Yung-yi, Hsü Ching-ch'eng, Lien-yuan, and Yuan-ch'ang.\n\nLet the proper department take note.\n\n[2303 g-2]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 422765, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 168, "title": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "# 102\nSharasumé, Altaishan, or Cheng-hwa-ssu is a Chinese settlement in the making and is destined to become another Kobdo or Uliassutai. At present there are only ten Chinese shops, of which six or seven are large ones; these are branches of Peking or Tien-tsin shops; they sell articles of clothing, snuff-bottles, food, and the necessaries of life, renewing stock three times a year via Guchen by camel caravan.\n\nThe entire population cannot be more than 1,500, of whom 1,000 are soldiers. It will be understood why the few traders established here find existence difficult, for there is no one to buy and no money. The settlement is governed by an Amban, a Manchu, Hsi Heng by name; he is 48 years old. His former posts were several years' service in the Palace, and then the taotaiship of Jehol in Chih-li. He was at Jehol during the Boxer outbreak in 1900 and seems to have done much towards keeping the district quiet. He is an energetic and enlightened official with an admirable and unusual knowledge of foreign politics and of history. He is a henchman of Yuan Shih-kai and a friend of Natungtan.\n\nThere is no inn at the settlement, so a room had been prepared for me in the house of the leading Turkish merchant. Here I found a pleasant lodging carpeted with beautiful Khotan rugs and filled with light bamboo European furniture obtained from Russia (Zaisan Post). The walls were nicely papered, and the windows had glass in them and were shaded by chintz or muslin hangings.\n\nIn the late afternoon of the 9th September, I called on the Governor to thank him for the hospitality of the settlement. His Excellency had caused a small guard of honour to be drawn up to receive me. A young man who is in charge of the office which deals with external affairs was present. He is a Honanese and possesses a remarkably good knowledge of English acquired in Tien-tsin. He is delicate and hardly likely to rise high in office in the State. He receives 120 taels a-month for his knowledge of English, which he has little occasion to speak here. The Governor's room was stacked with rifles. He was amiable enough to invite me to dine at a later date.\n\n## September 10\nTo-day was a Chinese holiday—the autumnal festival. At our interview yesterday, the Governor said he would assist me to hire transport for the remainder of the journey. I suggested travelling to Manas instead of to Chuguchak. He said there was a road to Manas, but that for two days there was no water or grass. He seemed to think these difficulties insuperable. He said the Moslem trouble in Hsinchiang was over, and that it had never been serious.\n\nThe Chinese seem to go on the cart without the horse principle, as regards these northern colonies. They go to much trouble to form them but neglect to unite them with China by rapid means of communication. Hence the only possible trade is in wool, hides, &c., and this languishes until Russian merchants establish themselves. This trade, of course, finds the nearest outlet, which is Russia. There is then the appearance of a revival of trade, but this is not really so as regards China, and Russians, not Chinese, reap the benefit. And as Russian trade and interests grow, so the footing obtained by her is deeper. Sharasumé is a settlement that cannot grow where it is; it is situated in a cul-de-sac at present, on the road to nowhere. Chinese profit little by the Russian merchants, for the latter put no money in the Mongul's pockets, trade being one entirely of barter, so that it is Russian trade which benefits all round. The merchant in whose house I stayed sends the skins which he collects to Zaisan in Russian territory, six days away by camel transport. He brings back Russian goods in return. It was, I think, due to him that the Russians in Chuguchak heard of my approach, and they probably make use of him for finding out what goes on in Altaishan.\n\nLiving in the settlement is naturally expensive at present. Flour and rice cost 7 cents a catty, eggs 10 cents a-piece, Chinese vinegar 15 cents a catty, as against 2 cents in Peking. The Chinese have introduced pigs and fowls. Vegetables grow plentifully and are comparatively cheap. The yamên have issued paper notes (for local use only). These bear the Government seal; they are for the following values: 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 50 cents, and 1 tael. Tea bricks and the tags in use at Kobdo are also used as currency.\n\nThe only foreigner who has officially visited the settlement has been the Russian Consul at Uliassutai.\n\nThe Amban called at 11:30 A.M. and stayed three hours with me. His sympathies are very pro-British. He is a strong advocate of the forward movement in Mongolia. We discussed the questions of a future constitution and future navy for China, the rights and wrongs of the South African war, and Russo-Afghan frontier matters. His Excellency possessed a remarkable knowledge of modern topics and historical personages such as Bismarck, Napoleon, and Wellington. It may be safely predicted that he will rise to a still higher position in the government of his country. Unfortunately, he speaks no English, nor any European language. He told me that the Russian Consular officer at Uliassutai (he refused to call him Consul) had only been here once, and that there were no Russian subjects here. He had come because a Russian merchant (a Russian Hassack, I believe) had disappeared while travelling in the Altaishan. The Amban said that two Russian subjects had been riding in the district, to the south-east in the desert, and that the survivor had complained that his friend had been killed by Hassacks. The Russian Consul seems to have attempted to bully the Amban, but got little change out of his stalwart opponent, who said that the man's passport had only entitled him to travel on the main roads, and that he could not be responsible for the disappearance of the man travelling by the small roads. The Amban, moreover, requested the Consul to prove that his subject had been murdered, to produce bones, or some trace of clothing, &c. So the Consul was very angry and went away dissatisfied.\n\nThe Amban spoke sarcastically of the Russian attitude and said that, whenever Chinese subjects disappeared while in Russian territory, he got no redress from the Russian authorities, but that he did not make so great a fuss as this travelling Russian Consular officer, who, he said, had, moreover, no right to come and discuss the matter with him.\n\nThe Amban told me that the Wai-wu Pu had recently issued orders that no foreigners were to be allowed to survey in Mongolia, or indeed any part of China; he said that these orders were the result of Japanese having been caught mapping in Heilungchiang (Manchuria). I could not help remarking, showing him some excellent Russian and German maps with which I had been travelling, that it seemed a little late to issue such orders as regarded Mongolia, and that it was a pity, as regarded that dependency, that foreigners should not be allowed, if they wished, to perfect what they had begun, especially as the Chinese had as yet so few men capable of doing it. In any case, it is an order to which travellers like Kozloff will pay little heed. Talking of Kozloff and his escort, the Amban said that the Central Government would never have allowed the latter had the matter been reported to them. His Excellency added that nowadays the Central Government expected every single question to be reported to them from Mongolia and Chinese Turkestan. He said it was a difficult thing to do from Sharasumé, as there was no telegraph, and every urgent matter had to be sent by horseman to Chuguchak to be telegraphed from there. He added that he had asked for permission to connect his colony with Manas by telegraph; here it would be linked up with the main trunk line. He had urged the matter as forcibly as possible and expected a favourable reply. As regarded the colony, his Excellency said he proposed to build it 30 miles to the south, on the plain, and close to the Kilingho. This place, however (Sharasumé), would remain as it was and would form a summer residence. His Excellency is a vigorous supporter of the anti-opium policy.\n\nIn the evening, the owner of my lodging left for Chuguchak on business; he left on horseback and was to take from eight to ten days; he would put up at nights with any tents he came across. He was taking a small tent with him, in case he had to halt in an uninhabited district. About twenty of the population assembled in the courtyard for prayer before his departure; it was a most impressive sight in the brilliant sunset. Directly prayers were over, he and his three servants (two of whom carried rifles) mounted and rode away.\n\nLater in the evening, the Chinese festival (mid-autumn) was at its height. The moon was worshipped, squibs and crackers were let off for hours, and everyone drank as much as they could get.\n\nIt has been found that black beans, kaoliang, and Indian corn can be grown in these valleys, so an attempt is to be made to do this on a large scale. The only trees of the settlement (except for low jungle along the river) are round the yamên inclosure.\n\nThe settlement is at present entirely unprotected by walls and could, if the garrison failed it, be wiped out by any force.\n\n## September 11\nThe garrisons consist of 600 Mongols and 400 Chinese; all are designated cavalry, but I saw few horses and little stabling accommodation. They are armed with German rifles of 1888 pattern, but say that 500 of a later pattern have just arrived. The Chinese are lodged in small mud huts which they have themselves constructed. There are four companies, each commanded by a Captain; one is to the north-west, immediately behind the yamên, another to the north-east, and a third is 300 yards to the east of No. 2, and the fourth in a small inclosure 300 yards south of...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 423241, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 644, "title": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "**(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government)**\n\n## AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n[35407]\n\n### No. 1\n\n#### [September 16]\n\n## SECTION 3\n\nQuestion asked in the House of Commons, September 16, 1909.\n\nMr. Ginnell,-To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what British force was specified by the protocol, signed by the Powers after the Boxer outbreak in 1900, to remain in North China for the preservation of order, and for how long; what is the entire strength of the British forces maintained there now; whether they are maintained there at China's expense; how many of those troops are white men, and how many are men of colour; and whether he is aware that the maintenance of troops of an inferior race in this country is resented by the Chinese.\n\n### Answer\n\nThe Final Peace Protocol of 1901 provided that each Power had the right to maintain a permanent guard in its legation quarter and to occupy certain points between Peking and the sea. Under this agreement a total of about 8,000 troops was maintained in North China for several years, about 2,000 of whom were British. These troops are maintained at the expense of the country to which they belong, and not of China.\n\nNo time-limit was specified in the protocol of 1901, but the question of their reduction has been, and still is, under consideration. The latest information I have shows that there are 64 British officers and 1,025 European British troops, 17 Indian officers and 805 Indian troops in North China. I have no reason to suppose that the presence of the latter is in any way resented by the Chinese, nor are they of inferior race, and I repudiate entirely the description of them given in the question.\n\n[2418--3]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 423243, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "page_number": 646, "title": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909", "content_text": "# CHINA\n## CONFIDENTIAL\n### SECTION 5\n\n[35410]\n\nNo. 1.\n\nQuestion asked in the House of Commons, September 16, 1909.\n\nMr. Ginnell,-To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state the amount of the Chinese indemnity to the United States of America in respect of the Boxer outbreak in 1900, which the United States Government remitted for the education of the Chinese students in the United States; and, having regard to the losses which the British Government assist certain British subjects in imposing upon China in respect of railway projects, whether an equal sum will be set apart by this Government, or by its protégés, for the education of Chinese students in the United Kingdom.\n\n## Answer\n\nI understand that a joint Resolution was passed by Congress and approved by the President of the United States in 1907 reducing the indemnity to be paid by China from 24,440,778 dollars to 13,655,492 dollars. As regards the British claim, that of His Majesty's Government was assessed as far as possible only on the basis of actual expenditure. Should it eventually be found when fully liquidated that there is any surplus it will be returned to the Chinese Government, and its disposal would be left to their discretion. As regards the last part of the question, I am not prepared to answer further questions conveying unfounded imputations such as those contained therein.\n\n`[2418 q-5]`\n646", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 426108, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-367 - Acting Governor May - 1910 [6-7]", "page_number": 477, "title": "CO129-367 - Acting Governor May - 1910 [6-7]", "content_text": "475\n\nVTOV 8 BAT sysbruƐ no Xrow bпa,di to bne erit ja IIIb bas\n\nbar bra belttam erew neci seeds to reɗgun a\n\nDONGTINDdo nommio0\n\nbas ayabavƐ no of basits of enotteglido bne zeltub sitæ amob of dit Jon Brow gavor tegnol oa sis ofiw nem TevoeroM .aysblíod HEIXEXE Ĺsotayiq bred goodanok to etamilo sit at ogrebnu .volod 22 eft at gaintedɗo yrdwoo VIIId edt tevo saloTERS to soitto edt at nec gavor and abʻzagor BÅ\n\n#\n\nbeaogong odd not ment gntraqe ni seiðimsittib oốt,mi¶ ald -volque belikim odt to samo ent ni xa tevig oz jon prew gaintand „mik¤ aid to prenited grikikuf ragut bus breyqtɗ2 edt at Roo- Or har verið erade bisyjinƐ edt ni vilatosqze esevoique seedT bib Xxow Tieɗft .ob of drow Isivoltaq tiedt bari Ila - ansecou oat yakaland not yawa Jnew Teɗmun aistreo a ti bos,qaftevo dom #H .Ilija breda od evaɗ diyim 70% beržuper stew yeɗd frow TroɛLugnoo to moitibmoo Isoof sɗt Jant HolwaeX .TM dikw buorgs amit bra isluqoqaw gnoxynoff at tæeryolçme\" zobuer blnow BDİT198 .steeredni a'mi¶ eld solbuterq\n\nbrager as dadź tuo betalog Jonny2~$%ak 10 {SM\n\n-*quaxe evscoa sút ut molaivong s aaw oreɗt zaentitur - Isoleydq wait10 sát bna ¡ðitm vilsvleydig ed of beonnonong sɛodt gate anottoatɗo edit to emon tadt bebba thomniavoð odd guttetalnimba timi£ adīt yntouber yɗ dom od blvoo noatredo♬ .IM vd benoituen „bartuper od blwow solvien doliw od qu (mzsov 08) ets to darit, ja bar er farið blaɛ ddeweX ́A ‚¤‚TMH\n\n19tis tadi tud qooivtea vreɛluquod to omedor a to wovst at noed -tarionos end of amoo bad er rettam edt to noldatabianos futerso\n\nat emeɗɔn s dowa soubortak ot eidsottoszqmi naw di tant no- *IK vɗ boaist anottostɗo end dilw vllstenog booths of ‚ynodynow .contundeя .M bas foiwaeX\n\n.#\n\nto tuovat nt saw eff Jarft bias nawerƐ .я edit at erow am:it to ɛbeen tant two\n\nbotntoq of .emedoa srit bra * rsey sdt gat¬ub enoitabar asevolym riedt gulvig to diďari ayab wet edt tot medt eraqa tom blworie vod♪ ydw noraer on was ed -be gninisït erið daft bevelled af „beržaob orow tsdt gainisï¿\n\nbataoov\n\nadvocated would be of great benefit to those undergoing it\n\nsaw no reason why, a scheme could not be evolved.\n\nMr. W. Dickson said that in the scheme\n\nbefore them too much was asked of employees of labour and\n\nemployees. The scheme was too rigid. He suggested some modification under which young men would be obliged to serve for a time in the Volunteers.\n\nMr. Keswick thought that what was required\n\nwas an effort to make the Volunteer Force more attractive. In\n\nShanghai men wishing to join the Volunteers had the choice of a large number of Companies to join. They also had the selection\n\nof their own Officers. Under the scheme before them the men\n\nwould be under the supreme control of Military Officers.\n\nmight be unpopular with the men. How was discipline to be\n\nenforced, he asked.\n\nMajor Hart-Synnot explained that while the\n\nmen were undergoing training they would be under Military Law.\n\nMr. Keswick said that fact furnished another ground of objection to the scheme. A man might by a petty offence render himself liable to punishment that might\n\naffect his employment.\n\nThe Officer Administering the Government\n\ndid not think the objection a strong one. No such difficulty\n\nas was indicated had arisen in the course of training the members of the Volunteer Force underwent.\n\nMr. Keswick replied that the absence of difficulty was probably due to the fact that the members of the Force in question were serving voluntarily.\n\nThe Officer Administering the Government said that he regretted extremely to find that there was so much opposition to the scheme. He reminded the Sub-Committee that everything possible had been done to induce men to join\n\nthe Volunteers. At the time of the taking over of the New Territory and again at the time of the Boxer outbreak in China,\n\nrecruiting", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-367 - Acting Governor May - 1910 [6-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428223, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 148, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "146\n\nLai-chou-fu Ching-chou-fu.. Kiao-chou\n\nManchu Garrisons-\n\nChing-chou\n\nTe-chou\n\nTotal\n\n \n :::\n 6\n \n \n :::\n ::\n \n \n :::\n :::\n \n\nElectors. Members.\n\n3,337 4\n\n10,220 9\n\n4,972 4\n\n204 24 2\n\n1 119,549 103\n\nEach Chinese member of the assembly thus represents 1,193 votes, while the three Manchus only represent 76 each.\n\nFirst Election of Delegates--The lists of voters were ready by March 1909, and published in April. The revised lists were drawn up early in May, in which month they were sent to the polling stations, and the elections of the delegates commenced. For each member ten delegates were elected, making 1,030 for the province. The polling was not heavy, probably not over 50 per cent. of the voting list, and supplementary elections were necessary in many cases.\n\nSecond Election of Members.-The second elections for the provincial assembly were held on the 27th and 29th June, all the delegates voting among themselves for the selection of one out of every ten of their number. The successful were duly declared elected members. Prominent notables headed the list everywhere. The senior member for Chinan-fu is the chairman of the Grand Chamber of Commerce and formerly president of the local Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Bureau.\n\nPresident, Vice-Presidents, and Standing Committee.-The members assembled in Chinan-fu in the course of August, and proceeded to elect a president and two vice-presidents, and a standing committee of twenty members. The remaining members returned to their constituencies, there to start deliberative councils for the purpose of getting into touch with local public opinion. A voluminous programme had already been drawn up of subjects for discussion in the assembly, embracing every conceivable topic of public interest, including foreign relations. This last was divided into nine sections--\n\n1. The leased territories.\n\n2. The foreign settlements.\n\n3. Foreign missions.\n\n4. Foreign industrial undertakings in the interior.\n\n5. Extra-territoriality.\n\n6. Railways.\n\n7. Mines.\n\n8. Sea fisheries.\n\n9. Articles of foreign manufacture in the interior.\n\nOpening Ceremony on the 14th October.--The formal opening of the assembly took place, according to the rules of the 24th July, 1908, on the 1st day of the 9th moon (14th October), and was an impressive function. In addition to the governor and members, the chief provincial officials were all present, and special seats were reserved for metropolitan officials, foreigners, and officials from other provinces. Accommodation was also provided for the press and the public, and it is estimated that about 1,000 persons were present.\n\nThe president opened the proceedings by asking the governor to address the meeting. His Excellency read a formal speech, in which he dwelt on the fact that the desire of the court to associate the people with the government of the country had at last been carried out, and the president followed by reading a formal reply of thanks on behalf of the members. The governor then made a second address, which has been widely published, and merits quotation in full.\n\nNot the least interesting feature of it is the outspoken commendation of Yuan Shih-k'ai's action during the Boxer outbreak, and it is difficult to believe that a governor whose touch with the central Government is so close would venture to express his views so openly on such an occasion without some knowledge that they were seasonable.\n\nGovernor's Speech. On the occasion of the opening of this assembly to-day there are two points to which I should like to direct your attention. The first is that Members in no case should the difficulties of any question be lightly underrated. elected for the first time must needs lack experience, and may act rashly without due consideration of the real facts of a case, and like lucky drawers in a lottery, rush into foolish courses which may overstep legal bounds. Such persons, though they appear to be merely over-enthusiastic, are really rash by nature, and do far more harm than good--let me warn you against them.\n\nMy second point is that there should be no fear of adverse criticism. In the conduct of affairs, once a definite policy has been determined on as essential--and without decision no achievement is possible--it should be strenuously adhered to in spite of all difficulties and faithfully pursued until the desired aim is reached, regardless of any adverse criticism that may be encountered meanwhile.\n\n\"Let me quote examples from among the eminent officials who have served the Empire since it recovered from the troublous times of the Great Rebellion--the glorious achievements of the Marquis Tseng Kuo-fan are known to young and old throughout the land, yet when he was Viceroy of Chihli he incurred such adverse criticism from the people of that province on account of his action in the Tien-tsin Missionary Riot case that he could not continue in office there, and was transferred to the Liangkiang province; the Marquis's own statements at the time showing the intensity of the feeling against him when he said, 'I have offended both my own conscience and public opinion.'\n\nAgain, take the late Li Hung-chang, whose diplomatic skill may be said to have been almost unrivalled. He was stigmatised as servile to foreigners for advocating peace in the China-Japan war, and later public censure of him increased as foreign affairs multiplied; but it is only after death that the true verdict on a man is pronounced, and the name of Li Hung-chang, though censured during his lifetime, is now enshrined in the national history with a lustre that a myriad ages will not dim.\n\nOr, again, look at Yuan Shih-k'ai, when he was governor of Shantung, at the time of the outbreak of the Boxer rebellion. At that period high officials both at the capital and in the province, believing in the Boxers, were following their lead, and Yuan alone regarded them as a heretic sect, and took measures against them. The ignorant people who also believed in the Boxers abused Yuan, but before long the Boxers were overthrown and the province of Shantung, thanks to his energy alone, was preserved in peace; this was a benefit experienced by yourselves as inhabitants of this province who can thus confirm my words.\n\n\"The public are capable of appreciating the benefits of an accomplished fact, but not of planning for its accomplishment. Men of ability do not need to be guided merely by public approval in their conduct of affairs; it is only necessary for them to consider the final results of action, and if these are good the adverse comment endured for a time is of no consequence.\n\nJust as it is necessary to remove the skin of a fruit in order to taste its sweetness, so in dealing with affairs it is necessary to weigh carefully the pros and cons of any measure, and in order to do this it is essential that there should be calm and dispassionate investigation.\n\nThe assembly, in discussing any given subject, should first carefully examine all the surrounding circumstances and not act in any rash or hasty manner, in order that the true bearings of the matter may be discovered and action taken without subsequent hindrance.\n\nDivergence of views there must be, but difference of opinion should be carefully distinguished from obstinacy. Obstinacy is the greatest obstacle to all progress, and I would earnestly warn you against it.\"\n\nPresident's Address.-The president then delivered an address in which he traced the development of parliamentary institutions in western countries from the earliest times down to the present day, dwelt on their recent extension to Japan, and concluded by pointing out that China had at last taken the first step on the path of constitutional reform.\n\nThe rules of procedure and other regulations of the assembly have since been published. They are minute and detailed, but present no original features, being closely modelled on those of western countries. Every subject for debate has to pass three readings, and is to be discussed clause by clause, each individual motion or amendment being voted on separately. Provision is also made for special committees to which questions may be referred from the full assembly.\n\nProgramme of Government Business.--The governor has placed a variety of questions before the assembly for discussion, and it is evident that he intends to occupy their attention fully by matters of official suggestion. The following is a short list:", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428530, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 455, "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "4\n\nThe objects are being vigorously pressed by the papers and in public meetings. The Prince Regent and the Central Government are aiding and encouraging the movement.\n\nThe basis of the enterprise is the anti-foreign spirit prevalent everywhere. In newspaper articles and in public speeches the feelings and fears of the people are being worked upon. They are instructed that their only safety is by some means to get rid of the foreigner. Though the objects of the societies seem patriotic enough and on the face deserving of all support, they are being exploited to bring to light the heinous sins of foreigners against China. They are all of them in their essence anti-foreign.\n\nThe Comet. Halley's comet is now again almost visible to the naked eye. In China a comet is universally regarded as portending disturbances and disasters. It presages commotion, bloodshed, and suffering. Coming as it does this year at the climax of these other movements, it will certainly excite men's minds and disturb the people. Demagogues will work its appearance to their own ends and will find ready audiences to believe all that is told to them.\n\nAll these things are bringing about a dangerous condition of affairs, and an outbreak of trouble appears inevitable.\n\nThere are present other conditions which make the position decidedly worse. I will indicate a few of them.\n\nChinese Finances. This subject has been referred to again and again in my correspondence. The Imperial Treasury and the provincial treasuries are all swept bare. The same cry comes from all alike, that there is no money to meet current requirements.\n\nChina's two most prominent officials have left large deficits. Chang Chih Tung, the trusted adviser of the Prince Regent, left a deficit of 4,000,000 taels; but out of regard to his memory the Prince Regent announced nothing was to be done against his memory or to affect his records in the matter.\n\nTuan Fang, recently degraded as a result of Palace intrigues, on flimsy pretexts, has also left a legacy of deficits at Nanking. The same is done in Manchuria, Kiangsu, and elsewhere.\n\nThe Government weakly yields to popular clamour and fears to negotiate foreign loans, and is at its wits' end to devise schemes of raising further taxes from the people.\n\nThe unsecured issue of bank notes goes merrily on. While I was in Hankow a further 2,000,000 of Japanese printed notes arrived. No exact returns are published, but it is believed by many that the issue of notes in the Liang Hu alone exceeds 100,000,000 dollars.\n\nIf a Chinese presents himself with notes he is told to go away. If anyone refuses to take the notes the officials deal with him in such a way as to discourage others. The whole edifice built up on these unsound foundations will collapse and cause widespread ruin.\n\nThe condition of purely Chinese-managed railways, like the Hankow-Peking Railway mentioned above, will in the future add to the Government's financial difficulties and create further serious problems.\n\nDisaffection of the People. New taxes are being levied and the burdens of the people are being steadily increased. There are murmurs of dissatisfaction from many quarters. The people recognise they are being bled on all hands, and have no recourse. The debased copper currency has increased the prices of all commodities and the people are becoming poorer. No steps in the shape of mining or otherwise are being taken in any effective or scientific ways to develop the country and provide new sources of wealth.\n\nThe Provincial Assemblies. The outstanding features of these assemblies are that they are anti-foreign in all their acts, and in so far as the Government are refusing to put real power in their hands, they are anti-officials. It is quite conceivable these assemblies will become centres of disaffection, and add still further to the problems of Government.\n\nThey are struggling for more power, especially over the national and provincial funds. The Chinese composing them differ not from their fellows, and it looks very much as if a new lot of men have sprung up who will require their share of the public plunder, and thus increase the already existing confusion.\n\nThe Loyalty of the Troops. Doubts are expressed as to the loyalty of the troops in several quarters. I heard on good authority that the Government distrusts the loyalty of the foreign-drilled troops in Nanking, and that no ammunition is ever served out to them. A large brigade of Northern Shantung troops has been brought down to Nanking. The general explanation of this unusual measure is that they are brought in as strangers from another province to overawe the local men.\n\nIn the recent Pingsiang outbreak troops from three or four provinces were brought in, so as to prevent any collusion on the part of the local men with the revolutionaries.\n\nIt is now reported that in order to save money the pay of all the troops in Wuchang is to be reduced. The pay is low enough already, and if it is finally decided to reduce the present pittance there will be vigorous opposition.\n\nOn the top of all the above China is cursed with a weak and divided Government. Were a strong ruler to appear who knew his own mind, who had a policy and who dared to execute it, the situation might be saved. The very opposite of the above is the case. The Prince Regent is weak, and does not seem to know what to do. The young Manchus and the concubines and Empresses are asserting themselves. There is therefore no clear-cut or vigorous policy, and things are allowed to drift. No Minister of State will himself assume any responsibility. The officials are eager to feather their own nests, and seem more corrupt than ever before. The prospects therefore are very far from bright.\n\nAs I travel round and discuss the question with one and another, I find that without exception every foreigner who has any experience and who has studied the situation agrees that it is fraught with extreme danger.\n\nAs things are now shaping, an outbreak cannot be avoided. It may come this year; in any case it cannot be long delayed.\n\nThere is a feeling among many that Japan is fermenting this trouble for her own ends. A strong united China would in time mean the extinction of Japan, and to prevent this being accomplished is the object of Japanese statesmen. Should there be a recrudescence of trouble as in the Boxer year, a division of Japanese troops would be poured over into China. The end of such an occurrence no man can foresee.\n\nWe have an excellent Minister in Peking in Sir John Jordan, but of course he is powerless unless strongly backed and instructed by the home Government. There is a feeling among Britishers out here that the home Government do not fully realise the situation. If they are not fully prepared for coming events we as a nation will suffer in our policy and our trade.\n\nEDWARD S. LITTLE,\n\nJanuary 15, 1910.\n\n452", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428732, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 73, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "intention to reduce the pay of the soldiers, and that if this was done trouble was sure to come.\n\nEarly in January there was a mutiny of soldiers in Yünnan, and their flight into Tonquin resulted in an encounter with the French troops. This mutiny was reported by Mr. O'Brien-Butler in his despatch No. 4 of the 13th January.\n\nThe mutiny at Canton in the early part of February, and the prompt measures taken for the protection of foreigners were fully reported on in my despatch No. 69 of the 8th March.\n\nHis Majesty's consul at Nanking reported on the 12th January that there had recently been considerable disaffection in the 36th Regiment stationed at Kiang Yin, which culminated in the desertion of about 100 men.\n\nOn the 11th February there was a disturbance at Soochow created by mutinous Chinese soldiers. Shops were pillaged and passers-by assaulted. As four British subjects were assaulted, one suffering serious bodily harm, His Majesty's consul-general at Shanghae immediately made representations to the Chinese authorities, who offered a humble apology and paid an adequate indemnity, while I obtained from the Wei-wu Pu a promise that the ringleaders should be punished.\n\nQuite recently I have received through His Majesty's Consul at Chinkiang an account of a serious revolt of a large body of soldiers at Huaianfu and Tsingkiangpu, in Kiangsu, towards the end of February, owing to a reduction of pay and a cruel punishment inflicted on a soldier for a minor offence. The rioting at both places was very serious and lasted for many days, and the officers had to make every kind of concession to the men, but a Catholic missionary at Huaianfu reports that the gates of the mission were not even closed, that the foreigners had nothing to suffer and were not even threatened for a single moment.\n\nStill it is evident that the newly raised troops in various parts of China constitute a source of danger to Chinese and foreigner alike, and the military authorities are in most cases afraid to take strong measures for fear of stirring up further trouble. I shall ask Colonel Willoughby, who is at present inspecting some troops in the Yang-tsze valley, to draw me up on his return a short memorandum on the various military mutinies that have occurred lately, whether they are symptomatic of a general spirit of discontent and insubordination, or are caused by specific causes of complaint. It would also be interesting to know how far the troops might be relied on to protect foreigners in case of a riot.\n\nOf disturbances other than military there have been very few. I have already mentioned the attacks by bands of armed robbers in the neighbourhood of Fushun, Szechuan. There were also small disturbances in the Wei Yuan district of the same province last November, while in December there was a serious fight between junkmen and some patrol boats at Suining on the \"Little River\" of Chungking, but in none of these cases were foreign lives or property threatened.\n\nRumours reached me of troubles at Ping-ho Hsien, a place on the Fukien side of the Kuangtung frontier, about 70 miles west of Amoy. Troops were at once dispatched to the spot, and must have been successful in quelling the disturbance, whatever its nature was, as I have had no official information on the subject.\n\nEarly in March His Majesty's consul-general at Yünnan-fu reported that there was considerable unrest in the Chaotung Prefecture in the north-east of the province on account of increased taxation and the census, and that meetings had been held to plan the murder of officials and foreigners. I at once requested that proper steps should be taken to protect British lives and property, and troops were promptly dispatched and effective measures taken to suppress the disturbance.\n\nI have already stated that I cannot agree with Mr. Little that the Government are encouraging the anti-foreign movement among the student classes. They would appear rather to be fully alive to the danger to themselves and to China of allowing any disturbances that might endanger foreign lives or property to get beyond their control. How far they are and will continue to be in a position to exercise this control is a question on which I would hesitate to offer a definite opinion, as it must largely depend on the loyalty of the troops, about which, as Mr. Little remarks, doubts are expressed in several quarters.\n\nMr. Little refers at considerable length to the opposition to the various railway loans. The existence of this feeling is nothing new, and has been known to His Majesty's Government for many years. Its effects have already made themselves felt in regard to the Shanghae-Ningpo Railway loan, and will assuredly make themselves equally strongly felt in regard to the proposed Hukuang Railway loan. This movement, however, is directed against foreign capital, and not against foreign lives, and I need not, therefore, comment on what Mr. Little says in regard to the agitation being conducted in Hupei in favour of raising money to exclude the use of foreign capital.\n\nTwo dangerous factors in the present situation are the weakness of the Government and the spirit of disaffection towards both the dynasty and the Government, which is gradually spreading all over China and growing stronger and stronger. I have already referred to certain factors which tend to foster the growth of this spirit of disaffection; other factors I would mention are the ever growing burden of taxation, the disordered finances, the suffering caused by debased coinage and worthless bank-notes, the feeling of opposition that animates the provincial gentry and the provincial assemblies, the false ideas prevalent as to the best means of assuring the progress of the country to enable it to assume its proper place among the nations, and last, but not least, the spread of education which, by providing standards of comparison brings forcibly before the eyes of the people the vices and inherent weakness of their present system of government and of the effete Manchu dynasty.\n\nTo contend with such a dangerous situation we have a weak and inexperienced Regent and a Grand Council and Central Government composed for the most part of sycophants and time-servers bent on feathering their own nests, none of whom dare to express an opinion or assume any responsibility for fear of meeting with the fate that has overtaken Yuan Shih-kai and Tuan Fang, while their one idea of dealing with provincial opposition is to temporise and even to divert the feeling of discontent against the foreigner instead of taking a firm stand while it is still time to do so. That there is a revolutionary and anti-dynastic spirit abroad has been shown during the last few days by the plot against the Prince Regent's life reported in my despatch No. 103 of the 8th April, and many people feel that if disturbances do occur in the near future, they will be primarily directed against the throne and the Government rather than against foreigners, though it is evident that in the event of anything like a civil war, the lives and property of foreigners would need foreign protection. But about the probable outcome of a revolutionary movement it is quite impossible to prophecy.\n\nI do not know on what grounds Mr. Little states that there is a feeling that Japan is fomenting this trouble for her own ends. My impression is rather that the fear of Japan is one of the principal deterrents against a repetition of any violent anti-foreign outbreak. I am much more inclined to agree with Mr. Little when he says: \"Should there be a recrudescence of trouble as in the Boxer year, a division of Japanese troops would be poured over into China.\" The Chinese Government are fully alive to the fact that there would be no waiting for the mandate of Europe on the part of Japan, and that the punishment would be swift and sure.\n\nTo sum up, there is a strong anti-foreign feeling, which tends to grow stronger every year, but it is a different feeling to the blind hatred of the foreigner that led up to the troubles of 1900. It is, if I may use the expression, a more civilised feeling, and is directed not so much against the foreigner as such, as against his privileged position and boasted superiority. This feeling is more likely to find expression in determined attacks on his privileges, whether secured by treaty or otherwise, than in violent and bloody outbreaks as in 1900. The hatred of the foreigner is there, the question is whether it will find expression in the same manner as in 1900. In answering this question we must remember that in 1900 the Court \"ran amuck,\" and took the lead in the attacks on foreigners, whereas the impression I have gathered from my conversations with our consuls, with missionaries and with Chinese officials, both here and in the provinces, which impression has been confirmed by the prompt measures lately taken by the authorities to protect foreign interests wherever they have been threatened by local outbreaks is that the Chinese authorities from highest to lowest are keenly alive to the inevitable result of any outbreak on a large scale directed against foreigners. In their eyes the inevitable result would be a Japanese invasion and a loss of some of their most valuable provinces. In a country like this, local outbreaks may occur from a variety of causes, and foreign interests may suffer accordingly, but the Government will do all it can to prevent a general conflagration, not for love of the foreigner, but from fear of the consequences.\n\nWhile I was finishing this despatch, I received the news of the serious disturbances in Changsha. It is too early for me to form a definite opinion as to the causes which led up to the riot, but all the information I can gather goes to show that though foreign property has suffered subsequently, the riot was caused by distress, and was primarily directed against the local authorities. Moreover, such measures as\n\nPage 5\n\n...\n\nPage 6", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 428778, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 119, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "117\n\n2\n\n4\n\ngiven the necessary conditions, and the conditions at present warrant a certain amount of uneasiness. But to say that a repetition of the Boxer outbreak headed by students is imminent is to forget the essential features of that outbreak, which took by surprise not only the most experienced of the foreign community, but also the most experienced statesmen of China. In 1901 I had a conversation with Prince Ching while events were still fresh. He was within an ace of perishing in the storm and spoke feelingly. He put the whole convulsion down to one man, Prince Tuan, and to one fact, the selection of Prince Tuan's son as heir presumptive. Prince Tuan's mental equipment and character were of the sixteenth century. His ignorance of the external world was childish, and his violent temperament took up the prevailing anti-foreign feeling in the way most natural to him as soon as his new position as father of the future Emperor gave him the power. The Foreign Minister of Japan at the time, Mr. Kato, aptly described the Boxer outbreak by saying that the Chinese Government had run amok. The Chinese Government was for the moment Prince Tuan, and it was he who ran amok. It is, I think, certain that without Prince Tuan there might have been sporadic attacks on foreigners, but there would have been no Boxer outbreak. On looking round now there is no Prince Tuan visible. There is the Prince Regent in a similar and more commanding position, but though he is at heart probably as anti-foreign as Prince Tuan, he is comparatively well acquainted with existing political conditions throughout the world, and thoroughly understands that another general anti-foreign outbreak would at least portend the extinction of the Manchu dominion.\n\nThe situation is not without anxieties, but they are the anxieties naturally arising during a period of political transition in an oriental country of unwieldy proportions. The Chinese Empire is too large to be modernised without clash even in these days, except under the hands of rulers of genius and resolution, and there are no such rulers in sight. But while individual communities of foreigners may and probably will suffer in the disputes and conflicts which are inevitable before a reasonable adjustment is attained, what I know of the present policy of the Chinese Government entitles me to expect that such occurrences will take place through neglect, incapacity or accident, and rarely with the collusion or connivance of the governing officials.\n\nC. W. CAMPBELL.\n\nPeking, April 25, 1910.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nAFFAIRS OF CHINA,\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[18213]\n\nNo. 1.\n\n(May 23.7589 SECTION 2\n\nRre 11 JUN 10)\n\nMr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received May 23.)\n\n(No. 135.) Sir,\n\nPeking, May 2, 1910. IN Sir John Jordan's despatch No. 68 of the 15th February, 1909, an account was given of various cases in which satisfactory action had been taken by the Chinese authorities on the representations of His Majesty's consuls to prohibit the fraudulent imitation of trade-marks and patents. Since that despatch was written other reports on the same subject have been received from His Majesty's consuls in China, which I have the honour to summarise below, in further illustration of the extent to which, in existing circumstances, protection can be given to British trade-marks in China.\n\nTwo cases have been reported from His Majesty's consul-general at Canton. The first, reported on the 13th February, 1909, was a fraudulent imitation of a mark used by Messrs. Loxley and Co., the British importers at Hong Kong, of a superior make of Lisle thread singlet. A test case was brought in the court of the Namboi magistrate; the magistrate declined to convict, and at a rehearing before a deputy of the Viceroy and His Majesty's vice-consul the Viceroy's deputy adopted the magistrate's view. A proclamation was, however, issued containing a facsimile of the trade-mark in question, and warning the public, on pain of severe punishment, against selling or buying articles fraudulently bearing the mark. With the terms of this proclamation Messrs. Loxley and Co. expressed themselves as satisfied. Mr. Fox in the same report described the difficulty he had experienced in securing the publication of a general proclamation against infringement of trade-marks on the same lines as one issued at Shanghae, and declared that the provincial Government did not fully realise the serious bearing of the imitation of foreign trade-marks on commercial interests. He also dwelt on the difficulties created by the modern Cantonese method of threatening boycotts, and expressed the opinion that, under present conditions, a foreign firm had but little hope of getting any real redress for infringements of its patents and trade-marks in Canton.\n\nThe second case at Canton was reported on the 18th March, 1909. At Mr. Fox's request, the Chinese authorities fined a local dealer for importing and selling a spurious imitation of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company's condensed milk. In connection with this case, also, a satisfactory proclamation was issued.\n\nHis Majesty's consul-general at Tien-tsin has reported three cases where action was taken by the Chinese authorities to prevent infringements. The first, reported on the 5th April, 1909, was a proclamation issued by the Customs taotai, at the instance of the American consul-general, forbidding the importation and sale of imitations of the Borden's eagle brand condensed milk. The mark in question appears to have been imitated by a German firm at Shanghae, and a similar proclamation had been issued in Shanghae.\n\nIn the second case, reported from Tien-tsin on the 19th August, 1909, the assistance of the Chinese authorities had been invoked by His Majesty's consul-general to prevent the manufacture and sale of native soap put up in packages closely resembling the packages used by Messrs. Lever Brothers for their Sunlight soap. The local court confiscated the unsold stock found on the premises, satisfied themselves that no more was in process of manufacture, and fined the manufacturers 50 dollars. The Tien-tsin agents for Sunlight soap were provided with a copy of the decision of the local court for insertion in the native press.\n\nThe third Tien-tsin case (reported the 25th April, 1910) was a sequel to certain proceedings in Shanghae, where a Chinese candle company had been obliged to sign an undertaking that they would discontinue the use of two labels complained of by Price's Patent Candle Company (Limited), as being colourable imitations of their \"Ship\" label. A branch of this Chinese firm in Tien-tsin was found to have in its possession 500,000 of these fraudulent labels, and, after a good deal of pressure from Mr. Fulford, the local court compelled the Tien-tsin branch to recognise the agreement made by the principals in Shanghae. The Tien-tsin branch destroyed its die and\n\n[2751 -2]", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429058, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 399, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "2\n\nserious fresh outbreak. How far this will prove to be true it would be hazardous to prognosticate.\n\nThat the Central Government are satisfied with the manner in which Jui Cheng, the Acting Viceroy of Hukuang, and Yang Wen-ting, the Acting Governor of Hunan, have dealt with the situation is proved by an edict issued a few days ago, making their acting appointments substantive. As a rule, substantive appointments to officials doing temporary or acting duty in such high posts are not given until after considerably longer service than in these two cases, and the promptitude with which these appointments have been confirmed is particularly significant, in view of the fact that certain strong elements in Hupei and Hunan had been reported as agitating against these two officials.\n\nI am now fully in accord with the instruction contained in your telegram No. 82 of the 2nd instant, that it would be neither judicious nor proper to include questions quite unconnected with the recent riots in a settlement of the case, but I cannot help sharing the opinion of His Majesty's consul-general at Hankow that there will be no real or permanent security against fresh trouble in Hunan so long as the long-pending questions involving our treaty rights are not definitely settled one way or the other.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER.\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nActing Consul Hewlett to Mr. Max Müller,\n\n(No. 31.) Sir,\n\nChangsha, June 6, 1910,\n\nTHE three direct causes of the recent outbreak at Changsha, as recorded in my despatch of the 4th May, appear to me to exist at the present moment in an aggravated form.\n\n1. The Shortage of Rice on the Market.\n\nAt present if anyone wishes to buy rice he has to proceed to one of the comparatively few rice shops still doing business, deposit his money (at 8,200 cash a picul), and call for his rice next day.\n\nWith the governor's orders to lower the price of rice the dealers refuse to comply until larger supplies justify this measure. The sums set against the names of generous notables in the long lists of subscribers to the rice funds given in the local papers appear to be like railway subscriptions—merely paper promises.\n\nThe governor takes no steps to verify the common report that Yeh Te-hui has tens of thousands of piculs stored away; and it is left to General Yang to see the matter thoroughly investigated.\n\nA body of rice-seekers were allowed to hold heated discussion outside the Lin-Yang Gate yesterday, despite the supposed state of martial law and prohibition of all assemblies.\n\n2. The Hostility of the Masons and Carpenters.\n\nAlthough the complicity of these men in the riots was reported to the Throne their guild's pretensions remained unchanged, and the local authorities make no attempt to control them, accepting apparently as quite satisfactory the sole exception of His Majesty's consulate from their claim to monopolise work in Hunan.\n\nOn the 4th June the masons and certain of the gentry held a meeting to discuss a general strike as a protest against the punishment of the gentry. I am told that Wong Hsien-chien urged the masons not to strike, as it might cost him his head; but the masons replied that as the gentry had supported them in the past the guilds would uphold them during their present difficulties. The meeting was ultimately adjourned till the 6th or 7th June.\n\n3. The Weakness of the Local Authorities and the Power of the Anti-foreign Political Association.\n\nIn discussing the apportionment of blame in the despatch above referred to, I stated: \"It is a most certain fact that unless an exemplary lesson is brought home to the political association of Hunan the recent riots will but prove the first step to what might develop into a revolution.\" The lesson has not been brought home, and not only have I no reason to modify this assertion, I would repeat it with emphasis.\n\nThe first edicts condemning the four gentry principally implicated were hailed with delight by nine-tenths of the residents of Changsha, and especially by the regular troops. The mild penalties announced in the later edict have rendered the gentry more reckless and dangerous than ever, while irritating the regular troops of Hunan, who have a very fair and just idea of the punishment these men deserve, and whose one longing is that the Central Government should be resolute and prompt in dealing with the guilty gentry.\n\nThe provincial assembly has already demanded that all matters affecting the settlement of the riots should be referred to them. Further, they have asked the governor why the indemnity has not been paid at once and the case closed. A special session has been called for this month; in fact, there is every indication that the fight over treaty questions is to be renewed with keener vigour than ever, and the situation, if not firmly handled, can only end in complications of a most serious kind.\n\nThere are other causes in addition to the three mentioned, which lead me to think that the situation here is serious.\n\nRecently the township of Ch'uan-chiao-ho, 30 miles from Iyang, was destroyed by a gang of rioters, who were more or less armed. This involved the destruction of an out-station under the Norwegian Missionary Society. The destruction was followed by the burning of thirty homesteads. Soldiers appeared on the scene, and the rioters dispersed. Their next appearance was at Hua-Shih, 20 miles south of Hsiang-T'an, where they destroyed a chapel belonging to the American United Evangelical Church Mission. Here again the troops appeared, late, though three men implicated were caught.\n\nThis gang consists at present of thirty-four men. They wear yellow scarves on their heads, and are in uniform; they also have flags bearing the inscription, as in the Boxer days, \"Support the dynasty and exterminate the foreigner.\" Now an interesting fact to note is that, with about 13,000 men in the provincial troops, 6,000 in the regular troops, and 3,000 in the river guard boats, up to the present no force has been detached to exterminate this band, whose audacity is increasing. They call themselves \"Men of the superhuman striking art,\" and bound themselves as a band at Hsiang-T'an, where as at Iyang their adherents are known to be numerous.\n\nIt is true that the local authorities profess themselves masters of the situation; but up to the actual outbreak of trouble nothing could have been more satisfactory than the assurances of the then governor and Customs taotai, in face of which I felt it useless to set my own apprehension in applying for one of His Majesty's ships to the naval authorities.\n\nThe present absence of any effective precaution on the part of the provincial authorities against renewed trouble compels me to state deliberately that His Majesty's ship \"Nightingale\" is not sufficiently imposing to convince the hostile element in Changsha and in Hunan generally of the importance attached by His Majesty's Government to safeguarding British lives and property in this province. I am fully aware of the many and complex duties of His Majesty's squadron in these waters, and I trust that the above declaration of my honest conviction, which my sense of duty forces me to record, will not be misconstrued.\n\nI will close this despatch with the last curious phase in an exceedingly difficult situation. This is the unmistakable friction between General Yang and the governor.\n\nGeneral Yang during the last week paid me one open and two secret visits, and gave me his secret views, assuring me, I believe quite truly, that he speaks to me freely because of our exceptional friendship and his knowledge that all foreigners in Hunan rely on me for advice and protection.\n\nGeneral Yang states emphatically, and his opinion is endorsed by many others, that Governor Yang is utterly incapable of facing the present situation. He asserts that but for the vigour displayed by the Viceroy of Wuchang, trouble would at once break out in Changsha. He speaks in the highest terms of the justice shown by the Viceroy in apportioning blame, and says that the governor would never have taken such steps on his own responsibility.\n\nHe begged me most earnestly not to believe the official assurances that order was completely restored, and that there was no danger of further troubles. He pointed", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429059, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 400, "title": "CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "4\n\nout that local authorities were always compelled to give these assurances to save their reputations, and that he considered it was deliberately misleading to make such assertions at a time like the present, when, in his opinion, the situation was grave.\n\nGeneral Yang considered that the punishment of the gentry implicated was much too light, and would simply encourage them to further acts of violence. He added the significant remark that, if trouble did occur, it was not the starving poor he would slay, but the gentry.\n\nThe general is taking especial precautions to avoid trouble when the popular treasurer leaves his yamen.\n\nHe is confident, and has repeatedly made the remark that his troops will obey his orders to a man.\n\nOther officers have commented on the weakness of the governor; and \"Ts'en was bad but Yang is worse\" is becoming quite a common saying.\n\nThe general has told the governor that he will not have his troops scattered in small companies (of 126 men) in different parts of the province; he has demanded that they shall be concentrated, in battalions (504) at least, at the larger places, such as Hsiang-T'an, Iyang, and Changteh. The governor does not agree, and is endeavouring, to all appearances, to make the Hunan regular troops as ineffective as possible.\n\nThe local authorities' unconcealed distrust of the Hunan troops is known to General Yang and his officers, some of whom have spoken to me about it. General Yang bitterly resents the attitude of the local authorities in giving credence to aspersions on the trustworthiness of his men, spread by malicious gentry. He is convinced that his men would obey any orders he gave them, and that the statement that his soldiers were forbidden to fire because they could not be trusted owes its origin to the same source which carefully disseminated the rumour that 500 deserted on the 18th April, whereas they were acting under definite secret orders received from him and had been forbidden to disclose their destination. I regret that this slur on the reputation of a force whose conduct has been exemplary and a perfect model of rigid discipline has, owing to pressure of work, gone uncontradicted since my telegram No. 30 of the 18th April to Hankow.\n\nMy private opinion regarding the trustworthiness of the troops is based on conversations with the general, the officers, sergeants and corporals, every single one of whom displays the clearest knowledge of the case, obviously carefully argued out among them.\n\nThe spirit \"Hunan for the Hunanese\" does not, I think, exist in the mind of the Hunan soldier. He considers himself a soldier of the army of China, and he wishes to see China strong, united, and capable of taking her place as a world Power. In the opinion of the Hunan soldier a very small number of the gentry have, from motives of personal greed and blind, unreasoning conservatism, attempted to ruin Hunan, and deserve exemplary punishment. In addition they feel that their obedience to orders has caused them to be unjustly stigmatised as incapable and untrustworthy. The failure to vindicate their honour constitutes a dangerous factor in the present situation.\n\nTheir unbounded admiration for the Viceroy of Wuchang, their oft-reiterated comment, \"He has resolution and a fixed purpose,\" seems to prove that they would support a strong Government truly and loyally. If, however, a settlement is patched up and the gentry are whitewashed, if the Central Government by their weakness degrade the China the soldiers wish to see respected as a Power, it is impossible to say how these troops will act should trouble break out again in Hunan.\n\nTo sum up the situation briefly: the causes which led to the riots still exist, intensified owing to the pin-pricks of insufficient punishment, aggravated by the weakness of the Central Government. In addition, the loyalty of the men on whom the local officials ought to rely is being criminally and maliciously strained in a manner which can only cause apprehension to those who are watching the situation.\n\nI have refused two offers from the local authorities to have the consulate guard of forty-two men, specially picked by General Yang, changed for Hupei or provincial troops. I rely on the Hunan men absolutely, and my confidence in them has, I am glad to learn, been widely commented on by people in Changsha and is deeply appreciated by the troops themselves.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n(In the absence of and at the request of\n\n5\n\nI agree generally with Mr. Hewlett, except as to the serious nature of the Boxer band's movement.\n\nThe Wuchang Viceroy's memorial, after denouncing the true authors of the outbreak in forcible language, tails off into mild suggestion when his Excellency comes to the question of the penalties deserved by the gentry; but the report of the board amounts almost to a justification of their conduct, since the penalties prescribed are merely such as would follow on any breach of official decorum.\n\nIt is certainly regrettable that the Viceroy did not plainly vindicate the conduct of the Hunan regular troops, and slurred over the length of the period during which the treasurer's party let the destruction of foreign and Government property continue unchecked, and the outstanding fact that the Japanese steam-ship company's premises alone were protected by guards, who passively watched the destruction of adjoining British property by a handful of unarmed men.\n\nE. H. FRASER, Consul-General.\n\nHankow, June 9, 1910.\n\nEnclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\nWai-wu Pu to Mr. Max Müller,\n\nMemorandum communicated by Mr. En Hou.\n\nTELEGRAM from the Governor of Hunan to the Wai-wu Pu.\n\nYour telegram of the 12th June received.\n\n\"Everything is quiet at Ning Hsiang, I Yang, and Liu Yang. I have sent detachments of soldiers, and have distributed them at different places to prevent disturbance. The most careful arrangements have been made.\n\n\"Two cases of piracy have occurred in the district of Siang-Yin, and the magistrate has reported that the criminals have been captured and severely punished. No serious cases of burning buildings have happened. The district of Hsiang-yin bordering on the River Siang makes it easy for bandits to conceal themselves. I have now sent gun-boats to patrol this district and capture pirates. It is difficult to avoid robbery cases occurring in the departments and districts of Hunan, but there are no cases of large bodies of rebels making a disturbance.\n\n\"I have heard of Boxers at Hua Shih, in the district of Hsiang-t'an, taking measures to create a disturbance, and soldiers were at once sent there. The ringleaders were executed on the spot and the others dispersed without trouble. I shall continue to take precautions from time to time, and will not venture to be in any way remiss.\"\n\nA reply from Yang Wen-ting, dated the 12th June. June 13, 1910.\n\n0\n\nMr. Hewlett),\n\nE. H. FRASER.\n\n397", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-372 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 429772, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910", "page_number": 509, "title": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910", "content_text": "2\n\nfor putting matters on a proper footing. In reply to a request for instructions, Sir John Jordan informed Mr. Major that he considered it most undesirable to move in the matter if it could be avoided. This brief digression is necessary in order to explain that, should the Chinese authorities succeed in making good their objections to foreigners residing in Mokanshan, Dr. Main's case may be seriously prejudiced.\n\nNothing more was heard of either question until last July, when I received a telegram from Mr. Savage, His Majesty's consul at Hangchow, stating that the governor was pressing for a settlement. I authorised Mr. Savage to repeat that the question of Dr. Main's house could not be discussed until his return, and as regards Mokanshan I replied that the matter concerned other nationalities besides British, and that, if it were raised, it would probably have to be dealt with by the consular body at Shanghai in consultation with representatives of the Mokanshan residents.\n\nAt the beginning of this month His Majesty's consul received a verbal message, which was subsequently confirmed by a despatch, from the commissioner of foreign affairs, stating that unless he was prepared to discuss Dr. Main's land case within a fortnight the local authorities could not guarantee protection in case of a popular outbreak nor prohibit the destruction of Dr. Main's boundary wall and the erection of boundaries by the Chien Chang clan. Mr. Savage's despatch No. 14 of the 7th October, of which the copy is enclosed,* will show that, in his opinion, the danger of trouble is remote, provided the local authorities do their duty. Under my instructions His Majesty's consul has informed the governor that he and the foreign affairs commissioner will be held personally responsible in case of damage to Dr. Main's property. I have the honour to transmit herewith the copy of his despatch enclosing the copy of his letter to the governor. I regarded the threatening tone used by the local authorities to His Majesty's consul as highly improper, and I have protested strongly against it. I have informed the Wai-wu Pu that not only the provincial authorities, but the Chinese Government will be held responsible if any harm is done to British subjects or their property. If any strong anti-foreign feeling exists in this case, which I much doubt, it is due to the connivance, if not the encouragement, of the local officials, and the plea that they are unable to cope with the situation cannot be tolerated. At the same time I consider that Dr. Main should be made aware of the state of affairs, and I have requested Mr. Savage to communicate with him and ascertain when he may be expected to return to China.\n\n*\n\nI enclose the copies of correspondence which has recently passed between His Majesty's Legation and the Wai-wu Pu on the subject.*\n\nAs I have before said, I am not inclined to attach much importance to the threats of the possible employment of violence in the present case, but Hangchow, and indeed the whole province of Chekiang, have always been a centre of anti-foreign agitation, and that outbreaks and disturbances involving danger to foreign lives and property are at any time, and on any pretext possible in Hangchow, was made clear by the events that occurred there in spring and early summer. I still hold that there, as in other parts of China, a really determined attitude on the part of the authorities is sufficient to hold any possible disturbances in check, but in Chekiang neither the governor nor the other high provincial officials inspire me with any confidence, and that is the reason why I have on every occasion thought it necessary to draw the attention of the central Government to the slightest threatening of any disturbance in Hangchow which might involve British interests.\n\nAs far as my reports from other parts of China go the spirit of violent unrest, whether revolutionary or anti-foreign, which was noticeable in the other part of the year, and which, as may have been seen from my despatches, caused me at the time no small amount of anxiety, appears for the time being at all events to have been lulled to rest.\n\nTwo factors appear to me principally responsible for the betterment in the state of affairs from that which marked the beginning of this year in many provinces in the Empire; one is the plenteous harvest which is reported from nearly all districts; with the exception of the northern portion of Kiangsi and Anhui, where great want exists owing to floods, and the other is the improved tone of the native press.\n\nWith regard to the latter point I would say that though, as far as I can judge from the extracts furnished to me, there is no diminution in the denunciation of existing abuses or the urgent demands for reform, the general tone is less revolutionary and anti-dynastic, and though the privileges and supposed encroachments of foreigners are universally attacked, the incitements to anti-foreign outrages are certainly fewer.\n\nI enclose a translation of an article from a Peking native paper* which forms a noticeable exception to the above statement and to which I drew the attention of the Wai-wu Pu as soon as it was brought to my notice.\n\nA telegram from New York recently published in the papers here reported that the State Department at Washington had received telegraphic information from the American Minister here to the effect that disturbances similar to the Boxer troubles might be expected at any moment in various parts of the Empire, and that the United States Far Eastern squadron have received orders to be in readiness to protect American interests, bore on its face evidence of exaggeration if not invention, and Mr. Calhoun immediately published an official denial of its accuracy.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n* Not printed.\n\nIn\n\nW. G. Max Müller.\n\n508", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 457209, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "page_number": 525, "title": "CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915", "content_text": "Suppressed portion of Speech.\n\nRent 16 JUN 15\n\n518\n\nReports have reached us from China that some remarkable and very significant information has come to light in connection with the liquidation of German firms by British subjects in Hongkong. It is stated that in the process of liquidation it has been discovered that a German state-aided Financial Trust has been at the back of certain prominent German firms, the main object of which Trust has been to assist in transferring British trade from British to German channels.\n\nThis end has been to some extent accomplished by giving facilities to German firms which enabled them to sell British goods to Chinese on terms of long credit, involving so much risk that British firms have been partially driven out of the trade. The Trust is also said to have enabled German firms to enter contracts at actual cost, or in some cases below cost, by making special indirect returns to the firms on behalf of the Government; these returns being generally the equivalent of ordinary trading profits on the contracts.\n\nThe German Government's instructions to the Trust are said to have been to do its utmost to oust British merchants from the trade, so as to prove to the Chinese that Germans were in a better condition to cater for the trade than their British competitors even in their own colony. It is also said that German firms have represented to the Chinese that the British goods they were selling were of German manufacture, evidence of which is found in the fact that immediately after the declaration of war, when Chinese learnt that no goods could be shipped from Germany, the market in Hongkong rapidly advanced, for a few days, until the Chinese discovered that the goods were of British manufacture and that further supplies were obtainable through British firms.\n\nIt is suggested that the operations of this Financial Trust may possibly have had some bearing on the large indemnity claimed by the German Government from China for commercial losses after the first Chinese revolution. Other opportunities have arisen for recovering bread cast on the waters by such an institution as this Financial Trust. For example, the German expedition to China after the Boxer outbreak was no larger than the British. The German Press, which is sometimes truthful, makes much of the fact that German soldiers are not mercenaries; they did not arrive in China until after the Legations had been relieved and although their behaviour to the civil population was exactly the same as their behaviour in Belgium, they need not have fired a single cartridge; notwithstanding all this, the German indemnity for military and commercial losses amounted to £13,900,000, while the British indemnity was £7,600,000.\n\n4", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-426 - Public Offices - 1915.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 460296, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "page_number": 429, "title": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "content_text": "426\n\nFinance\n\nXII.\n\non the fall of Tsingtau. The contract for the bridge work was placed with a German firm by the old Native Company before the line came into British hands, and the materials, presumably being unpaid for, would remain German property until delivery, which was never made.\n\nThe outbreak of war created a severe financial crisis all over the world, during which international banking transactions were practically suspended. As an illustration of the dislocation of business it may be noted that transactions between New York and London were negotiated at the rate of $5.27 to the £, which meant that in the greatest neutral market in the world exchange on London fell as much as 8 per cent. At the same time silver declined over 15%, and for the time being it was impossible to remit money from China to Europe. It was not until the end of October that normal conditions were re-established in the money markets of the world. The war adversely affected the foreign trade of China; both imports and exports fell off to a considerable extent, and the depression lasted until the end of the year. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the Customs Receipts fell off from Tls. 43,969,000 (£6,700,000) in 1913 to Tls. 38,907,000 (£5,300,000) in 1914. A decrease of Tls. 5,000,000, however, represented a falling off in sterling of £1,400,000 owing to an average decline in exchange of fully 10%. Throughout this period of financial stress and difficulty China has paid the interest on her national debt, as well as the sinking fund of the Boxer indemnity. No information is available as to the Treasury Bills and short-term notes outstanding, but liabilities of this nature are in a different category from the recognised national debt. The way in which the Chinese Government has met its obligations throughout the trying period of the last four years is satisfactory evidence of the recuperative power of the country, and inspires confidence in the maintenance of China's long record of national probity.\n\nThe\n\nUnder the able management of Sir Richard Dane, the Salt Gabelle is reported to have yielded a net revenue of Tls. 42,000,000 which is more than the revenue received from the Maritime Customs. It is understood that a re-organisation of the Land Tax is to be taken in hand at an early date; and when the necessary reforms have been carried out, it is estimated that this source will yield an annual revenue of close upon £20,000,000.\n\nXIII.\n\nAs far as information is available to the public the total debt of China approximately amounts to £170,000,000.\n\nWhich involves an annual charge of about £8,500,000\n\nTo which must be added for amortization of loans 1,500,000\n\nMaking a total of about £10,000,000\n\nA new departure in finance may be noted in the successful flotation of an internal loan of $16,000,000; the amount being over-applied for, it was subsequently decided to increase the total to $24,000,000. A further loan for a similar amount to be issued this year is now under consideration. As evidence of increased confidence of the Chinese people in their Government, this new departure is significant, and if the Treasury is wise it will carefully protect the interests of the investors. During the year the Central Government redeemed, in Canton, local notes to the extent of $32,000,000; although these notes were retired at a considerable discount, the general effect of the operation was salutary, especially as it was carried out expeditiously and in a businesslike manner. It is estimated that there are still outstanding about $130,000,000 of provincial notes throughout the country.\n\nViewed from a European standpoint the liabilities of the Chinese Government, in comparison with the extent and resources of the country, are by no means heavy. These resources are capable of much greater development; the strength of the country lies in the industry and enterprise of the great mass of the population, its weakness in the atmosphere of mistrust and intrigue surrounding its governing classes which has for so long been characteristic of official life.\n\nWriting on the subject of leakage in the collection of taxes, and the swarm of officials through whose hands the revenue passes, the Peking correspondent of the North China Daily News says:—\n\n\"It has been asserted that if the Government could only secure 'fifty per cent. of the actual amount collected from the people throughout the country in the form of taxation it would be able comfortably to liquidate its national debt and keep its administration financially lubricated without necessity for appeals to foreign financial markets.”\n\nChina has for many years been urged to foster the mining industry and encourage both her own people and foreigners to develop the", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 460356, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "page_number": 489, "title": "CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2]", "content_text": "Breathing an air such as this, surrounded by men who for their own advancement were obsequious and flattering, is it matter of wonder that the Kaiser should have become the swashbuckler of Europe? It is difficult for an ordinary man to wear a sword without a feeling of prideful elation and a desire at some time or other to test it on somebody else. How much more difficult must it be for a Kaiser, with millions of armed men and vast armouries at his command, to crush down the feeling of swelling pride, and not on occasion to rattle his sword and brandish his \"mailed fist\" in the face of his neighbours to keep them in awe.\n\nIn no other country in the world have armies and armaments been allowed to hold premier rank as they do in Germany. No Czar of Russia, however great his army, has ever made war a religion as has the Kaiser. Indeed the Czars of Russia have sought to gain their end by peace rather than by arms, and it was the Czar who invited the Powers to form the Hague Conference for the securing of international peace.\n\nThe Kaiser's love of Military Power has descended to him from his ancestors, though none of them ever exhibited this love so theatrically as he has done. Indeed his own father, who saw the horrors of the Franco-Prussian War, came out of that struggle, victorious though he was, with a loathing of war that would have satisfied Chuang Tzu. But the present Kaiser glories in his armour. No one who visits the great garden at Berlin can fail to observe the long avenue of the Kaiser's ancestors, which he has erected there, and which even by many of his own countrymen is considered as a vulgar display. In these statues of his ancestors, he has chosen to make the military element prevail over all others, ancestor after ancestor being represented in the glory of arms.\n\nHe has carried the same martial spirit into many of his public utterances. One of the most notable of these is the speech he uttered on sending off his troops to China, when the international forces went to the relief of the Legations during the Boxer outbreak. Here is what he said: \"When you meet the foe, you will defeat them. No quarter will be given; no prisoners taken. Let all who fall into your hands be at your mercy. Just as the Huns a thousand years ago, under the leadership of Attila, gained a reputation in virtue of which they still live in historical tradition, so may the name of Germany become known in such a manner in China that no Chinaman will ever again dare to look askance at a German.\"\n\nThe Huns were barbarians noted for their exterminating cruelty. Into such barbarism did the Kaiser seek to plunge China with his German troops. Can anyone doubt that the Kaiser is responsible for the lapse to barbarism of the Prussian army officers during the present war? How could any sovereign calling himself civilised give utterance to such commands as those? Yet the Kaiser calls himself a follower of Christ, who taught that men should love one another, should save life and not destroy it, and should seek the welfare even of enemies. Can anyone wonder that the Kaiser is known in Europe as Attila, and his Prussians as Huns? Can anyone wonder that Prussia has not a friend in the world, except Turkey, a nation steeped in massacre?\n\nNo other European ruler gave utterance to any such barbarous sentiments to his troops as they left for China, or harboured such immoderate ideas in his breast. His dislike and distrust of what he calls the \"Yellow Race\" was such that all mercy, all pity, all the higher qualities of civilisation were swamped under his barbaric militarism. Innocent Chinese, men, women and little children, might be massacred along with the guilty, even as he has butchered innocent Belgians, men, women and children. The most revolting wickedness of it all is that he has the habit of associating himself with God, and assuring himself and his people that God is with him in all this murder. It cannot be that he is really so wicked by intention. What then has turned the blood of this man, who in private life is kindly and sympathetic, into gall? What is it that has drenched him from head to foot in blood, and made him so foul that all the four seas can never cleanse him? It is the curse of his blind militarism which has dulled his vision to the truth, so that he cannot see what his words mean nor understand the measure of woe that his swelling military pride involves. Christ whom he professes to worship, said, \"He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword.\" The nation that bases its glory on the sword will perish, for it is righteousness, not the sword which exalteth a nation. This is the law of humanity, this is the law of human progress, this is the law of God.\n\nThat the Kaiser has based his glory and his nation on the sword and his army is patent from his frequent sayings. Here are a few out of many others like them :- \"The mighty German Army is the mainstay of the peace of Europe.\" disproof were needed surely the present war lamentably presents it to the full.\n\n\"My eyes rest with gratitude and trust upon my Army, for I know that the Army, on which the anxious love of the great Emperor (William I.) was lavished from the years of his youth to the last moments of his long life, on which God had showered so many blessings will ever be mindful of its high mission, and that it will fulfil every task entrusted to it.\"\n\nAgain: \"I am firmly resolved to meet the heavy responsibility of the inheritance that has fallen to me, by devoting to it all my powers. This is best accomplished by fostering the army.\"\n\nHis distrust of democracy and his reliance on the sword may be seen from the following \"It is the soldier and the army, not parliamentary majorities and votes, that have welded the German Empire together. My confidence rests upon the Army.\"\n\nHe elevates the soldier above the civilian, and the army above learning when he says to his soldiers: \"You wear the Emperor's uniform, you have thereby been given a **preference over other men**.\" In other words, the military calling is greater than those callings which have created civilised life, the scholar, farmer, artizan and merchant.\n\nHe says again: \"With deep sorrow did I take up the crown; on all sides men doubted me; on all sides did I encounter misconceptions. One thing alone had confidence in me, one thing alone believed in me—it was the Army, and supported by it, and relying upon it...\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-431 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [1-2].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 467894, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-442 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [4-6]", "page_number": 197, "title": "CO129-442 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [4-6]", "content_text": "HONGKONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL\n\nthe unofficial members of the Legislative Council has been defeated by the vote of the official members. Such report contains, where necessary, a statement explanatory of the reason for the official vote. A search through the Hansard reports of a number of years shows that there have been one or two exceptions, as, for instance, at the following pages: 1907, page 38; 1911, page 117; 1911, page 235; 1912, page 102,\n\nIt is intended that the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank, and all other immovable property in the Colony of Hongkong belonging to German firms which are being wound up under the Alien Enemies (Winding-up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1917, shall be sold by public auction within the course of the next 4 months.\n\nIt is proposed that all the sales shall be advertised for a period of 3 months, and that the sale of the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank shall also be readvertised for that period. If the latter property were sold at a few days' notice intending purchasers might be greatly inconvenienced and embarrassed, as they may have to obtain instructions from the United Kingdom or elsewhere.\n\nReturn of the Germans\n\nHON. MR. P. H. HOLYOAK, in accordance with notice of motion, moved the following resolution:\n\n\"It is the opinion of this Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least 10 years following the declaration of peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence.\"\n\nIn doing so he said:- Sir, -I rise to make the following motion standing in my name:\n\n\"It is the opinion of the Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least ten years following the declaration of Peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict Licence.\"\n\nIn speaking to the motion, and because I am most anxious to avoid anything in the nature of exaggeration on so important and far-reaching a matter as this, I crave the indulgence of your Excellency and this Council if I make rather free reference to notes.\n\nAt the outset, I would say that we do not presume to dictate to the Home Government on a question which affects all parts of our wide-flung Empire, but, it is only a few days since your Excellency called attention in a meeting of the Legislative Council to the not wholly unworthy efforts of this Colony to help the Motherland in her hour of need in one way or another, and We contend that these and our large annual military contribution entitle us, at any rate, to indicate our wishes to the Home Government, and, with all deference, I believe that such a pronouncement will be welcomed by them for guidance when the whole question comes up for decision.\n\nAustralia, Canada and New Zealand have, I believe, already indicated their wishes in no uncertain manner, and Hongkong with its great commercial interests surely cannot be excluded, especially when it is remembered that at the forthcoming Imperial Conference, whilst the Dominions have their own representatives, Hongkong, with other Crown Colonies, will be represented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It is noteworthy that in recent speeches made by prominent world politicians an attempt is made to draw a line of demarcation between the German Government and the German people, and directly peace has been declared we shall, there is only too much cause to fear that there will be on all sides that it was the Prussians who made the war and that we have no quarrel with the peaceful Teutons.\n\nSir, the spirit which on the outbreak of war led to the disgraceful attacks in Berlin upon the Russian, French, and, especially, the British Embassies and compelled our Ambassador to slink out of Berlin in the grey dawn, just as his party was attacked on departure; to the invasion of Belgium, with its attendant cold-blooded atrocities, as \"Military necessity\" in defiance of sacred neutralities; and, later, to the murder of women and children on land and sea whilst German officers and men looked on and jeered; and, later still, to the starvation and torture of wounded and helpless prisoners-of-war--this spirit is not the product of the war, but is the Prussian spirit which permeates the whole German nation-man, woman and child and which will take years to eradicate, and we say that the people who can rejoice over nameless crimes, such as these, who revel in the pernicious doctrine that \"might is right\" and that necessity justifies any crime, however damnable in the eyes of the world it may be, and who can celebrate such an atrocious act as the sinking of the Lusitania by declaring a public school holiday, to say nothing of the deliberate murder of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt and countless other horrors, are not fit to be received hereafter into the brotherhood of Nations until they have expiated their crimes against God and civilization and truly reformed their ways.\n\nSpeaking for the Mercantile Community of Hongkong, which has by far the largest stake in the Colony, I say that we have no desire to be -indeed, that we will not be, if it can be avoided-associated in this Colony, either socially or commercially, with men and women who thus far have failed to realize what honour, justice and mercy mean, who acknowledge neither International obligations nor treaty unless they stand to gain by doing so, and in whose nature there is no chord which vibrates to the claims of either.\n\nA close study of the causes which led up to this terrible war and of Germany's deliberate acts thus far will convince anyone who is not blind to the truth that they are the inevitable result of the pernicious teaching of her professors and philosophers during the last two decades, and of the military and naval ambitions which were fostered by her rulers -the present Armageddon was the climax.\n\nBeyond all this, and as an argument which more particularly affects the welfare of Hongkong, I have no hesitation in saying that the results of the German liquidations have abundantly proved that we are better without the Germans in trade, and that the vast business they created to our disadvantage was the result of a most pernicious credit system which did infinite harm to the Colony and which, when the Germans were interned, left an aftermath of evil in the shape of huge accumulations of stocks, which the market could not possibly digest and which took months of weary efforts to disperse, whilst British trade languished in proportion and is still doing so.\n\nWith the internment of our enemies, the trade of the port, by common consent, and thanks to the energy of the Chamber of Commerce, was once more placed upon a cash basis. I will not weary you with concrete examples, but I say, unhesitatingly and without fear of contradiction, that the trade of the Colony is to-day in a healthier state than for years past, and in the name of British trade interests I plead with you that Germans shall not be allowed to return to the Colony for at least ten years to recommence their \"Prussian tactics in trade\" which did the Colony so much injury in the past.\n\nFurther, I cannot help feeling that we have delayed too long in giving China a lead in this connection, and that bold declaration of our views may strengthen her own and inspire her to join the Allies whole-heartedly in declaring war upon the enemies of progress and induce her to intern or banish those within her boundaries; the more so when she recalls the fact that this same Prussian spirit unblushingly reveals itself in the Kaiser's instructions to his troops during the Boxer Rebellion to show no quarter and to teach the Chinese the might of Germany's military fist and never to look askance at a German, and which is commemorated by the Ketteler memorial in Peking.\n\nIn conclusion, and lest it be urged that we have overlooked possible German competition from new centres to the detriment of Hongkong, let it be said that, while we recognize such competition may arise, we are convinced it can be successfully met and are prepared to face it, especially when it is remembered that German firms are unlikely for years to come to receive the great assistance they did from British banks and discount houses in London in pre-war days and, I hope, will never do again.\n\nFinally, I would remind you that the views I have endeavoured, however incompetently, to set forth are unitedly shared and endorsed by the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, which, at a recent meeting specially convened to consider the whole matter, unanimously\n\nPage 83\n\n...\n\nPage 195", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-442 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [4-6].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 468444, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-443 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [7-9]", "page_number": 207, "title": "CO129-443 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [7-9]", "content_text": "The COLONIAL SECRETARY replied as follows:-It is the general practice to report specially to the Secretary of State for the Colonies a case in which the unanimous or nearly unanimous vote of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council has been defeated by the vote of the official members. Such reports contain, where necessary, a statement explanatory of the reason for the official vote. A search through the Hansard reports of a number of years shows that there have been one or two exceptions, as, for instance, at the following pages:-1907 page 38; 1911, page 117; 1911, page 285; 1912, page 102.\n\nIt is intended that the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank and all other immovable property in the Colony of Hong-kong belonging to German firms which are being wound up under the Alien Enemies (Winding-up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1917, shall be sold by public auction within the course of the next 4 months.\n\nIt is proposed that all the sales shall be advertised for a period of 3 months, and that the sale of the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank shall also be readvertised for that period. If the latter property were sold at a few days' notice intending purchasers might be greatly inconvenienced and embarrassed, as they may have to obtain instructions from United Kingdom or elsewhere.\n\nRETURN OF THE GERMANS.\n\nHon. Mr. P. H. HOLYOAK, in accordance with notice of motion, moved the following resolution :-\n\n\"It is the opinion of this Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least 10 years following the declaration of peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence.\"\n\nIn doing so he said-Sir, I rise to make the following motion standing in my name :-\n\n\"It is the opinion of the Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hong-kong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least ten years following the declaration of Peace; and, that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence.\"\n\nIn speaking to the motion, and because I am most anxious to avoid anything in the nature of exaggeration on so important and far-reaching a matter as this, I crave the indulgence of your Excellency and the Council if I make rather free reference to notes.\n\nAt the outset, I would say that we do not presume to dictate to the Home Government on a question which affects all parts of our wide-flung Empire, but, it is only a few days since your Excellency called attention in a meeting of the Legislative Council to the not wholly unworthy efforts of this Colony to help the Motherland in her hour of need in one way or another, and we contend that these and our large annual military contribution entitle us, at any rate, to indicate our wishes to the Home Government, and, with all deference, I believe that such a pronouncement will be welcomed by them for guidance when the whole question comes up for decision.\n\nAustralia, Canada and New Zealand have, I believe, already indicated their wishes in no uncertain manner, and Hongkong with its great commercial interests surely cannot be excluded, especially when it is remembered that at the forthcoming Imperial Conference whilst the Dominions have their own representatives, Hongkong, with other Crown Colonies, will be represented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.\n\nIt is noteworthy that in recent speeches made by prominent world politicians an attempt is made to draw a line of demarcation between the German Government and the German people, and there is only too much cause to fear that directly peace has been declared we shall hear on all sides that it was the Prussians who made the war and that we have no quarrel with the peaceful Germans.\n\nSir, the spirit which on the outbreak of war led to the disgraceful attacks in Berlin upon the Russian, French, and especially the British Embassies and compelled our Ambassador to slink out of Berlin in the grey dawn, lost his party being attacked on departure; to the invasion of Belgium, with its attendant cold-blooded atrocities, as \"Military necessity\" in defiance of sacred treaties: and later, to the murder of women and children on land and sea whilst German officers and men looked on and jeered; and, later still, to the starvation and torture of wounded and helpless prisoners-of-war-this spirit is not the product of the war, but is the Prussian spirit which permeates the whole German nation-man, woman and child-and which will take years to eradicate, and we say that the people who can rejoice over nameless crimes, such as these, who revel in the pernicious doctrine that \"might is right\" and that necessity justifies any crime, however damnable in the eyes of the world it may be, and who can celebrate such an atrocious act as the sinking of the Lusitania by declaring a public school holiday, to say nothing of the deliberate murder of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt and countless other horrors, are not fit to be received hereafter into the brotherhood of Nations until they have expiated their crimes against God and civilization and truly reformed their ways.\n\nSpeaking for the Mercantile Community of Hongkong, which has by far the largest stake in the Colony, I say that we have no desire to be-indeed, that we will not be, if it can be avoided-associated in this Colony, either socially or commercially, with men and women who thus failed to realize what honour, justice and mercy mean, who acknowledge neither International obligations nor treaty unless they stand to gain by doing so, and in whose nature there is no chord which vibrates to the claims of either.\n\nA close study of the causes which led up to this terrible war and of Germany's deliberate acts thus far will convince anyone who is not blind to the truth that they are the inevitable result of the pernicious teaching of her professors and philosophers during the last two decades, and of the military and naval ambitions which were fostered by her rulers till the present Armageddon was the climax. Beyond all this and as an argument which more particularly affects the welfare of Hong-kong, I have no hesitation in saying that the results of the German liquidations have abundantly proved that we are better without the Germans in trade, and that the vast business they created to our disadvantage was the result of most pernicious credit system which did infinite harm to the Colony and which, when the Germans were interned, left an aftermath of evil in the shape of huge accumulations of stocks, which the market could not possibly digest and which took months of weary efforts to disperse, whilst British trade languished in proportion and is still doing so.\n\nWith the internment of our enemies, the trade of the port, by common consent, and thanks to the energy of the Chamber of Commerce, was once more placed upon a sound basis. I will not weary you with concrete examples, but I say, unhesitatingly and without fear of contradiction, that the trade of the Colony is to-day in a healthier state than for years past, and in the name of British trade interests I plead with you that Germans shall not be allowed to return to the Colony for at least ten years to recommence their \"Prussian tactics\" in trade which did the Colony so much injury in the past.\n\nFurther, I cannot help feeling that we have delayed too long in giving China a lead in this connection, and that a bold declaration of our views may strengthen her own and inspire her to join the Allies whole-heartedly in declaring war upon the enemies of progress and induce her to intern or banish those within her boundaries; the more so when she recalls the fact that this same Prussian spirit unblushingly reveals itself in the Kaiser's instructions to his troops during the Boxer Rebellion \"to show no quarter and to teach the Chinese the might of Germany's military fist and never to look askance at a German, and which is commemorated by the Ketteler Memorial\" in Peking.\n\nIn conclusion, and lest it be urged that we have overlooked possible German competition from new centres to the detriment of Hong-kong, let it be said that, while we recognize such competition may arise, we are convinced it can be successfully met and are prepared to face it, especially when it is remembered that German firms are unlikely for years to come to receive the great assistance they did from British banks and discount houses in London in pre-war days and, I hope, will never do again.\n\nFinally, I would remind you that the views I have endeavoured, however incompetently, to set forth are unitedly shared and endorsed by the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, which, at a recent meeting specially convened to consider the whole matter, unanimously adopted the identical motion on which I am now addressing you. The composition of this Committee is so well known to your Excellency and this Council that I am certain its carefully considered opinion will not fail to carry the weight it deserves with the Secretary of State for the Colonies.\n\nHon. Mr. C. E. ANTON-Sir, I beg to second the motion. The proposer of the motion has gone so very largely over the ground that I think it is not necessary for me to go into...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-443 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [7-9].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 469616, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917", "page_number": 490, "title": "CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917", "content_text": "The COLONIAL SECRETARY replied as follows:\n\nIt is the general practice to report specially to the Secretary of State for the Colonies a case in which the unanimous or nearly unanimous vote of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council has been defeated by the vote of the official members. Such reports contain, where necessary, a statement explanatory of the reason for the official vote. A search through the Hansard reports of a number of years shows that there have been one or two exceptions, as, for instance, at the following pages:- 1907, page 38; 1911, page 117; 1911, page 235; 1912, page 102.\n\nIt is intended that the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank, and all other immovable property in the Colony of Hongkong belonging to German firms which are being wound up under the Alien Enemies (Winding-up) Ordinances, 1914 to 1917, shall be sold by public auction within the course of the next 4 months.\n\nIt is proposed that all the sales shall be advertised for a period of 3 months, and that the sale of the premises of the Deutsche Asiatische Bank shall also be readvertised for that period. If the latter property were sold at a few days' notice, intending purchasers might be greatly inconvenienced and embarrassed, as they may have to obtain instructions from the United Kingdom or elsewhere.\n\nRETURN OF THE GERMANS.\n\nHon. Mr. P. H. HOLYOAK, in accordance with notice of motion, moved the following resolution:\n\n\"It is the opinion of this Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least 10 years following the declaration of peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict licence.\"\n\nIn doing so, he said: Sir, I rise to make the following motion standing in my name:\n\n\"It is the opinion of the Council that it is in the best interest of the Colony of Hongkong that persons of German nationality should be excluded therefrom for a period of at least ten years following the declaration of Peace; and that, subsequently, they be only admitted into the Colony under strict Licence.\"\n\nIn speaking to the motion, and because I am most anxious to avoid anything in the nature of exaggeration on so important and far-reaching a matter as this, I crave the indulgence of your Excellency and this Council if I make rather free reference to notes.\n\nAt the outset, I would say that we do not presume to dictate to the Home Government on a question which affects all parts of our wide-flung Empire, but it is only a few days since your Excellency called attention in a meeting of the Legislative Council to the not wholly unworthy efforts of this Colony to help the Motherland in her hour of need, and that our large annual military contribution entitles us, at any rate, to indicate our wishes to the Home Government, and, with all deference, I believe that such a pronouncement will be welcomed by them for guidance when the whole question comes up for decision.\n\nAustralia, Canada, and New Zealand have, I believe, already indicated their wishes in no uncertain manner. Hongkong, with its great commercial interests, surely cannot be excluded, especially when it is remembered that at the forthcoming Imperial Conference, whilst the Dominions have their own representatives, Hongkong, with other Crown Colonies, will be represented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.\n\nIt is noteworthy that in recent speeches made by prominent world politicians, an attempt is made to draw a line of demarcation between the German Government and the German people, and there is only too much cause to fear that directly peace has been declared, we shall hear on all sides that it was the Prussians who made the war and that we have no quarrel with the peaceful Teutons.\n\nSir, the spirit which on the outbreak of war led to the disgraceful attacks in Berlin upon the Russian, French, and, especially, the British Embassies, and compelled our Ambassador to slink out of Berlin in the grey dawn, lest his party be attacked ere departure; to the invasion of Belgium, with its attendant atrocities, as \"a Military Necessity\" in defiance of treaties; and, later, to the murder of women and children on land and sea, whilst German officers and men looked on and jeered; and, later still, to the starvation and torture of wounded and helpless prisoners-of-war - this spirit is not the product of the war, but is the Prussian spirit which permeates the whole German nation - man, woman, and child - and which will take years to eradicate.\n\nWe say that the people who can rejoice over nameless crimes, such as these, who revel in the pernicious doctrine that \"might is right\" and that necessity justifies any crime, however damnable in the eyes of the world it may be, and who can celebrate such an atrocious act as the sinking of the Lusitania by declaring a public school holiday, to say nothing of the deliberate murder of Edith Cavell and Captain Fryatt and countless other horrors, are not fit to be received hereafter into the brotherhood of Nations until they have expiated their crimes against God and civilization and truly reformed their ways.\n\nSpeaking for the Mercantile Community of Hongkong, which has by far the largest stake in the Colony, I say that we have no desire to be, indeed, that we will not be, if it can be avoided - associated in this Colony, either socially or commercially, with men and women who thus far have failed to realize what honour, justice, and mercy mean, who acknowledge neither International obligations nor treaty unless they stand to gain by doing so, and in whose nature there is no chord which vibrates to the claims of either.\n\nA close study of the causes which led up to this terrible war and of Germany's deliberate acts thus far will convince anyone who is not blind to the truth that they are the inevitable result of the pernicious teaching of her professors and philosophers during the last two decades, and of the military and naval ambitions which were fostered by her rulers till the present Armageddon was the climax.\n\nBeyond all this, and as an argument which more particularly affects the welfare of Hongkong, I have no hesitation in saying that the results of the German liquidations have abundantly proved that we are better without the Germans in trade, and that the vast business they created to our disadvantage was the result of a most pernicious credit system which did infinite harm to the Colony and which, when the Germans were interned, left an aftermath of evil in the shape of huge accumulations of stocks, which the market could not possibly digest and which took months of weary efforts to disperse, whilst British trade languished in proportion and is still doing so.\n\nWith the internment of our enemies, the trade of the port, by common consent, and thanks to the energy of the Chamber of Commerce, was once more placed upon a cash basis. I will not weary you with concrete examples, but I say, unhesitatingly and without fear of contradiction, that the trade of the Colony is to-day in a healthier state than for years past, and in the name of British trade interests, I plead with you that Germans shall not be allowed to return to the Colony for at least ten years to recommence their Prussian tactics in trade which did the Colony so much injury in the past.\n\nFurther, I cannot help feeling that we have delayed too long in giving China a lead in this connection, and that a bold declaration of our views may strengthen her own and inspire her to join the Allies whole-heartedly in declaring war upon the enemies of progress and induce her to intern or banish those within her boundaries; the more so when she recalls the fact that this same Prussian spirit unblushingly reveals itself in the Kaiser's instructions to his troops during the Boxer Rebellion \"to show no quarter and to teach the Chinese the might of Germany's military fist\" and never to look askance at a German, and which is commemorated by the Ketteler memorial in Peking.\n\nIn conclusion, and lest it be urged that we have overlooked possible German competition from new centres to the detriment of Hongkong, let it be said that, while we recognize such competition may arise, we are convinced it can be successfully met and are prepared to face it, especially when it is remembered that German firms are unlikely for years to come to receive the great assistance they did from British banks and discount houses in London in pre-war days and, I hope, will never do again.\n\n485", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 474940, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917", "page_number": 634, "title": "CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917", "content_text": "64\n\nfor their immediate needs; their credit is still good in many cases; their distributing connections in China have been retained by the careful husbanding and gradual liquidation of their import stocks; their export connections have been largely taken over by British firms, the handling of China produce in the future will depend both upon local competition and upon the capacity of institutions in the United Kingdom and Allied countries to consume this produce and to offer satisfactory prices. The reopening of their connections in the United Kingdom will depend upon the policy adopted by His Majesty's Government and by the willingness, or otherwise, of home shippers, especially those in Manchester and Bradford, to supply them with goods for distribution.\n\nIn dealing with this question of German competition it may be well to add that it was largely a local factor, a rivalry between British firms and German firms rather than between British trade and German trade, or British manufacturers and German manufacturers. With the exception of a few articles, such as aniline dyes and war stores, the trade of the two nations tended to lose its nationality on arrival in China and to be distributed through cosmopolitan channels. British goods distributed by Germans seldom bore any mark of origin which was intelligible to the Chinese; they were almost always marked in Chinese \"German firm of so-and-so\" and often even \"Made in Germany.\" The Germans clearly considered it important to persuade the Chinese that the goods they sold were actually produced in Germany; they were even more concerned, however, to advertise to the Chinese their own hong name.\n\nJapanese Competition. Information from all sources establishes the fact that Japan is our principal competitor at the present time, and that still keener competition from this quarter will be experienced in the future, not only in China but in India and throughout the whole of the East.\n\nThe Japanese are, in China, real trade competitors from a national point of view, though there is little rivalry between the British and Japanese firms. The Japanese as a nation have spared no pains to equip themselves for the Chinese market. The products of their factories have shown marked improvement within the last few years, and but for the temptations of profitable war work they would no doubt have secured an even larger proportionate share in the trade of China than they have hitherto acquired. They are quietly consolidating their commercial position (notably in piece goods and sugar) in Manchuria, assisted by the control of the railways in that sphere; they have created a new Japanese commercial zone in Shantung with the capture of Tsingtao and the Shantung Railway from the Germans; and they are training large numbers of young men in the Chinese language and the commercial customs and needs of China in order to distribute their goods into every part of the country. Their principal energies are directed towards the manufacture and sale of piece goods and yarn. American middling cotton has recently been laid down in Japan at the equivalent of 7d. per lb. as compared with 8½d. per lb. in Liverpool in consequence of abnormally high freights. Whilst this disability may be removed on the resumption of normal conditions, the Japanese shipping subsidies will always tend to react in favour of low laying-down costs of raw material in Japan. This fact, added to the proximity of the China market, the cheapness of labour in Japan, and the suitability of the Japanese for appreciating and working the Chinese market by an inexpensive and highly-trained class of men, gives them an ever-increasing advantage. Their competition can only be off-set by cheaper production in the United Kingdom. In machinery, the Japanese are also assuming an increasingly important position as competitors. The control of Chinese iron ores from the Han-Yeh-P'ing and Manchurian districts is of material assistance to them, and they are likely to prove increasingly important as competitors to British iron and steel manufacturers. The main difficulty of the Japanese merchant houses operating in China in the past has been lack of capital and credit; it may be assumed that this will be remedied to some extent as a result of the large profits which have been made during the last two years. Their industrial activities in Shanghai have continued unabated, and, in addition to their cotton mills and silk filatures run with Chinese labour, they now have control of the largest paper mill in Shanghai. The Japanese have shown a new interest in the export trade, which has been facilitated by favourable rates on the railways and steamship lines which they control. They have also done a considerable business in insurance in China, and have strengthened themselves by re-insurance treaties with the influential European countries.\n\nAmerican Competition.-American business men have shown a marked and somewhat dramatic interest in the China market since the outbreak of the war,\n\n65\n\nbut it is still too early to estimate the results of their recent efforts. A strong financial combine, the American International Corporation, has declared its intention of taking a leading part in the trade of the Far East in future. A number of highly-paid experts have visited China with a view to studying the market; active shipping competition is promised between the Pacific coast and Far Eastern ports under the American flag, and they have made a bid for a place both in the import and export markets of China. In metals, window glass, various steel goods and tools, America controls a certain market, but her manufacturers show no sign of equipping themselves for the China market in the systematic manner adopted by the Japanese. Nevertheless, a certain measure of success has been attained. American manufacturers of textile machinery have, for the first time, secured valuable contracts for Chinese spinning machinery. A new departure may also be cited in the case of the selling agents for the American Steel Trust (the United States Steel Products Export Co.). This firm is established at several of the Treaty Ports, and in one case they supply daily quotations of their products to foreign importers engaged in their branch of the trade, telegraph offers at their own expense, and order supplies for these importers.\n\nThe success of the United States in the past has been remarkably small in comparison with the efforts put forth. This is mainly attributable to the lack of knowledge, on the part of American business men, both of the country and of Chinese methods. Both these defects, however, will be overcome in time, and, the longer the duration of the war, the stronger will the American hold on trade become. On the whole, however, British interests in China do not take a very serious view with regard to American competition, which they anticipate will relax as soon as the United Kingdom can re-enter the market under normal trading conditions.\n\nDutch and Scandinavian Competition will probably be more acute in shipping after the war. Owners are laying aside considerable sums out of present abnormal profits for purposes of expansion, and it is likely that severe competition from Norwegian owners will be experienced in chartered steamers.\n\n2. Authentic information with regard to the nature and extent of State aid accorded to our competitors, together with a carefully considered opinion as to the advisability or otherwise of similar Governmental action in the case of British interests, Information with regard to State aid is exceedingly difficult to secure. It will be remembered that even after perusal of the files and accounts of the German firms under liquidation in Hong Kong, I was unable to find any trace of direct German Governmental assistance. The Hankow and Canton Chambers possess no information on the subject. The Tientsin Chamber states:-\n\nMy Committee has no information which leads them to believe that their German competitors have been directly supported by State aid, beyond the fact that claims on the Chinese Government after any upheaval have been treated by German officials concerned with a view to obtain as much as possible in the way of indemnity for their nationals, rather than--as has been the case with our own officials--to cut out everything on which there might be any doubt. This has particularly been the case in connection with claims arising out of the Boxer Rising, the financial crisis of 1907, and the Revolution of 1912. By this means many German firms acquired a financial prosperity which they did not enjoy before.\n\nThe only definite statement is that made by the Shanghai Chamber, which reads as follows:-\n\nAuthentic information is available as to the shipping subsidies granted to certain Japanese lines, notably a grant to the Nippon Yusen Kaisha for their line from Japan to the United Kingdom, which for the year 1915 amounted to Yen 1,830,000. A subsidy of Yen 538,000 is also given to the Nisshin Kisen Kaisha, for the purpose of securing a Japanese hold upon the Yangtse trade and the passenger trade upon the inland waterways of China; in return for this grant the Japanese Government secures control of freight tariffs, and is thus able to encourage Japanese merchants to trade in China and Chinese merchants to make use of Japanese lines.\n\nIt is generally believed that German steamship lines were able to afford certain facilities of transport to their nationals, and from this a subsidy has been inferred, although no precise information on the subject is available here. An indirect support to German merchant houses was also afforded\n\n14 2687\n\n[\n\n629", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-445 - Public Offices - 1917.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 477964, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 201, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n## CHINESE LOANS AND CONCESSIONS\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL.**\n\nPage 198\n\nDecember 20, 1917\n\n### SECTION 4.\n\n[245233]\n\n#### No. 1.\n\nSir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour.-(Received December 29.)\n\n**(No. 350.)**\n\nPeking, November 3, 1918.\n\nSir,\n\nTHE declaration of war by China against the Central Powers and the consequent suspension of indemnity and loan payments have led to certain financial adjustments which it may be advisable to place on record.\n\nThe Boxer indemnity payable to Germany, which amounts to about £732,810 a year, was suspended on the rupture of diplomatic relations on the 14th March last, and I understand it has been placed at the disposal of the Inspector-General of Customs to meet the services of certain internal national loans on which the Central Government had defaulted. Mr. Aglen was associated with two of these loans of 24,000,000 dollars each, and as the use of his name had doubtless influenced the subscribers, he felt some responsibility for seeing that the Government kept faith with these and eventually succeeded in securing the German and Austrian share of the indemnity money for this purpose.\n\nOn the rupture of diplomatic relations, China also suspended payment of the German share of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Loan, but with characteristic inconsistency continued the payment of the German share of the Hu-kuang Railway Loan and of the Anglo-German loans of 1896 and 1898 until the outbreak of war on the 14th August last, since which date no payments of any kind have been made.\n\nFrom the enclosed memorandum which was forwarded to Mr. Alston by the Inspector-General of Customs, it will be seen that arrangements have been made for remitting the payments due to Germany on account of the 1896 and 1898 loans to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London, who are instructed to devote the proceeds to the purchase of Chinese securities on behalf of the Chinese Government. The amount set free for this purpose is estimated at about £50,000 a month, after deducting a sum of, say, £100,000 a year which is required to meet coupons or drawn bonds of the two loans presented by British and non-enemy holders. The arrangement, it is significant to note, purports to be made with a view to having available funds for resumption in due time of payment to German bond-holders. \"In other words, the Chinese Government, in making use of this money, ignores the debts due to the subjects of Allied and friendly Powers in order to provide for the eventual payment of enemy nations, but I presume that during war payment of loans of this kind is only suspended and not actually extinguished. It is remarkable, however, that no similar arrangement has been made for safeguarding the interests of German holders of railway loans, and it may be presumed that, if left to themselves, the Chinese would probably have treated all their future obligations to Germany with equal indifference.\n\nAs to the Reorganisation Loan, the German share of which amounts to £250,000 a year, Sir R. Dane proposed to remit the money to London and place it in deposit with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The other banks, however, demurred to this proposal as being unduly favourable to the British Bank, and no arrangement has, I understand, been so far made for the disposal of the money, which remains for the present in the receiving banks in Shanghai.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\n### Enclosure in No. 1.\n\n#### Memorandum by Mr. Aglen.\n\nON rupture of diplomatic relations with Germany on the 14th March last, the Chinese Government suspended payment of the Boxer indemnity payable to Germany, but continued payment of the German share of the Anglo-German loans secured on the Maritime Customs revenue. These instalments are two in number, namely:", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 477965, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 202, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "## SECTION 4. \n### CHINESE LOANS AND CONCESSIONS.\n**CONFIDENTIAL.**\n\n[245233]\n\n## No. 1.\n### Sir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour.-(Received December 29.)\n**(No. 350.)**\n\nPeking, November 3, 1918.\n\nTHE declaration of war by China against the Central Powers and the consequent suspension of indemnity and loan payments have led to certain financial adjustments which it may be advisable to place on record.\n\nThe Boxer indemnity payable to Germany, which amounts to about 732,810l. a year, was suspended on the rupture of diplomatic relations on the 14th March last, and I understand, been placed at the disposal of the Inspector-General of Customs to meet the services of certain internal national loans on which the Central Government had defaulted. Mr. Aglen was associated with two of these loans of 24,000,000 dollars each, and as the use of his name had doubtless influenced the subscribers, he felt some responsibility for seeing that the Government kept faith with these and eventually succeeded in securing the German and Austrian share of the indemnity money for this purpose.\n\nOn the rupture of diplomatic relations, China also suspended payment of the German share of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Loan, but with characteristic inconsistency continued the payment of the German share of the Hu-kuang Railway Loan and of the Anglo-German loans of 1896 and 1898 until the outbreak of war on the 14th August last, since which date no payments of any kind have been made.\n\nFrom the enclosed memorandum which was forwarded to Mr. Alston by the Inspector-General of Customs, it will be seen that arrangements have been made for remitting the payments due to Germany on account of the `1896` and `1898` loans to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London, who are instructed to devote the proceeds to the purchase of Chinese securities on behalf of the Chinese Government. The amount set free for this purpose is estimated at about 50,000l. a month, after deducting a sum of, say, 100,000l. a year which is required to meet coupons or drawn bonds of the two loans presented by British and non-enemy holders. The arrangement, it is significant to note, purports to be made with a view to having available funds for resumption in due time of payment to German bond-holders. In other words, the Chinese Government, in making use of this money, ignores the debts due to the subjects of Allied and friendly Powers in order to provide for the eventual payment of enemy nations, but I presume that during war payment of loans of this kind is only suspended and not actually extinguished. It is remarkable, however, that no similar arrangement has been made for safeguarding the interests of German holders of railway loans, and it may be presumed that, if left to themselves, the Chinese would probably have treated all their future obligations to Germany with equal indifference.\n\nAs to the Reorganisation Loan, the German share of which amounts to 250,000l. a year, Sir R. Dane proposed to remit the money to London and place it in deposit with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The other banks, however, demurred to this proposal as being unduly favourable to the British Bank, and no arrangement has, I understand, been so far made for the disposal of the money, which remains for the present in the receiving banks in Shanghai.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\n### Enclosure in No. 1.\n#### Memorandum by Mr. Aglen\n\n52\n\n| Date | Loan | Amount |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| 5th of each month | 4 per cent. Loan of 1893 | 34,801l. 10s. |\n| 20th of each month | 5 per cent. Loan of 1896 | 40,289l. 10s. |\n\nFrom the 14th March to the 14th August, the date of declaration of war against Germany, the equivalent of these sums in silver at the rate of the day was duly handed to the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank at Shanghai from loan service balances in the hands of the Inspector-General of Customs.\n\nOn the outbreak of war the Chinese Government suspended payment of the German share of Anglo-German loan instalments, and the question arose as to what should be done with the sums hitherto payable and paid, pending resumption of loan payments to Germany after peace is declared.\n\nIt should be noted here that the Chinese Government's policy in regard to Anglo-German loans has not been altogether consistent. Thus China suspended payment of the German share of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Loan on rupture of diplomatic relations, and almost immediately a question arose with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank regarding repayment of advances made by the bank to meet coupons of the above loan presented by British and other non-enemy bond-holders who were in possession of bearer-bonds issued by the German Bank when the loan was first floated.\n\nKnowing that a similar question would arise on declaration of war and suspension of payment of the German share of customs-secured Anglo-German loans, and with a view to having available funds for resumption in due time of payment to German bond-holders, the Inspector-General of Customs suggested to the Chinese Government that it would be well to take advantage of the high rate of exchange and to settle the German portion of the loans as usual on due dates—settlement of exchange to be made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank simultaneously with the British portions and the German instalments to be remitted to London and held in gold in an account to be opened by the Inspector-General. From funds so remitted arrangements should be made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to meet coupons and/or drawn bonds presented by British and non-enemy holders, and the balance not so required should be placed on deposit with the bank, drawing interest at 5 per cent. per annum.\n\nAfter some difficulty the Minister of Finance was prevailed upon to sanction the above proposal, and to forgo the handling in silver of the funds released by the war declaration, but, with a view to improving China's credit on the London market, and at the same time to obtaining a more remunerative investment, he decided to invest the balance of the monthly sums remitted in certain Chinese Government gold securities, of which a list has been drawn up and communicated to the Inspector-General. Meanwhile, pending settlement of this question, the German loan instalments payable to the 20th August and 5th September, 1917, were held in abeyance. A decision having been reached previous to the payment due on the 20th September, instructions were given to settle the above two instalments when settling the British portion of the `1896` loan due on that date, together with the German portion of the same loan. The three loan instalments, amounting to 115,380l. 10s., were duly remitted and have been placed to the credit of a German loan instalment account, opened in the Inspector-General's name, with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, London.\n\nIn pursuance of the policy laid down by the Minister of Finance, the Inspector-General has instructed the bank to purchase Chinese securities to the face value of 90,000l., leaving a balance in the account which it is considered will be ample to meet the bank's advances on account of coupons and/or drawn bonds already presented by non-enemy holders.\n\nThe steady purchase of Chinese Government securities to the full extent of the available balances of the funds remitted each month from Shanghai will be pursued until further orders, and it is probable that this will amount to about 50,000l. a month.\n\nF. AGLEN,\n\nPeking, September 24, 1917.\n\nInspector-General.\n\nPage 199\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nDecember 29,7", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 477966, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 203, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "## [This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n2\n\n34,801l. 10s. payable on the 5th of each month on account of the 4.3 per cent. Loan of 1898, and 40,289l. 10s. payable on the 20th of each month on account of the 5 per cent. Loan of 1896.\n\nFrom the 14th March to the 14th August, the date of declaration of war against Germany, the equivalent of these sums in silver at the rate of the day was duly handed to the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank at Shanghai from loan service balances in the hands of the Inspector-General of Customs.\n\nOn the outbreak of war the Chinese Government suspended payment of the German share of Anglo-German loan instalments, and the question arose as to what should be done with the sums hitherto payable and paid, pending resumption of loan payments to Germany after peace is declared.\n\nIt should be noted here that the Chinese Government's policy in regard to Anglo-German loans has not been altogether consistent. Thus China suspended payment of the German share of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Loan on rupture of diplomatic relations, and almost immediately a question arose with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank regarding repayment of advances made by the bank to meet coupons of the above loan presented by British and other non-enemy bond-holders who were in possession of bearer-bonds issued by the German Bank when the loan was first floated.\n\nKnowing that a similar question would arise on declaration of war and suspension of payment of the German share of customs-secured Anglo-German loans, and with a view to having available funds for resumption in due time of payment to German bond-holders, the Inspector-General of Customs suggested to the Chinese Government that it would be well to take advantage of the high rate of exchange and to settle the German portion of the loans as usual on due dates—settlement of exchange to be made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank simultaneously with the British portions and the German instalments to be remitted to London and held in gold in an account to be opened by the Inspector-General. From funds so remitted arrangements should be made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to meet coupons and/or drawn bonds presented by British and non-enemy holders, and the balance not so required should be placed on deposit with the bank, drawing interest at 5 per cent. per annum.\n\nAfter some difficulty the Minister of Finance was prevailed upon to sanction the above proposal, and to forgo the handling in silver of the funds released by the war declaration, but, with a view to improving China's credit on the London market, and at the same time to obtaining a more remunerative investment, he decided to invest the balance of the monthly sums remitted in certain Chinese Government gold securities, of which a list has been drawn up and communicated to the Inspector-General. Meanwhile, pending settlement of this question, the German loan instalments payable to the 20th August and 5th September, 1917, were held in abeyance. A decision having been reached previous to the payment due on the 20th September, instructions were given to settle the above two instalments when settling the British portion of the 1896 loan. The three instalments, amounting to 115,380l. 10s., were duly remitted and have been placed to the credit of a German loan instalment account, opened in the Inspector-General's name, with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, London.\n\nIn pursuance of the policy laid down by the Minister of Finance, the Inspector-General has instructed the bank to purchase Chinese securities to the face value of 90,000l., leaving a balance in the account which it is considered will be ample to meet the bank's advances on account of coupons and/or drawn bonds already presented by non-enemy holders.\n\nThe steady purchase of Chinese Government securities to the full extent of the available balances of the funds remitted each month from Shanghai will be pursued until further orders, and it is probable that this will amount to about 50,000l. a month.\n\n**F. AGLEN,**\n\nPeking, September 24, 1917.\n\n**Inspector-General.**\n\n## **CHINESE LOANS AND CONCESSIONS.**\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL.**\n\n[245233]\n\n### No. 1.\n\nDecember 29.\n\n### SECTION 4.\n\n**Sir J. Jordan to Mr. Balfour—(Received December 29.) (No. 350.)**\n\nPeking, November 3, 1918.\n\nThe declaration of war by China against the Central Powers and the consequent suspension of indemnity and loan payments have led to certain financial adjustments which it may be advisable to place on record.\n\nThe Boxer indemnity payable to Germany, which amounts to about 732,810l. a year, was suspended on the rupture of diplomatic relations on the 14th March last, and I understand, been placed at the disposal of the Inspector-General of Customs to meet the services of certain internal national loans on which the Central Government had defaulted. Mr. Aglen was associated with two of these loans of 24,000,000 dollars each, and as the use of his name had doubtless influenced the subscribers, he felt some responsibility for seeing that the Government kept faith with these and eventually succeeded in securing the German and Austrian share of the indemnity money for this purpose.\n\nOn the rupture of diplomatic relations, China also suspended payment of the German share of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Loan, but with characteristic inconsistency continued the payment of the German share of the Hu-kuang Railway Loan and of the Anglo-German loans of 1896 and 1898 until the outbreak of war on the 14th August last, since which date no payments of any kind have been made.\n\nFrom the enclosed memorandum which was forwarded to Mr. Alston by the Inspector-General of Customs, it will be seen that arrangements have been made for remitting the payments due to Germany on account of the 1896 and 1898 loans to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London, who are instructed to devote the proceeds to the purchase of Chinese securities on behalf of the Chinese Government. The amount set free for this purpose is estimated at about 50,000l. a month, after deducting the sum of, say, 100,000l. a year which is required to meet coupons or drawn bonds of the two loans presented by British and non-enemy holders. The arrangement, it is significant to note, purports to be made with a view to having available funds for \"resumption in due time of payment to German bond-holders.\" In other words, the Chinese Government, in making use of this money, ignores the debts due to the subjects of Allied and friendly Powers in order to provide for the eventual payment of enemy nations, but I presume that during war payment of loans of this kind is only suspended and not actually extinguished. It is remarkable, however, that no similar arrangement has been made for safeguarding the interests of German holders of railway loans, and it may be presumed that, if left to themselves, the Chinese would probably have treated all their future obligations to Germany with equal indifference.\n\nAs to the Reorganisation Loan, the German share of which amounts to 250,000l. a year, Sir R. Dane proposed to remit the money to London and place it in deposit with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The other banks, however, demurred to this proposal as being unduly favourable to the British Bank, and no arrangement has, I understand, been so far made for the disposal of the money, which remains for the present in the receiving banks in Shanghai.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n**J. N. JORDAN.**\n\n### Enclosure in No. 1.\n\n**Memorandum by Mr. Aglen.**\n\nOn rupture of diplomatic relations with Germany on the 14th March last, the Chinese Government suspended payment of the Boxer indemnity payable to Germany, but continued payment of the German share of the Anglo-German loans secured on the Maritime Customs revenue. These instalments are two in number, namely:", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 477967, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "page_number": 204, "title": "CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918", "content_text": "## CONFIDENTIAL\n\n34,8012. 108. payable on the 5th of each month on account of the 4½ per cent. Loan of 1895, and 40,2892 108. payable on the 20th of each month on account of the 5 per cent. Loan of 1896.\n\nFrom the 14th March to the 14th August, the date of declaration of war against Germany, the equivalent of these sums in silver at the rate of the day was duly handed to the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank at Shanghai from loan service balances in the hands of the Inspector-General of Customs.\n\nOn the outbreak of war the Chinese Government suspended payment of the German share of Anglo-German loan instalments, and the question arose as to what should be done with the sums hitherto payable and paid, pending resumption of loan payments to Germany after peace is declared.\n\nIt should be noted here that the Chinese Government's policy in regard to Anglo-German loans has not been altogether consistent. Thus China suspended payment of the German share of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway Loan on rupture of diplomatic relations, and almost immediately a question arose with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank regarding repayment of advances made by the bank to meet coupons of the above loan presented by British and other non-enemy bond-holders who were in possession of bearer-bonds issued by the German Bank when the loan was first floated.\n\nKnowing that a similar question would arise on declaration of war and suspension of payment of the German share of customs-secured Anglo-German loans, and with a view to having available funds for resumption in due time of payment to German bond-holders, the Inspector-General of Customs suggested to the Chinese Government that it would be well to take advantage of the high rate of exchange and to settle the German portion of the loans as usual on due dates—settlement of exchange to be made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank simultaneously with the British portions and the German instalments to be remitted to London and held in gold in an account to be opened by the Inspector-General. From funds so remitted arrangements should be made with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank to meet coupons and/or drawn bonds presented by British and non-enemy holders, and the balance not so required should be placed on deposit with the bank, drawing interest at 5 per cent. per annum.\n\nAfter some difficulty the Minister of Finance was prevailed upon to sanction the above proposal, and to forgo the handling in silver of the funds released by the war declaration, but, with a view to improving China's credit on the London market, and at the same time to obtaining a more remunerative investment, he decided to invest the balance of the monthly sums remitted in certain Chinese Government gold securities, of which a list has been drawn up and communicated to the Inspector-General. Meanwhile, pending settlement of this question, the German loan instalments payable to the 20th August and 5th September, 1917, were held in abeyance. A decision having been reached previous to the payment due on the 20th September, instructions were given to settle the above two instalments when settling the British portion of the 1896 loan due on that date, together with the German portion of the same loan. Instalments, amounting to £115,2807. 10s., were duly remitted and have been placed to the credit of a German loan instalment account, opened in the Inspector-General's name, with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, London.\n\nIn pursuance of the policy laid down by the Minister of Finance, the Inspector-General has instructed the bank to purchase Chinese securities to the face value of £90,0001, leaving a balance in the account which it is considered will be ample to meet the bank's advances on account of coupons and/or drawn bonds already presented by non-enemy holders.\n\nThe steady purchase of Chinese Government securities to the full extent of the available balances of the funds remitted each month from Shanghai will be pursued until further orders, and it is probable that this will amount to about £50,0001. a month.\n\n**F. AGLEN, Inspector-General**\n\nPeking, September 24, 1917.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n## CHINESE LOANS AND CONCESSIONS\n\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n[732]\n\nNo. 764.) Sir,\n\nNo. 1.\n\n[January 1, 1918.]\n\n## SECTION 1\n\nSir C. Greene to Mr. Balfour.—(Received January 1, 1918.)\n\nTokyo, November 7, 1917.\n\nWith reference to my telegram No. 644 of the 4th instant, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith translation of a memorandum dated the 3rd instant, which I have received from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, conveying the reply of the Imperial Government to the enquiries which I had addressed to his Excellency, by your instructions, on the 29th ultimo, as to the desirability or necessity of complying with the request of the Chinese Minister of Finance for an advance of 2,000,000 out of the projected loan for currency reform in China.\n\nIn addition to the considerations set out in the accompanying memorandum I may mention that Viscount Motono has informed me verbally that he believes it will be desirable to meet the wishes of the Chinese Government on political grounds as well, inasmuch as the solidity of the Cabinet, and a working understanding between the three groups of which it is composed, and which consist of the followers of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Communications, and the Minister of Finance, depend upon financial assistance being forthcoming now, and not merely on the conclusion of the negotiations for the Currency Loan itself, which are likely to be protracted.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n**CONYNGHAM GREENE**\n\n### Enclosure in No. 1\n\nMemorandum communicated to Sir C. Greene by Viscount Motono, November 3, 1917.\n\nThe Imperial Government have given careful consideration to the views of His Britannic Majesty's Government set forth in the memorandum of his Excellency the British Ambassador, dated the 29th ultimo, relative to the subject of an application which the Chinese Government have now made to the Four Powers Bankers' Consortium for an advance of 2,000,000l. on the Second Reorganisation Loan, having for its object the adjustment of the notes of the Bank of China (Chungkuo Bank).\n\nThe Imperial Government for their part also are at one with the view of His Britannic Majesty's Government that the Chinese Government will realise a favourable financial situation by the production recently and in the near future of a certain increase of revenue for reasons such as those noted under the various headings in his Excellency's memorandum; but the surplus of the salt tax, seeing that it has already for two or three years past in succession been handed over to the Chinese Government, does not constitute a specially new receipt, and, moreover, the apprehension is not wanting that in view of the present political situation the receipts therefrom may rather exhibit a certain decrease. Further, neither the suspension of the payment of the Boxer affair indemnity, vis-à-vis of the Allies, nor the raising of the tariff has yet reached the stage of the determination of the date of enforcement. Therefore it cannot be supposed that the increase in revenue will attain to so considerable an amount as His Britannic Majesty's Government imagine. Again, as such increased revenue receipts will be directed to meeting various administrative expenses of that now hard-pressed country, one cannot but doubt whether any room remains for their disbursement upon the adjustment of the Bank of China's notes. On the other hand, however, the value of the notes of the Bank of China has of late fallen to an extraordinary degree, and with the consequent dulness of trade it naturally goes without saying that the losses sustained by merchants, native and foreign, are abnormal. In view of this it is a work of pressing urgency in the interest of that country's finances to place the Bank of China on a stable foundation, by the adjustment of the notes issued by that bank and the rehabilitation of their market value. That being so, the Imperial Government believe that at this juncture it will be absolutely...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-451 - Public Offices - 1918.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 492300, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7]", "page_number": 230, "title": "CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7]", "content_text": "The Hongkong Weekly Press\n\nVOL. XCIV.]\n\nAND\n\nChina Overland Trade Report.\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nFar Eastern News\n\nHongkong\n\nMui Teai in Hongkong\n\nHONGKONG, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD., 1921.\n\nPAGE 213 ........ 213 ..... 214\n\nThe Sanitary Board................................................................................ ..... ... 214\n\nLeading Articles :-\n\nRandom Reflections\n\n215\n\n215\n\n,216\n\n.216\n\n....217\n\n.... 217 ....218 219 .........227\n\nHongkong and the Water Carriage System........... 227\n\nHongkong Book-keeper's Sharp Sentence\n\n......... 228\n\n228\n\n229\n\n....230\n\nJapanese \"Aggression\" in China\n\nJapan in China and Siberia\n\nThe Central Yangtsze Situation\n\nThe British in South China\n\nWedding in Kowloon......\n\n\"Hongkong Daily Press\n\nHongkong Legislative Council....\n\nRoyal Dutch Petroleum Company\n\nCorrespondence :-\n\nAn Inaccurate Report\n\nSuspected Arson\n\nChamber of Commerce\n\nThieves Still Busy\n\nThe Cassel Mining Agreement..\n\nWhat Kansu's Earthquake Cost the Province ...230\n\nSt. Joseph's College\n\nBank of East Asia\n\n281\n\nThe Bank of China\n\nMr. Stevens's Kidnapper\n\nThe Law Courts..\n\n231 231 232\n\nThe War in Hapeh\n\n234\n\nFar Eastern Cable News...\n\nWireless Telegraph Communication with China 234\n\nLocal Sport\n\n235\n\n236\n\nFamine Committee and a Bank Fraud\n\n...236\n\nRepublicanism\" in China\n\n237\n\nFiring on Ships on the Yangtsze......\n\n..238\n\nCompany Meeting :-\n\nHongkong Hotel Co., Ltd. ..\n\nShipping\n\n..239\n\nThe Upper Yangtze Trade\n\nCommercial....\n\nBIRTHS.\n\n239\n\n239 .240\n\nCARTER.-At Shanghai, on August 21st, to Mr. and Mrs. D. CARTER, a daughter.\n\nCHAPEAUX.-At Shanghai, on August 26th, to Mr. and Mrs. ALBERT CHAPEAUX, a son.\n\nMOONEY REED.-At Shanghai, on August 19th, AUSTIN JAMES MOONEY to ANNE CONSTANCE REED.\n\nNICHOLLS-INWOOD --At Shanghai, on August 13th, HARRY CHARLES THOMAS NICHOLLS, of Shanghai and Bristol, to EMILY INWOOD, of Shanghai and London.\n\nDEATHS.\n\nBONE.--At Studley, Warwick, England, on the 26th August, Mrs. C. BONE, beloved wife of the Rev. C. Bone (formerly Pastor, Wesleyan Methodist Church, Wanchai). By cable.\n\nHARDY. At the Victoria Nursing Home, Shanghai, on August 24th, HERBERT JOHN HARDY (Shanghai Gas Co., Ltd.), aged 47 years.\n\nRegistered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office in the United Kingdom.\n\nNo. 10\n\nBy order of the Canton Government 140,000 taels of opium, worth $400,000, which had been confiscated by the customs and police authorities from Smugglers, were publicly destroyed by fire on August 27th on the East Parade Ground.\n\nAdvices from Washington state that Mr. Stanley K. Hornbeck, author of \"Contemporary International Politics,\" has been invited to serve as an adviser on Far Eastern affairs to the American State Department for the Pacific Conference. Mr. Hornbeck, who has been travelling in China, Japan and the Philippine Islands for the past 18 months, will return to Washington next week.\n\nMr. W. S. Fleming, the American Attorney, who has been very prominently in the limelight lately at Shanghai, sailed, last week, for America, but sent to the Press a parting letter in which he wrote:- \"There is no reason to camouflage my purpose in leaving China, as I am going straight to Washington, D.C., in response to telegraphic advices I have received to be there in connection with an investigation I initiated in the Department of State early in March of this year. Lest certain evil-disposed persons should misrepresent the purpose of my departure I would ask you kindly to publish this at an early date.\"\n\nJENNER. At Shanghai, on August 22nd.\n\nELI WILLIAM JENNER, of Kent, England, aged 28 years.\n\nLINN.-At the General Hospital, Shanghai, on August 24th, CATHERINE, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Linn, aged 7 weeks.\n\nRAWLINGSON.-At Shanghai, on August 26th. Captain W. J. RAWLINGSON, of Shanghai.\n\nHongkong Weekly Press.\n\nHONGKONG OFFICE: 10A, DES VOEUX ROAD C LONDON OFFICE: 131, FLEET STREET, E.C.\n\nFAR EASTERN NEWS.\n\nLANE. At Tientsin, on August 13th, to Mr. and Mrs. R. W. LANE, a daughter.\n\nRecent floods not only interrupted traffic on the Tientsin-Pukow Railway by washing away the tracks, but washed away a bridge on the Peking-Mukden Line, near Shanhaikuan.\n\nMURPHY.-At Cork, on August 13th, to Mr. and Mrs. J. J. MURPHY, of Shanghai, a son.\n\nPRITCHARD.-At Yunnanfu, on August 18th, to Mr. and Mrs. E. A. PRITCHARD, a daughter.\n\nREIS.-In Manila, on Sunday, the 21st inst., at 8.40 a.m., to Mr. and Mrs. F. A. REIS, a son, PEDRO FAUSTINO.\n\nMARRIAGES.\n\nOLIVER-KAY.-At the Abbey Hotel, Jedburgh, Scotland, on July 19th, by the Rev. Stewart Burns, M.A., St. Mary's, Hawick, MICHAEL OLIVER, China Navigation Co., Hongkong, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. William Oliver, 20. Slitrig Crescent, Hawick, to AGNES ROBSON, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. Kay, Hill View, Jedburgh.\n\nSir Arthur Whitton Brown, the Transatlantic airman, who paid a visit to China on behalf of Messrs. Vickers, a few months ago, has undergone an operation for appendicitis since his return to England.\n\nThe late Admiral Sir James Andrew Thomas Bruce, K.C.M.G. (75), who saw service in Nigeria and was second in command in China at the time of the Boxer outbreak, formerly A.D.C. to Queen Victoria, left estate of the gross value of £20,957.\n\nAfter a full day's proceedings, investigation of the charge against J. G. Gardiner, alleged to have stolen 50 barrels of cement, the property of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire, was completed at H.M. Police Court at Shanghai, on Aug. 24th, before Mr. G. W. King, when the defendant was discharged.\n\nCertain Chinese now in London, says a London paper, are demanding that the value of two sacred golden bells taken from the Temple of Heaven in Peking during the Boxer rising shall be restored to the temple authorities. It is stated that the bells were found under piles of rubbish, and that one of them was taken by British troops to Delhi and there melted down, the gold being sold for £25,000. The interested Chinese now point to the special clause in the Versailles Treaty whereby the ancient astronomical instruments looted by the Germans during the capture of Peking were returned to China, and demand that the sacred bells, or their value, shall also be restored to the Temple of Heaven.\n\nHONGKONG.\n\nOwing to the recent heavy rains the road from Laichikok to Castle Peak is closed.\n\nIt has been decided to admit women to Hongkong University and the first girl student has already been registered.\n\nMr. Percy Smith, who has been taking the waters at Marienbad, is expected to return to Hongkong in the middle of October.\n\nMr. B. Tanner, Head Master of Queen's College, who has been home on leave, returned to the Colony on August 31st by the Kamo-maru.\n\nOn one day last week seven opium raids produced 45 defendants in the dock at the Magistracy and a haul of thousands of taels of opium.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493272, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-477 - Public Offices - 1922", "page_number": 180, "title": "CO129-477 - Public Offices - 1922", "content_text": "4\n\nunder the beneficent rule of a republic, and even—which seems incredible to any foreigner who has any extensive experience of the interior of China—advocate the abolition of extra-territoriality. As far as I know, these foreigners are all foreigners who have spent their lives in security in China in the midst of foreign communities, such as Peking, Tien-tsin and the coast, and who have no first-hand experience of the interior. One can only regret that these advocates of putting the foreigner under the jurisdiction of so-called Chinese justice cannot be forced to live for six months in some remote village or city in the interior, far away even from the restraining influence of a consulate, and made liable to be publicly and ignominiously dragged to a yamên, forced to kneel on chains to extort a confession, liable to the ignominious and cruel punishment of the bamboo, or, even putting aside the risk of torture, which still goes on in some places, liable to die from cold in the winter in the wretched dens which do duty as prison quarters—only last winter I heard of such a case. Such degradation of the foreigner would mean his loss of prestige, and when this comes to pass the interior of China will only become attractive to those wearied of the vanities of this life and aspirants for the martyr's crown—a noble band whom I admire, but among whom I have no wish to be enrolled as a member.\n\nThe state of chaos in China will not be improved until—\n\n1. The strong men get control, and, combining together, gradually put each province in order.\n\n2. The students are kept in check.\n\n3. The soldiers are reduced to legitimate requirements and kept under a proper state of discipline, whilst brigands are relentlessly hunted down.\n\nIt is impossible to forecast what combinations of strong men will eventually bring back peace and prosperity to the country. I should like to see a combination of such men as Wu Pei-fu in the centre of China, Ch'en Shu-fan in Shensi, Ch'en Chiung-ming at Canton, and possibly Hsiung K'o-wu in Szechuan. Other provinces, of which I have no recent experience, might be able to add to the number. These combined should be able to put an end to the effete puppets of the Peking Government, that visionary impossibility, Sun Yat-sen, and the wind-bag, Wu Ting-fang of the Canton Government. As regards Chang Tso-lin, who rules supreme in Manchuria, I do not know whether he has improved and is a reformed character from what he was twelve or thirteen years ago when I visited him. He had then recently retired from the leadership of the Hunghutzu of the district and had a reputation for cruelty. He disgusted me by bragging about a recent triumph over an enemy, another robber chief, the fact being that he had invited him to a feast of reconciliation, and after the feast had seized the opportunity to have him crushed to death between two of the big stones used for crushing grain.\n\nChengtu, Szechuan.\n\nEnclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\nG. PEREIRA.\n\nReport by Brigadier-General G. Pereira of December 14, 1921.\n\nIN 1900 the Chinese people were in a state of unrest, partly caused by a failure of the crops, and partly by the recent introduction of European education and a feeling of the necessity of reform. The movement was primarily anti-dynastic, but the Court, realising its danger, managed to divert the Boxer movement to an anti-foreign outbreak. At that time the country was united under one rule, and enjoyed the benefits of individual security and prosperity under a mild form of autocracy, the only form of government suitable for Asiatic nations in their present undeveloped state. Therefore, whilst the anti-foreign movement was more dangerous owing to the better organisation under a united Government, still it was greatly lessened and localised thanks to the provinces being swayed by an exceptional number of eminent and capable viceroys and governors, such as Liu K'un-yi at Nanking, Chang Chih-tung at Wu-ch'ang, Li Hung-Chang at Canton, Yuan Shih-k'ai in Shantung and Tuan Fang in Shensi.\n\nIn 1900 those who prophesied trouble before the Boxer outbreak were stigmatised as alarmists, whilst those who pooh-poohed the chances of trouble were afterwards abused for their want of foresight. The same will happen again at the present time, the fact being the prophets fail to realise that there are such thousands of unforeseen circumstances that none can foresee, which will divert popular feeling and action into unexpected courses. This makes it wrong to make definite prophecies, as their fulfilment is a pure gamble, and it is only the irresponsible man, with a limited local knowledge, who ventures to do so. If he turns out to be right he can say, “I told you so,” whilst if he is wrong his prophecies are too unimportant to be remembered. At the present time it is universally admitted by all who know China that the country has never been in such a rotten state, and that the experiment of a republic has proved a most dismal failure. The people, especially in the upper classes, are not educated up to the requirements of a liberal form of government, and it will be many years before they attain to it.\n\nNot only do all the evils under the imperial régime still exist, but they are multiplied, owing to there being many heads instead of one. In the old days the millions poured into the Court at Peking, and a good deal of the money was spent in the service of the State, whilst smaller sums, more or less regulated by precedents, and in a measure recognised as legitimate perquisites of underpaid officials, were received by officials. At the present time the millions go into the pockets of the bigger officials, such as Chang Tso-lin in Manchuria, Wang Chan-yuan, late Governor of Hupei, and Hsiung K'o-wu, the late ruling spirit in Szechuan, and a little or nothing of this comes back to the State. In the same way the minor officials, with no restraining influence from Peking or fear of public opinion, are out to make what they can, and as quickly as possible, whilst their day of power lasts. In the old days public opinion had much influence over the officials, and if one tried to overstep the limits of squeeze the people rose and there was trouble. Now the soldiers have increased so enormously in numbers and power that they keep the people in a state of subjection and terrorism. The merchants and people long for a state of peace and security in vain.\n\nThe break-up of the central power has been the chance for adventurers, and now the provinces are divided against each other, and often a province is split up into factions.\n\nIn the old days the army was despised as an inferior profession and a restraining influence kept on it, but the rise of innumerable factions has given the soldiers their chance. Each petty leader is dependent on them, and the men themselves now thoroughly understand their power. Very few military officers trouble about discipline or take any pains about securing a regular payment for their men. As a result the soldier is generally owed a large amount of back pay, which is sometimes made up for by encouraging looting. If this is not sufficiently profitable the soldiers desert and join a brigand band.\n\nThe students are, to my mind, an even greater source of danger, but as I have dealt with them in a recent report, I will not dwell on them now. It must be remembered that, whatever his failings and lack of education, the student of to-day represents the future ruling class of China, and that the ideas he now imbibes will later be developed.\n\nThe spirit of unrest is increased by secret societies, which have always existed in China, and have now increased in numbers and power. Though primarily they may be organised against the Chinese Government of the day, still there is often the watchword of \"China for the Chinese!\" which tends for an anti-foreign feeling. This, at times, may only require a few foolish actions by one or two irresponsible foreigners to fan the spark, and produce a local and totally unforeseen combustion, which once started may easily spread.\n\nIn Szechuan, probably the most factious and split-up province in China, with apparently no commanding figure to restore order out of chaos, there is of course a certain amount of safety for the foreigner, whilst the factious are fighting amongst themselves, and the leaders may feel that one day their only chance of escaping may be through the assistance of the foreigners. On the other hand, owing to the lack of any stable form of government or dependence on any central authority, a sudden anti-foreign rising by a mob or engineered by secret societies would be more dangerous than in any other province owing to its inaccessibility.\n\nThrough the collapse of Russia, and in a lesser degree of Germany, the power of the foreigner to command respect in China is much less than it used to be, the more so as the remaining Powers are more engrossed in restoring order in their own countries. Luckily they can still demonstrate against Peking, Canton, Wuchang and Nanking, the most important centres of influence in China, whilst with its long coast line other important points can be threatened. Yunnan, too, with the railway to Hanoi and its neighbourhood to Burma, can feel the power of the foreigner, but the western provinces are generally isolated and beyond the reach of a foreign expedition. In the case of Kansu this does not much matter as long as the Mahomedans and the Chinese...\n\nPage 180\n\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-477 - Public Offices - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493939, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 330, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "EXTRACT \n\nX \n\nD \n\nLL.D., to from a letter from the Rev. S.D. Chown, D.D., His Grace the Duke of Devonshire. 1st September, 1921. 326\n\nI \n\nAnother question of considerable importance was pressed upon me in China which I will take the opportunity of mentioning to you. You will recall that after the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900 was subdued by allied forces, the Chinese Government was compelled to pay indemnities for damages to property of other nations. A considerable portion of the indemnity paid to the United States of America was returned to China when it was discovered that an overcharge had been made; by agreement with the Chinese Government this sum is now administered by a certain University in China for the support of students of that country now studying at certain Institutions of learning in America.\n\nI cannot be sure of the exact figures, since I did not bring them with me to this country, but my recollection is that the fixed number of 300 students is constantly maintained at Educational Institutions in the United States, each receiving the sum of 900 dollars per annum.\n\nUpon their return to their native land these men become missionaries of mostly everything American, including matters respecting trade relations.\n\nI understand that a portion of the indemnity payable to Great Britain was received prior to the outbreak of the War, but that during a part of that period, and until now, payments have been suspended in consideration of the assistance rendered by China during and after that conflict.\n\nMany Canadians in China feel seriously concerning the comparative disability under which Great Britain and her Dominions suffer on account of the differential treatment which the Chinese students receive in the United States as compared with their experiences in Canada.\n\nThe suggestion I would make then is that if it meets with your approval you might request Mr. Churchill,\n\nOr \n\nPage 330\n\nPage 331", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493948, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 339, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "Peking, No. 32, Feb. 1, 1918. (\"Loans and Concessions.\" Part III, No. 10.)\n\nPeking No. 177, July 22, 1915. (\"Loans and Concessions, Part III, No. 43.)\n\nPeking, No. 25, Jan. 24, 1916. (\"Loans and Concessions,\" Part IV, No. 5.)\n\nPeking, No. 41, Jan 27, 1917. (\"Loans and Concessions,\" Part V, No. 38)\n\n12\n\n13\n\n40. Owing to the breakdown which had occurred in the \"concurrent loan and indemnity service (see paragraph 37), the Diplomatic Body proposed to the Chinese Government, early in 1915, a further revision of article 2 of the original agreement (see paragraph 24). This would have practically amounted to a reversion to its original form under which the balance of customs revenue was to be retained by the custodian banks until all the pre-Boxer loan service for the year was provided for. But the Inspector-General of Customs now assured the Diplomatic Body that such revision was no longer necessary, and the Diplomatic Body, in view of his assurances, agreed to drop the proposal. In short, the Diplomatic Body agreed to the continuance of the \"concurrent\" system of loan and indemnity payments from customs revenue assisted from salt funds which had been arranged at the end of 1913 (see paragraph 34). Their consent was, however, subject to the right of any interested Power to insist that, in the event of doubt arising as to the sufficiency of the maritime customs revenue and salt revenue to defray all charges secured thereon in respect of the loan and indemnity services, payments of customs revenue to the indemnity banks should be deferred until full provision had been made for meeting the services of the pre-Boxer loans.\n\n41. From 1915 onwards this \"concurrent\" service has worked well and smoothly. With the rise in exchange, the salt revenues were called upon to contribute less and less, until at one moment the customs revenue unaided was sufficient to meet both services. This is no longer the case, but the position is still satisfactory.\n\n Cancellation of German and Austrian Indemnities and Suspension of German Loan Service.\n\n42. On the 12th August, 1917, China declared war upon Germany. It is unnecessary to go into the negotiations that preceded that event, but one of the considerations that led her to take the step was the consent of the Allied Powers to the suspension of the indemnity without interest for a period of five years from the 1st December, 1917.\n\n43. The terms for repayment of the suspended portions since agreed upon by the Allied Powers are as follows:-\n\nTo Great Britain\n\nTo Japan\n\nTo France\n\n1940-45 1923-40\n\n1922-27\n\n13\n\n46. The incident arose as follows: After all calls upon the customs revenues had been met, there was still an estimated surplus for the year 1917 of at least 4,000,000 taels. The Chinese Government accordingly applied for a release to them of 2,000,000 taels. The Diplomatic Body were disposed to agree, as was clearly only right, but the Italian Minister (Baron Aliotti) made difficulties and refused his sanction to the release unless the Chinese Government, on their part, agreed first to repay certain debts due to Italian nationals. Baron Aliotti was pressed to modify his attitude, but refused to do so. He explained that not only did he wish to show the Chinese Government that the Italian Minister was in a position to make good his threats, but that he intended to obtain a \"rectification\" of the Italian concession at Tien-tsin. He subsequently withdrew his opposition, but the incident had irritated the Chinese Government and made them critical of a system which placed it in the power of an individual Minister to block perfectly legitimate releases of Chinese Government money in order to gain his own ends.\n\n334\n\n47. Profiting by this incident, the French and Japanese Ministers again sought to reopen the question of the position of the custodian banks and the custody of the customs funds. The Deutsch-Asiatische Bank having dropped out on the outbreak of war, they represented that, as the service of the German portion of the loans of 1896 and 1898 had now ceased, the whole distribution of the customs revenue should be reconsidered. They failed to carry their point, and the matter dropped for the time being. But in December 1917, in company with the Belgian Minister, they again broached the subject. Dec. 29, 1917.\n\nNo. 453,\n\n17\n\nChina,\" Part LXIII, No. 48.)\n\n48. It will be remembered that, under the existing procedure, any surplus of customs revenue, after all prior claims have been met, is divided up in proportion amongst the various banks charged with the indemnity service, but only up to the amount of the indemnity instalments due to those banks each month. The residue, if any, remained with the two custodian banks (the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and the Russo-Asiatic Bank) as to two-thirds with the British, and one-third with the Russian Bank. The French, Japanese, and Belgian Ministers, seizing the opportunity afforded by the necessity of making definite arrangements with the Chinese Government for the refund to China of the suspended indemnity to which the Powers had all agreed for the term of five years, now proposed that the whole customs surplus, after all other obligations had been met, should be divided up in proportion between all the indemnity banks, thus depriving the custodian banks of their right to handle the residue after the monthly indemnity instalments had been provided for.\n\n49. At that time, owing to high exchange and other causes, the customs revenues had risen considerably, and the point was one of great importance to the two custodian banks. The British and Russian Ministers argued the question out with their colleagues and succeeded in maintaining the existing procedure.\n\nNo. 432,\n\n{\"Loans and Concessions,\" Part VI, No. 48.)\n\n30. The arrangement reached was formally recorded in two memoranda signed by all the Allied representatives except the Italian Minister, but as no Italian bank was concerned, his abstention was of no importance. The first of these was drawn up for purposes of record and not for communication to the Chinese Government. It ran as follows:-\n\nPeking, No. 356,\n\nwhile Italy holds out for repayment in full after five years, i.e., in 1922.\n\nThe total amount of indemnity due to Great Britain before the end of 1945 - the date of final payment is 11,186,547l. This, of course, includes interest as provided under the 1901 protocol.\n\n44. As regards the German and Austrian loan and indemnity payments, the following arrangements have been adopted: On the rupture of diplomatic relations with Germany on the 14th March, 1917, China's indemnity payments to her (about 732,810l. a year) ceased, but the service of the loans of 1896 and 1898 continued. The latter payments were met until the 12th August, the date of the declaration of war. The German and Austrian indemnity payments were thenceforth placed at the disposal of Sir F. Aglen to meet the services of the two domestic Chinese Government loans, with which he is associated. The service due to Germany on the 1896 and 1898 loans were lodged with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London and used for purchasing Chinese securities on behalf of the Chinese Government to the amount of about 50,000l. a month.\n\nPeking, No. 276,\n\nAbuse of Control vested in Diplomatic Body. Position of Custodian Banks.\n\n45. It was almost on top of the declaration of war by China that there occurred the first abuse of the control over customs revenues vested in the Diplomatic Body. Jan. 27, 1917.\n\n{\"Loans and Concessions,\" Part 7, No. 109.)\n\n1. The procedure laid down by the Diplomatic Body in December 1913 states as follows:-\n\n\"The banks chiefly interested, viz., the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, and the Russo-Asiatic Bank shall be custodians of the customs funds at Shanghai; at the end of each month, beginning with January 1914, the surplus, after all payments due each month on account of loans secured by the customs revenue and contracted previous to 1900 have been fully met, shall be divided pro rata amongst the banks having charge of the indemnity service up to the amount of the instalments respectively due to them each month.\"\n\n2. In a letter dated the 10th January, 1914, the International Bankers' Commission pointed out to the doyen that as the service of the Russian 4 per Cent. Gold Loan of 1895 was by the terms of the Loan Agreement payable in half-yearly and not in monthly instalments, it would be excluded under the above arrangement from participation in the monthly provision for loans secured.\n\n* The third custodian bank - the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank - had dropped out on China's declaration of war.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493956, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 347, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "# Names of Schools. \n\n## Number of Students. \n\n## Location. \n\n## Nationality. \n\n \n Names of Schools\n Number of Students\n Location\n Nationality\n \n \n Yale College in China\n \n \n American (now one)\n \n \n Griffith John College\n \n \n American and British\n \n \n William Nast College\n \n \n Chinese, Canadian\n \n \n \n \n \n American\n \n \n Anglo-Chinese College\n 472\n Foochow, Fukien\n \n \n \n Foochow College\n 426\n \n \n \n \n Trinity College\n 850\n \n \n \n \n Women's College of South China\n 120\n \n \n \n \n Provincial Normal School\n 100\n Hwaiyang, Honan\n \n \n \n St. Andrew's College\n 56\n Kaifeng, Honan\n \n \n \n Higher Normal School\n \n Changsha, Hunan\n American\n \n \n \n 190\n Hankow, Hupeh\n British\n \n \n \n 160\n Kiukiang, Kiangsi\n American\n \n \n Fu-tan College\n 279\n \n \n \n \n \n 306\n Shanghai, Kiangsu\n Chinese\n \n \n McTyeire High School\n 289\n \n \n \n \n Medhurst College\n 220\n \n British\n \n \n Shanghai Baptist College and Theological Seminary\n 190\n \n American\n \n \n Shanghai Min-Lih School\n 520\n \n \n \n \n St. Ignatius Roman Catholic College\n 400\n \n \n \n \n Lowrie High School\n 90\n \n \n \n \n St. Mary's Hall\n 240\n \n \n \n \n Wu Pen Girls' School\n 200\n \n \n \n \n Kiangsu Provincial College\n 283\n Soochow, Kiangsu\n Chinese\n \n \n Laura Haygood Light School\n 105\n \n American\n \n \n Ellis Kadoorie College\n 300\n Canton, Kwangtung\n \n \n \n Kwangtung College\n 80\n \n \n \n \n Queen's College\n 700\n Hong Kong\n British\n \n \n Hong Kong College\n \n \n \n \n \n Canton Christian College\n \n Canton, Kwangtung\n \n \n \n St. Stephen's Girls' College\n 170\n Hong Kong\n \n \n \n Anglo-Chinese College\n 115\n Swatow, Kwangtung\n \n \n\n## Profesional and Technical Schools\n\n \n Profesional and Technical Schools\n Number of Students\n Location\n Nationality\n \n \n Medical Training College\n 56\n Hangchow, Chekiang\n \n \n \n North China Union Medical College for Women\n \n Peking, Chihli\n American and British\n \n \n Union Medical College\n 23\n \n \n \n \n Army Medical College\n 310\n Tien-tsin, Chihli\n \n \n \n Peiyang Medical College\n 900\n \n \n \n \n Union Medical College (merged in Shantung Christian University)\n \n Hankow, Hupeh\n Chinese, British\n \n \n Women's Medical College\n 10\n Soochow, Kiangsu\n \n \n \n Hackett Medical College for Women\n \n Canton, Kwangtung\n \n \n \n Medical College\n 66\n Mukden, Manchuria\n \n \n \n Union Medical College\n \n Tsinan, Shantung\n \n \n \n Government Engineering College\n 170\n Tangshan, Chihli\n \n \n \n Van Kirk Women's Industrial School\n 75\n Foochow, Fukien\n \n \n \n Honan Agricultural College\n 140\n Kaifeng, Honan\n \n \n \n Government Institute of Technology\n 600\n Shanghai, Kiangsu\n \n \n \n Nanyang Railway and Mining College\n 200\n \n \n \n \n Industrial College\n \n Canton, Kwangtung\n \n \n \n Technical Institute\n 600\n Hong Kong\n \n \n \n School of Agriculture\n 481\n \n \n \n \n Government College of Law\n \n Peking, Chihli\n \n \n \n Government Agricultural College\n \n Yunnanfu, Yunnan\n \n \n\nThe great impression made by the beau geste of the United States Government, as stated above, and its obvious success as a propaganda measure, suggested at once to many, who perhaps imperfectly realised the different bases on which the British and American indemnities had originally been estimated, the desirability of remitting the whole or part of the British share also for educational purposes. Mr. Clive's memorandum of the 12th August, 1919 (Confidential Print, \"Affairs of China,\" the 12th August, section 1), clearly sets forth the history of the indemnity, the proposals for its remission from 1912 onwards, and the attitude of His Majesty's Treasury. In brief, the Treasury regard the indemnity, quite correctly, as reimbursement for a definite expenditure, and as earmarked for the reduction of debt incurred thereby. On the 11th November, 1919, a question on the subject was asked in the House of Commons, and the Treasury, on being consulted, gave it to be understood that they adhered to their position and would yield only to a Cabinet decision. The Treasury ask the pertinent question: \"Is it desirable that the British taxpayer should be asked to provide for the establishment and endowment of a university in the centre of China?\" Stated in this form, it will be difficult to persuade the average British citizen that any such scheme is not a fresh and virulent outbreak of squandermania.\" Yet those best qualified to know are agreed that education of Chinese on British lines is not mere humanitarianism but a commercial investment of untold possibilities.\n\nThe arguments in favour of a remission of the Boxer indemnity are given in Mr. Clive's two memoranda (Confidential Print, \"Affairs of China,\" the 12th August, 1919, section 1; and the 4th February, 1920, section 1). Briefly they are (1) the danger and pressure of American competition, to which French competition may now be added; (2) the advantages to China, and to the world at large; (3) the gain to British political and commercial interests. These arguments apply equally to any educational scheme, however endowed. But more clearly affecting the question of the indemnity itself, is the fact that other countries may take a similar step (Japan has already intimated her intention of doing so). It is most undesirable that Great Britain should find herself forestalled by other Powers. To this, Sir Charles Eliot (in his criticisms attached to paper 158944 of the 5th December, 1919) adds the following cogent argument: \"It is very important that any funds given for educational purposes in China should take the form of a remission of the Boxer indemnity, and not, as I have heard it suggested, of a grant for special purposes in China. People in the Far East have become accustomed to this idea of remitting an indemnity, whereas any special grant would suggest both to the Chinese and to foreigners in China that Great Britain was attempting some new and perhaps aggressive schemes.\n\nIt must be remembered, too, that in consequence of China's entering the war, all payment of the indemnity was suspended for five years from 1917. In 1922, therefore, the question of a recontinuance of payment will arise. In 1917, His Majesty's Treasury was prepared to remit the indemnity altogether as an encouragement to China to join the Allies; and in 1922, strong opposition to recontinuance may be expected, not only from the Chinese Government, who will plead that they have no money to pay with, but also from sections of enlightened opinion at home, who will object to the continued mulcting of an allied and democratic Power for the sins of the absolutist Manchu Government, by means of an indemnity, which appears to be an inheritance from the bad old days of militant imperialism. The changed spirit of the times may be so opposed to a recontinuance of payment, that it may be advisable to cut an inevitable loss by remitting the indemnity as an act of grace and for definite educational purposes.\n\nThere are undoubtedly very strong arguments on the side of those who wish for an immediate remission of the indemnity for the education of Chinese. But it must be open to doubt whether Chinese education in itself would be sufficient ground for asking the Treasury to forego a substantial part of the indemnity in the present state of our finances. England has suffered much more from the war than China. But, if for general reasons of policy, and among them we may properly include those based on Chinese educational grounds, it is decided to forego some or all of the indemnity, then it is perfectly clear that this would be the best way of financing an educational scheme.\n\nThe point which must be made perfectly clear, however, in this connection is that the Boxer Indemnity Fund is not a treasure trove, a windfall for light-hearted spending; but that every penny of this fund which may be remitted to the Chinese, is equivalent to a tax of an equal amount on the citizens of the United Kingdom.\n\nThe balance of our share of the Boxer indemnity (including interest at 4 per cent.) is approximately 11,000,000l,* payment being spread over a period of twenty-three years.\n\n## Conclusion\n\nFinally, the education of Chinese on British lines is undoubtedly a national and, indeed, an imperial interest. Such a policy must tend to promote British influence both directly, through the Chinese who receive the education, and indirectly, through those with whom those Chinese come in contact. It must be good propaganda, as being evidence of our goodwill towards the Chinese and as affording a practical expression of our interest in them. On the intellectual side, it should tend to create respect for British cultural and political attainments. On the political side, it should incline the Chinese to regard their powerful neighbour, Japan, in a truer perspective; and, at the same time, it should encourage China to help herself and to achieve a greater measure of administrative order and efficiency. On the economic ...\n\n* The exact amount in May 1921 was 9,740,600l. 9s. 2d., including principal and interest. Payment should be completed in 1945.\n\nPage 28\n\n...\n\nPage 91\n\nF 342 E", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 493959, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "page_number": 350, "title": "CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922", "content_text": "34\n\nBy a protocol signed at Peking on the 14th June, 1902, the Boxer indemnity was fixed at 450,000,000 taels (tael-3s.), to be paid off by 1940, and to be divided as follows among the different Powers:-\n\n \n \n Per cent.\n Taels.\n \n \n Germany.\n 20.01567\n 90,070,515\n \n \n Austria-Hungary\n *0.88976\n 4,008,920\n \n \n Belgium\n 1.88541\n 8,484,345\n \n \n Spain\n ·03007\n 135,315\n \n \n United States of America\n 7.81979\n 35,189,055\n \n \n France\n 15.75072\n 70,878,240\n \n \n Great Britain\n 11.24901\n 50,620,545\n \n \n Italy\n 11.26951\n 50,712,795\n \n \n Japan\n 7.78180\n 35,017,100\n \n \n Netherlands\n -0.17580\n 782,100\n \n \n Russia\n 28.97136\n 130,371,120\n \n \n International claims\n 0.08326\n 212,490\n \n \n Portugal..\n *0.01396\n 62,820\n \n \n Sweden and Norway\n 0.04722\n 149,670\n \n \n Grand total\n 100.00000\n 450,000,000\n \n\nIn 1908 the United States Government, who, in contradistinction to His Majesty's Government, had very largely over-estimated their losses during the Boxer rising, voluntarily reduced the sum allotted to them (24,440,778 dollars) to 11,655,492 dollars, in return for a guarantee that a certain number of Chinese students should be sent to the United States for their education.\n\nFour years later, in 1912, a proposal was put forward by Sir Evan Spicer, and supported by His Majesty's Minister in Peking and by the Foreign Office, to employ £400,000 out of the British share of the indemnity in order to found and maintain a Chinese university in Central China. The Treasury, however, did not agree, and the following passages taken from the Treasury reply of the 10th January, 1913, explain the Treasury point of view :-\n\nThe method in which the Boxer indemnity receipts should be used was considered in 1905 and 1906, and Parliament decided and enacted in paragraph 7 (2) of the Finance Act, 1906, that they should be applied in reduction of debt, this use being supported by the fact that the money represents repayment of expenditure originally met from the proceeds of debt created for the purpose. It does not appear to their Lordships that there is any sufficient reason for reopening the question thus decided. Should it be thought desirable that a sum of £400,000 should now be spent from public funds on the establishment and endowment of a university in China as suggested, the most convenient and proper method of finding the money would, in their Lordship's opinion, be to invite Parliament to provide that sum by means of a Special Vote in Supply as a grant in aid of the university. The interception of indemnity moneys earmarked to the extinction of debt would be contrary to all the established principles of national finance, and it would involve special legislation of a controversial character which their Lordships could not undertake to propose.\n\nIt appears, therefore, to their Lordships that the proposal for a university in China under British auspices must be separated entirely from all connection with the Boxer indemnity, and that only when thus separated can it be properly discussed on its merits. The proposal can then be shortly stated in the form of the question: Is it desirable that the British taxpayer should be asked to provide a sum of £400,000 towards the establishment and endowment of a university in the centre of China?\n\n\"In view of the many demands upon the available resources of the Exchequer at the present time, of the increasing requirements of education in this country, and of the many other services upon which a sum of £400,000, if made available, could be usefully spent, my Lords are inclined to think that the question thus stated must be answered at once in the negative.**\n\nPage 35\n\nThe matter did not, however, drop here, and in the early part of 1914 practically all the Chambers of Commerce in the United Kingdom had been worked up to memorialise the Treasury and the Foreign Office on the subject. After consultation with the Foreign Office, the Treasury addressed on the 23rd July, 1914, the following letter to the Manchester and other Chambers of Commerce :—\n\nThe Chancellor of the Exchequer has had before him the memorial of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce asking for a grant from Imperial sources in aid of the proposed university in Central China. In reply, I am desired by him to say that the Government had occasion last year very carefully to consider the question of giving financial assistance to this project, and that, although the proposal to establish a British university in China, and by this means to promote British influence and interests in that country, is one which commands their sympathy, they were unable, after a careful review of all the circumstances, to see their way to accede to the request.\n\nMr. Lloyd George notes that no effort appears to have been made on the part of the promoters of the scheme to find by private effort any part of the sum required. If, however, it could be shown that a substantial proportion of this sum can be found from other than Imperial sources, he would be prepared to bring the matter again to the notice of His Majesty's Government.\"\n\nOn the outbreak of the war in 1914 the whole question was necessarily shelved, but in the spring of 1917 it was proposed, as an inducement to China to enter the war on the side of the Allies, that the indemnity payments should be postponed or even remitted altogether. In fact, the Treasury, in a letter of the 12th April, 1917, stated that:-\n\n**In all the circumstances of the case, if it should prove that an offer to remit the balance of the indemnity is necessary to secure the political and diplomatic objects which His Majesty's Government have in view, and if the other Allied Powers concur and are willing to take a similar course, my Lords will not raise objections.\"\n\nSubsequently, in February 1918, after considerable discussion among the Allied Powers, it was agreed to suspend payment of the indemnity for five years, i.e., from 1917 to 1922, the terms for repayment of the suspended portions being as follows :-\n\n \n \n \n \n \n To Great Britain\n 1940-45\n \n \n France\n 1923-40\n \n \n Japan\n 1922-27\n \n \n Belgium\n \n \n \n while Italy holds out for repayment in full after five years, i.e., in 1922.\n \n \n \n The total amount of the indemnity to be paid to us before the end of 1945 is £11,188,547.\n \n \n\nBut\n\nFrom the foregoing it will be seen that the Foreign Office have in the past not been unsympathetic to the idea of utilising a part of the indemnity for educational purposes in China, and that the Treasury, on certain conditions, were prepared just before the war to modify their original attitude or at least to reconsider it. The official view of the Boxer indemnity must not be forgotten, namely, that the receipt of the indemnity due to this country represents the repayment of expenditure originally met from the proceeds of debt created for the purpose.\n\nThe present would, therefore, perhaps hardly appear to be a very opportune moment for raising the matter again with the Treasury, were it not that the two following considerations seem to render some action on our part necessary:-\n\n1. An important despatch from Sir John Jordan (which, owing to more immediate demands, has only just been received from the printers) is now available, enclosing a memorandum on the question of education in China, with constructive suggestions as to the best means of spreading British influence in this sphere. A copy of this report is attached.\n\nBriefly the proposals are-\n\n(a.) To strengthen financially certain British institutions already in existence in China.\n\n(b) To give financial assistance to Hong Kong University, and to establish a school at Canton in close connection with the university.\n\n(c.) To give financial assistance to Chinese technical institutions already in existence, and to the technical department of Peking University.\n\n345", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 502825, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5]", "page_number": 517, "title": "CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5]", "content_text": "247. TAC 17/7 DET. Becket 17/7.\n\nMr. E. J. Harding.\n\nMr. Strachey.\n\nSir J. Shuckburgh,\n\nSir G. Grindle.\n\nSir C. Davis.\n\nSir S. Wilson.\n\nMr. Ormsby-Gore.\n\nEarl of Clarendon.\n\nMr. Amery.\n\nCommon\n\nDRAFT.\n\nfor Scrub 20 May\n\nit to be copied. Surplus Mindy dent 1750. by hand,\n\nConfidential\n\nUrgent\n\nSir,\n\nGov. 12714/26 HK\n\nInd\n\nU.S. of S.\n\nF.O.\n\n19 JUL\n\n20 July 1926\n\n498\n\nWith reference to previous correspondence on the subject of the allocation of the Boxer Indemnity funds under the control of H.M.G., I am etc. to transmit to you, to be laid before Sec. Sir Austen Chamberlain, the accompanying copy of a secret despatch from Sir C. Clementi, dated the 20th May, in which he expresses the earnest hope that a grant may be made from Boxer Indemnity funds for the construction of a junction line at Canton to connect the Canton-Kowloon Railway with the Canton-Hankow railway.\n\n2. The extreme importance of this connection, both to Hong Kong and to British interests generally, has always been recognised. Sir Austen Chamberlain will be aware that continual attempts were made, both before the construction of the Canton-Kowloon Railway and during the subsequent negotiations for a working agreement covering the British and Chinese sections of that Railway, to arrive at a satisfactory arrangement with the Peking and Canton Govts. for the construction of the junction line. With the outbreak of the war the project fell into abeyance and the political confusion in China during the last few", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5].txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 505219, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926", "page_number": 485, "title": "CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926", "content_text": "2\n\nrebellion that, in the middle of the 19th century, raged over the greater part of China and devastated many provinces. In 1900 the Boxer outbreak found ample material among the highly superstitious Szechuanese, but, although there was a general evacuation of foreigners, no lives were lost and the province accordingly did not experience any of the sanctions imposed by the 1901 protocol.\n\nThe actual history of steam navigation starts in 1876; section III, article 1, of the Chefoo Convention, concluded in that year, providing—\n\nResidence of British Officers at Chungking to watch British Trade.\n\nThe British Government will, farther, be free to send officers to reside at Ch'ung K'ing to watch the conditions of British trade in Ssu-Ch'uen. British merchants will not be allowed to reside at Chungking, or to open establishments or warehouses there, so long as no steamers have access to the port. When steamers have succeeded in ascending the river so far, further arrangements can be taken into consideration.\n\nThis article furnishes, at the same time, evidence of hostility to steam navigation and food for the development of this hostility, and it is small wonder for surprise that, when Mr. A. J. Little proposed to try to reach Chungking by steamer, in the hope of thereby securing the opening of the port, he met with constant obstruction from Chinese officials, some of whom gravely deprecated the venture on the ground that when the vessel was passing through the gorges, the monkeys there might throw stones at it, and then the Szechuanese be blamed for the incident. The opening of the port of Chungking was effected in 1890 by an additional article to the Chefoo Convention providing\n\n1. Chungking shall forthwith be declared open to trade on the same footing as any other treaty port.\n\nTraffic between Ichang and Chungking.\n\nBritish subjects shall be at liberty either to charter Chinese vessels or to provide vessels of the Chinese type for the traffic between Ichang and Chungking.\n\nMerchandise conveyed between Ichang and Chungking.\n\nII. Merchandise conveyed between Ichang and Chungking by the above class of vessels shall be placed on the same footing as merchandise carried by steamers between Shanghai and Ichang, and shall be dealt with in accordance with Treaty, Tariff Rules, and the Yang-tsze Regulations.\n\nBut here again restrictions were imposed on steam navigation, for the article went on to provide\n\nAccess of British Steamers to Chungking.\n\nV. When once Chinese steamers carrying cargo run to Chungking, British steamers shall in like manner have access to the said port.\n\nThis would probably have proved an effective bar to steamer navigation for all time, but the question was finally settled in 1895 by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Article 6 provides that, inter alia, Chungking shall be opened to trade on the same footing as Treaty Ports already existing, and continues :-\n\n431\n\nout that, though this trade was regarded as a British interest, it was in many cases purely Chinese. The chartered junk business was carried on by Chinese agencies of the shipping firms, and the cargo carried was, as a rule, purely Chinese, British interest being involved only in that this cargo had been brought up to Ichang by the steamers of the British shipping companies or was destined to be consigned down-river by them.\n\nThe interest that was badly hit by the coming of the chartered junks was the tax collectorate, as the traffic became now immune from all taxation except that levied by the Maritime Customs at Chungking or Ichang. Hence it is not surprising that, in the disorder consequent on the civil wars, it became the constant practice of generals on the Upper Yang-tsze to hold up chartered junks in order to enforce payment of taxes levied by themselves. The chartered junk, which, particularly on its upward journey, has to keep close to the bank, can proceed only very slowly, and has to tie up for the night some thirty times or more between Ichang and Chungking, was an easy prey, and, except for consular protests which were easily ignored, the generals found no difficulty in enforcing these illegal taxes, although, in the early days of the illegality, they declared that their taxes would be levied on Chinese goods only, and that foreign-owned goods would be exempt.\n\nIt was in this connection that the first bombardment of Wanhsien took place on the 6th November, 1918. On arriving at Wanhsien from Shanghai, where His Majesty's ship Widgeon had been undergoing refit, her commanding officer learned that the Yunnanese general in command there was detaining a large number of junks, laden with cotton yarn for Chungking merchants, in order to compel the payment of a tax he was levying. The Widgeon's commanding officer had an interview with the general, and as the release of the junks was refused he delivered an ultimatum, and threatened to bombard the town. The bombardment took place the next day; a few rounds of blank were fired, and then a couple of live rounds were directed at some cliffs, well away from the town. In the meantime an armed party released the captured junks.\n\nThis incident produced no repercussions; no lives were lost nor property injured; the people of Szechuan were by no means displeased to see drastic action taken against one of their Yunnanese enemies; and the cotton merchants of Chungking were so delighted at securing the release of their cargoes without the payment of any tax that they donated 5,000 dollars to the British Red Cross. Taxation of chartered junks soon revived, however, under one name or other, \"protection fees\" being the favourite euphemism.\n\nMention has already been made of brigandage as being endemic on the Upper Yang-tsze, and during the periods of civil war the forces of the brigands were constantly reinforced by deserters or scattered remnants of defeated armies. At times, too, soldiers, in what were theoretically regular armies, would indulge in a spell of brigandage to eke out their overdue pay, and it became a truism that the terms \"brigand and soldier\" were interchangeable. This situation was exploited to its full by some commanders. Superficially, it was not unreasonable for a general to contend that, as he would be rendering very great service to a shipper by affording protection to his cargo, it was only right that he should pay for this service. But if the general took effective measures against the bandits and dispersed them there would no longer be any need for protection, and he would no longer have any ground for requiring the payment of these fees or taxes. It therefore became to the interest of the general that the brigand gangs should persist in their activity, and, in particular, that any vessel that had not paid protection fees should receive a full measure of their attention, and in view of the close connection that usually existed between the troops and the brigands, there was little difficulty in securing this. In short, \"protection fees\" were, as a general rule, nothing but blackmail.\n\nIn the spring of 1920 steamers were frequently fired on at a place named Hsiao; this was the work of brigands in collusion with soldiers or soldiers acting as brigands, in order to enforce the payment of protection fees to the general at Wanhsien.\n\nIt was, as shown above, in 1895 that the right of foreign steamers to navigate the river from Ichang to Chungking was at last conceded by treaty. The first attempt to take advantage of this provision was made in 1898 by Mr. A. J. Little with a small launch named the \"Leechuan.\" Although the vessel eventually reached Chungking, it did little to forward commercial navigation, as it had to be towed over the rapids in the same way as a junk and was too small to be a business success. Two years later two British gunboats, His Majesty's ships Woodlark and Woodcock, proved conclusively that the rapids and reefs of the Upper Yang-tsze...\n\n[1422 z-1]\n\nSteam navigation for vessels under the Japanese flag for the conveyance Chou Ch'i, a short distance below Wanhsien, and the evidence seemed clear that\n\nshall be extended to the following places :-\n\n(1.) On the Upper Yang-tsze River, from Ichang to Chungking.\"\n\nThe right for steamers to navigate the Upper Yang-tsze was now clearly established after nearly twenty years, but another fourteen years were to pass before merchant steamers became an accomplished fact on these waters.\n\nIn the meantime commercial navigation was carried on by means of chartered junks, as provided in the additional article. This development was welcomed by the junk owners, as it provided them with the means of securing a regular and assured income, and the trade rapidly assumed flourishing dimensions.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-496 - Public Offices - 1926.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 509192, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-502-6 China- general situation 7-1-1927 - 3-3-1927", "page_number": 117, "title": "CO129-502-6 China- general situation 7-1-1927 - 3-3-1927", "content_text": "## PARAPHRASE TELEGRAM from the Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies\n\nDated 2nd February, 1927\n\n**X11**\n\nPersonal. Hong Kong situation gives me increasing anxiety. Determined efforts are being made by Canton agitators to start another general strike. Seeing that the policy of His Majesty's Government has antagonised both Southern and Northern China and that no stand has yet been made anywhere for the defence of elementary Treaty rights of British concessions, maritime customs or even against pirates, Hong Kong Chinese have lost faith in the reality of British protection. Emergency regulations here have been tightened up and route marches are being made in Hong Kong and in Kowloon by the Navy, Army and Volunteers. Above all else, it is essential that Britain should no longer be regarded by the Chinese as a \"paper tiger\". \n\nFor example, Manifesto issued to the Press by Administrative Board of the Kuomintang Central Police Station, Swatow, published in `Kuominpao` on January 29th under the caption **\"Brutal massacre of infants by the Catholic Missions in Fuchow\"**, after inflammatory anti-foreign diatribe concludes \"Kill, kill, kill. There is no reason to be afraid.\" All signs point to outbreak being now in preparation, similar to those in the Boxer year, when I was here.\n\nI love the Chinese and have deep sympathy with their national aspirations. But in dealing with them, firmness must always be combined with generosity, and firmness has been totally lacking under Southerners now believing Bolshevik tuition that for fear of its own proletariat, no foreign Power will dare to make war on them. The Northerners have seen our weakness in the South and have come to believe the same thing.\n\nUnless we are to drift from bad to worse, resolute action in our own defence...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-502-6 China- general situation 7-1-1927 - 3-3-1927.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 529125, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931", "page_number": 128, "title": "CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931", "content_text": "# In Sound! \n\nBrilliant in its Air Spectacle, Tender in its Romance, Mellow in its comedy, the most Appealing Love Story of the century. \n\n## AT THE \n\n### MAJESTIC \n\nMISSIONARIES CAPTURED. ANOTHER BANDIT COUP. PRIEST ESCAPES OVER WALL. LADY RELEASED. \n\nHankow. Oct. 25. \n\nA Catholic Father who escaped from Loshan, in South Honan, ten minutes before the entry of bandits, reports that the Rev. K. N. Tvedt, and Miss Evenson, of the Lutheran United Mission, failed to escape and, it is presumed, were captured.—Reuter. \n\n### In Bandits' Hands. \n\nPeking. Oct. 25. The U.S. Consul in Hankow received a letter on October 24 from Luahan, signed by Father Tvedt and Miss Evenson, dated October 8, stating that they were in the hands of brigands belonging to the First Red Army, who were holding them \"because of financial difficulties.\" The Reds demanded $100,000 ransom. \n\nThe Rev. Tvedt says that he is a Norwegian subject, though in an American organisation. \n\nIt is understood that two American Catholics are registered as being at Loshan—Thomas M. Megan and Joseph V. Henkels. No definite news of them has been received, but it is known that Megan was here on October 15. \n\nOne Catholic priest climbed over the city wall just as the bandits were entering the town. He is believed to be one of these two.—Reuter. \n\n### Lady Captive Released. \n\nHankow, Oct. 26. The American Consulate has received a telegram stating that Miss Evenson has been released and has arrived at Sinjang. The Rev. Mr. Tvedt is still held captive.—Reuter. \n\n### Missionary Freed. \n\nPeking, Oct. 25. The Italian Legation announces that it has received information that Father Brugnetti, Italian Catholic Mission at Nanyangfu, in south-west Honan, has been liberated. \n\nFather Brugnetti was captured by brigands some time ago. The Legation made representations to the Chinese Government on the matter.—Reuter \n\n## POLICE PENSIONS. \n\n### New Ordinance to Be Introduced. REMOVING ANOMALY. \n\n**SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1930.**\n\n## REBELS NOT YET SUBDUED. \n\n### Attempt to Gather New Armies. TROUBLESOME TRIO. \n\nPeking, Oct. 25. Feng Yu-hsiang left Taiyuanfu on October 21 for south Shansi. It is believed at Taiyuanfu that he intends to collect armies and march to Sianfu. \n\nIt is also believed that Feng Yu-hsiang, Yen Hsi-shan and Wang Ching-wei are still working together and have decided to attempt to hold Shansi, Shensi, and Kansu against all comers. \n\nWang Ching-wei is at present living at a hotel in Taiyuanfu, and contemplates setting up his home there. \n\nThe discipline among the returned Shansi soldiers is bad. Recently 30 tried to force their way into a German's house, and were got rid of with difficulties. They said that they wanted accommodation. The soldiers are protesting against living in barracks outside the city, and desire billets in houses in the city.—Reuter \n\n### Marshals to Meet. \n\nNanking, Oct. 25. The Central News Agency learns that Chiang Kai-shek and Chang Hsueh-liang will meet shortly to discuss outstanding political questions, after which they will issue a joint circular telegram outlining their programme. The venue of the meeting is most likely to be Tsingtao.—Reuter. \n\n## RIOTS IN JAPAN. \n\n### Tokyo Strikers Clash With Police. FORTY CASUALTIES. \n\nTokyo, Oct. 25. Riotous scenes were witnessed late last night in Kameido, a suburb of Tokyo, during a clash between the police and factory workers of the Toyo Muslin Co., who have been on strike for the past five weeks. \n\nWhile the Police were attempting to suppress groups of strikers who were parading the streets, singing Labour songs, other strikers in the upper storeys of neighbouring buildings started throwing stones on the Police below. \n\nThe ensuing fight necessitated the temporary suspension of traffic, as the strikers started stoning passing trams, six of which were damaged. \n\nThe disturbance was finally quelled after the arrest of 150 strikers. About a dozen Police and 30 strikers were injured in the melee.—Reuter. \n\n## \"REDS\" RAID TOWN IN HAINAN. \n\n### Driven Off by Garrison With Heavy Loss. LACK OF TROOPS. \n\nHainan, Oct. 22. \n\n## CHINESE REDS RIOT IN MANILA. \n\n### Prominent Nationalists Mobbed and Stabbed. SIX MEN WOUNDED. \n\nManila, Oct. 25. \n\nThe Chinese Communists last night attacked, mobbed, and stabbed prominent members of the Chinese Nationalist organisation in Manila. \n\nSix were wounded and taken to hospital. Two of them were in critical condition. \n\nThe victims include Mr. Gan Bu-hong, the proprietor of the largest Chinese cigarette factory here as well as a school principal. \n\nBoth Mr. Ong Chuan-seng, leaders of the Kuomintang. \n\nThe first outbreak was believed to be a tong war, but later the victims asserted that the motives for the attack were purely political, having followed repeated threats. \n\nPolice patrols are heavy and the constabulary may assist in quelling the trouble since Chinatown is in an uproar.—Reuter. \n\n## CORRESPONDENCE. \n\n### The Boxer Indemnity. \n\n(To the Editor, S. C. M. Post.) \n\nSir, The suggestion as put forward in your leader dated the 11th inst. referring to the employment of the entire or part of the grant to the Hongkong University from the Boxer Indemnity Fund for health purposes is certainly a rational and timely proposal. \n\nIt will be recalled that the Willingdon Delegation, following the investigation of conditions in China, recommended the allocation of 17% of the Fund for \"education in medicine and public health and grants to hospitals.\" Viewed from various angles, and laying aside, pro tem, the question of the University's merit to secure such a windfall, your suggestion, if carried out, would perhaps \"satisfy all demands.\" \n\nAlthough details are not published pending the Chinese and British approval of the Governments' agreement which Dr. C. T. Wang and Sir Miles Lampson have recently concluded for the satisfactory disposal of the Fund, yet it may safely be conjectured that the plan suggested by the Willingdon Delegation will not be closely followed as it is an open secret that the bulk of the money has already been definitely decided upon railway development enterprise. In other words, the hope of the allocation of the 17% of the Fund for health purposes is extremely remote. \n\nLocated in a part of the world where health conditions are deplorable, surely there is no better way for the University of using the grant than to employ it for scientific researches and the improvement of public health. For instance, at one of the Sanitary Board meetings a few months ago, the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services was in favour of the Government making arrangements with the authorities of Sheklung Leper Settlement to take charge of lepers from Hongkong as a result of the total absence of a leper hospital in the Colony. As pointed out in my previous letter, the carrying out of the scheme would mean the increase of the already teeming leper population of the greater part of the island, and only a few garrison troops are stationed in the west half of Hainan. So in the eastern part of the island no open outbreak of Communism is taking place, although guerilla warfare is carried on, as evidenced by the wounded men being brought to Hoihow hospitals, day by day. West of Hoihow troops are stationed in Kin Kong, Fuk-san and Lami-kow but in numbers they are not nearly as strong as the Communist gang which rules the forest near Fuk-San. On Oct. 18 this band of Reds attacked Kin Kong, which is district city and the largest town in Chen-mai district. By surprise attack they gained the east suburbs of the town but the troops got some machine guns into position and it is reported that the Reds were driven off with heavy loss. The Reds were said to number all the way from 600 to 1,000 but they had only two machine guns to defend by 300 troops. \n\nSomething has, therefore, to be done to solve this and similar problems satisfactorily for the \"mutual benefit\" of both China and the British Colony. In view of the existing needs, the employment of the money for purposes as suggested by you is, and as many will doubtless agree, a legitimate proposal. \n\nJ. A. LEE. \n\n## DELIBERATE LIES IN COURT. \n\n### Witness Fined for Perjury in Assault Case. DEFENDANT DISCHARGED. \n\nThe acquittal of the accused and the fining of one of the witnesses of the prosecution for perjury was the final result of the case in which Herbert Percival, stoker of H.M.S. Herald, was alleged before Mr. Lindsell on Saturday to have assaulted a barber of Wanchai. \n\nThe defendant was alleged to have obtained a packet of cigarettes from the complainant's stall and when asked for payment struck the seller. \n\nFurther evidence was given by Chan Fook, a barber in the complainant's employ. After corroborative evidence was given, the witness was questioned by the Magistrate as to a cut on the defendant's cheek. \n\nHis Worship: Defendant's cheek was cut open; can you explain that? \n\nWitness: I don't know. \n\nYou offer no explanation for that at all? Was there any trouble with anyone of the naval men except the one you saw take the cigarettes?—No. \n\nYou do not explain how his cheek was cut open? I don't know. \n\nAny one strike him?—I did not see any one strike him. \n\nWas he knocked down?—Possibly; he may have been. Did you see him knocked down? No. \n\nYou must have seen it, you were there. He may have fallen on the ground. \n\nHis Worship pointed out to the witness that it had been proved beyond doubt that the defendant had had his cheek cut. The witness replied, \"I saw defendant knock against a glass show case as he struck the complainant.\" \n\nHis Worship reprimanded the witness and pointed out to him that a few minutes before he had told the Court that he had no idea what had happened to the defendant's cheek. \"Why do you lie like that?\" sternly asked his Worship. \"A minute ago you said you didn't know; you did not see it. Now speak the truth! Did you see him cut his cheek or not?\" \n\nWitness: I did not see him.\" \n\nHis Worship: First you said you did not, then you said you did and now you say you did not again. Which is true?—I did not see. \n\nNow that was just an absolute lie that the showcase was broken? \n\nIt was broken. \n\nDetective Sergeant Clark informed his Worship that a show case had been broken, but if the defendant had fallen into it as alleged by the witness he would have had his face severely cut. \n\nHis Worship: How do you say that showcase came to be broken? \n\nWitness: A piece of the stool flew against the glass. \n\nHe (defendant) did not fall against it as you said a minute ago? No. \n\nThen you told a deliberate lie just now when you said he banged against it. You told three different stories. I fine you $10; first one thing and then another. You keep contradicting yourself. Fined $10 or seven days. \n\n### Defendant Discharged. \n\nThe Gazette contains the draft of an Ordinance to amend the Police Ordinance 1900. \n\nThis provides that Section 17 of the Police Ordinance, 1900, be repealed and the following section substituted therefor: \n\n17-(1) It shall be lawful for the Governor in Council to make regulations for the granting of pensions to members of the Force, in respect of service in the Force, and to determine in special cases where the regulations may be inapplicable or to require modification, the amount (if any) of the pension, the terms on which it shall be granted and the manner in which it shall be paid. (2) Pensions granted under this Ordinance shall be paid out of the general revenue. \n\nThe Objects and Reasons state:-Under section 17 of the Police Force Ordinance, 1900, the Governor in Council not only regulates the general conditions on which and the manner in which pensions are to be granted to members of the Force, but determines the question of granting a pension and the amount thereof in each particular case. There does not seem to be any sufficient reason why members of the Police Force should be thus singled out from other pensionable public servants, or why the Governor in Council should have to deal with each case of retirement especially where the pension is a mere matter of calculation. \n\n## HIS LAST FLING. \n\n### Suicide's Open Letter to the World. \n\nShanghai, Oct. 25. Chow Hu-wen (27), a dentist, after spending five nights entertaining sing-song girls at the Shang Shien Hotel, addressed a lengthy letter to the world in general, advising young men not to degrade themselves by following his example, and then swallowed poison. He was found dead yesterday afternoon and the inquest revealed that he rented a room on the third floor of the hotel on Friday night and then spent until Sunday night and then spent until Friday morning surrounded by sing-song girls and wine bottles.—Our Own Correspondent. \n\nKobe, Oct. 26. In glorious weather, Emperor Hirohito reviewed the Japanese navy, consisting of 165 war vessels, aggregating 700,000 tons, every one of which was constructed wholly in Japan. Seventy-two navy planes took part in an air parade.—Reuter. \n\nThe North-Eastern authorities propose to erect a bronze statue of Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang in memory of his donation of $2,500,000 to the University.—Our Own Correspondent. \n\n## BIG NAVAL REVIEW. \n\n### Japanese Emperor Views 165 War Vessels. ALL MADE IN JAPAN. \n\nNathan Road. Phone 57222", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-532-4 Mui Tsai system- resolution and correspondence with private individuals 27-10-1930 - 24-6-1931.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 547488, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-552-6 Traffic of arms to China 2-1-1935 - 27-12-1935", "page_number": 70, "title": "CO129-552-6 Traffic of arms to China 2-1-1935 - 27-12-1935", "content_text": "69\n\nprohibition had to cover export to all destinations.\n\nBy Section 1 of the Exportation of Arms Act, 1900, however, power was given to prohibit by proclamation the exportation of arms to any specified country or place \"whenever Her Majesty shall judge such prohibition to be expedient in order to prevent such arms, ammunition, military or naval stores being used against Her Majesty's subjects or forces or against any forces engaged in military or naval operations in co-operation with Her Majesty's forces.\" The new powers were intended primarily to prevent the export of arms and ammunition to the Boxer insurgents in China. Immediately after the Act came into force, however, the Boxer rising was suppressed; and apparently no proclamation prohibiting the export of arms to China was actually issued.\n\n4. After the outbreak of the European War the power to make Proclamations prohibiting export was extended by the Customs (Exportation Restriction) Acts, 1914, to cover the export of all articles of any description; and by the Customs (Exportation Restriction) Act, 1915, power was given to secure that any article to which a prohibition applied was delivered to an authorised consignee. The extended powers were valid only in time of war; but they had an important bearing on the development of the export licensing system.\n\n5. The powers to prohibit the export of articles other than arms, ammunition, etc. lapsed after the War; but Section 17 of the Finance Act, 1921, extended section 8 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1879, to cover weapons and munitions of war of every description, and also firearms not being weapons of war and ammunition for such firearms. It also gave power to prohibit shipments as ship's stores.\n\n6. The text of those sections quoted above, which are still in force, is given in Annex A.\n\n-2-\n\nPage 70\n\nPage 71", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-552-6 Traffic of arms to China 2-1-1935 - 27-12-1935.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 572658, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942", "page_number": 92, "title": "CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942", "content_text": "Enclosure.\n\n92\n\nThe Foreign Office censur in the reply given to the Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Washington in regard to the points enumerated in the second sub-paragraph of paragraph 1 of the message from the Department of State dated 27th October, although the only agreement relating to Tientsin of which they are aware was the Sino-Japanese Truce Agreement resolved with the help of friendly powers in 1938, which was obviously nullified by the subsequent outbreak of hostilities. While regarding the Boxer indemnity as being abrogated by the present Agreement, His Majesty's Government are enquiring whether the Chinese Government wish to prolong the validity of the Craigie-Lampson exchange of notes of September 1940, which was of mutual benefit to the two countries.\n\nThe Foreign Office are also in general agreement with the points set out in the third sub-paragraph of paragraph 1 of the Department of State's message of 27th October. Their views are as follows. Questions of inland navigation and coastal trade are not expressly covered in the draft treaty presented to the Chinese nor would Article 3 (Article 1, American draft) specifically abrogate any treaty rights under which British ships have hitherto been permitted to engage in inland navigation and so coastal trade. Moreover, His Majesty's Government would be very reluctant to include in the present treaty any restrictive provisions regarding shipping which may not be strictly necessary. They would wish instead to discuss these questions at a later stage with a view to arriving at some mutual arrangement in the course of negotiations for a comprehensive treaty of commerce and navigation such as Article 7 of the American draft (Article 8 of ours) foresees. Meanwhile they would be prepared to tell the Chinese Government that while they have no wish to retain the unilateral treaty rights they at present possess, they hope that pending the negotiations for a comprehensive treaty the Chinese Government will not prohibit British shipping from engaging in inland navigation and, when this again becomes possible...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 572700, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942", "page_number": 134, "title": "CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942", "content_text": "# Draft E\n\n1.10 Message from the Department of State, 31st October.\n\nThe Foreign Office concur in the reply given to the Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in regard to the points enumerated in the second sub-paragraph of paragraph 1, although the only agreement relating to Woosung of which they are aware was the Sino-Japanese Armistice Agreement reached with the help of friendly powers in 1932, which was obviously nullified by the subsequent outbreak of hostilities. While regarding the Boxer indemnity as being abrogated by the present Agreement, H.M. Government are enquiring whether the Chinese Government wish to prolong the validity of the Wang-Lampson exchange of notes of September 1930, which was of mutual benefit to the two countries.\n\nThe Foreign Office is also in general agreement with the points set out in the third sub-paragraph of paragraph 1 of the Department of State's message of October 27th. Their views are as follows. Questions of inland navigation and coastal trade are not expressly covered in the draft treaty presented to the Chinese, nor would Article 2 (Article 1, American draft) specifically abrogate any treaty rights under which British ships have hitherto been permitted to engage in inland navigation and coastal trade. The question would remain, however, whether the provisions giving these rights could (or would) be held by the Chinese Government to be repealed by implication as being inconsistent with the new position: vide Article 8(2) (7(2): American draft). In any case, H.M. Government in the United Kingdom have no desire to reserve, keep, or obtain from China any particular rights or privileges that would not conform to normal practice in modern international relations. The existing treaty provisions under which British shipping possess the right of engaging in the coastal trade and inland navigation of China are unilateral and therefore do not conform to modern international relations, whether or not it is to be regarded as being in conformity with...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 572706, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942", "page_number": 140, "title": "CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942", "content_text": "# Draft note on message from the Department of State\n\nThe Foreign Office concur in the reply given to the Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in regard to the points enumerated in the second sub-paragraph of paragraph 1, although the only agreement relating to Woosung of which they are aware was the Sino-Japanese Armistice Agreement reached with the help of friendly powers in 1932, which was obviously nullified by the subsequent outbreak of hostilities. While regarding the Boxer indemnity as being abrogated by the present Agreement, H.M. Government are enquiring whether the Chinese Government wish to prolong the validity of the Wang-Lampson exchange of notes of September 1930, which was of mutual benefit to the two countries.\n\nThe Foreign Office is also in general agreement with the points set out in the third sub-paragraph of paragraph 1 of the Department of State's message of October 27th. Their views are as follows. Questions of inland navigation and coastal trade are not expressly covered in the draft treaty presented to the Chinese nor would Article 2 (Article 1, American draft) specifically abrogate any treaty rights under which British ships have hitherto been permitted to engage in inland navigation and coastal trade. The question would remain however whether the provisions giving these rights could (or would) be held by the Chinese Government to be repealed by implication as being inconsistent with the new position: vide Article 8 (2) (7 (2): American draft). In any case, H.M. Government in the United Kingdom have no desire to reserve, keep, or obtain from China any particular rights or privileges that would not conform to normal practice in modern international relations. The existing treaty provisions under which British shipping possess the right of engaging in the coastal trade and inland navigation of China are unilateral and therefore do not conform to modern international relations whether or not it is to be regarded as being in conformity with ...\n\nPage 140 \nPage 141", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-588-23 China- British extra-territorial rights- negotiations with China 28-3-1942 - 27-11-1942.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 573600, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-588-9 Hong Kong University- relief work 11-8-1942 - 19-11-1943", "page_number": 85, "title": "CO129-588-9 Hong Kong University- relief work 11-8-1942 - 19-11-1943", "content_text": "# REPORT ON HONG KONG UNIVERSITY RELIEF WORK CARRIED OUT DURING THE PERIOD 24TH APRIL TO 30TH JUNE 1942\n83\n\nAt the outbreak of war in December 1941, there were approximately 600 students of Arts, Medicine, Engineering, and Science attending the University of Hong Kong, most of whom performed useful service during the war period in connection with organisations such as the Hong Kong Volunteers, Medical Defence Scheme, St. John's Ambulance, A.R.P., Food Control, etc.\n\nAfter the termination of the war, the University was taken over by the Japanese, many records were destroyed, and the libraries and equipment were systematically looted. Many of the students expressed concern about the continuance of their studies, and certificates were prepared for them stating what work they had done and signed by the Vice-Chancellor (Mr. D.J. Sloss) and the Deans of the Faculties concerned. The hope was expressed that they might be able to continue their studies in some of the Universities of Free China and that due credit could be given to them for the parts of their course which had already been taken in Hong Kong.\n\nAfter my own escape from Hong Kong in February 1942, I repeatedly met small groups of students in various places on my way up to Chungking, and in most cases received requests from them for advice and for letters of introduction and certificates of various sorts. Most of the early escapees were boys whose homes were in the Straits, and nearly all of them were coming to China for the first time. Some had been robbed by bandit gangs, others were short of money and clothes. On reaching Chungking about the middle of April, I received news of the escape of more students and also got word by telegram that groups of students in Kweilin and Kweiyang were stranded without any further funds. H.E. the British Ambassador was approached and showed considerable sympathy with a scheme to provide relief for these students. The scheme covered the need for immediate relief to tide over the period between their arrival at a centre of refuge and their reaching a University where they could continue their studies and the more remote needs that might arise after they had resumed their studies during the time that they were still cut off from their families. The cost per head for immediate relief was estimated at National $1,000, and on 23rd April, I received an immediate advance of $50,000 through Mr. T.J. Fisher with a request to organise the relief work and to proceed to Kukong. Before I left Chungking, I saw Mr. Chu Chia-hua and Mr. Han Lih-Wu of the British Boxer Indemnity Administration and explained the nature of the scheme to them. Mr. Han Lih-Wu, who had already shown considerable interest in the question of Hong Kong University Relief and had suggested the formation of a small committee to deal with it, promised to enlist the interest in our project and assistance (where necessary) of the National Relief Commission, Board of Overseas Affairs, and other similar organisations.\n\nI left Chungking by truck on 24th April and found 40 students stranded in the premises of the Chinese Red Cross in Kweiyang, in addition to 2 war-time graduates in medicine, one lady teaching member of the Arts Faculty, and one student nurse. All of these received assistance. As the Queen Mary Hospital School of Nursing was closely linked up with the Medical Faculty of the University, I thought it would not be outside the spirit of my mission to extend temporary relief to nurses, and on the same ground, I also gave assistance later to 3 members of the Government Pharmacy staff.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-588-9 Hong Kong University- relief work 11-8-1942 - 19-11-1943.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 581097, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946", "page_number": 88, "title": "CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946", "content_text": "## 88\n\nIn 1914, the munificent donations expected by the Founders might have been forthcoming. The attempt to maintain a satisfactory medical school and the minimum provision for other branches of studies inevitably ended in an insolvency only to be remedied by a large Government grant in 1922. Partial endowments were provided from Rockefeller Trust and Boxer Indemnity Funds, and local Chinese beneficences made more adequate provision for Chinese studies, but even with a greatly increased grant from the Colonial Government in 1939, the University still remained inadequately staffed and provided.\n\n(ii) Nationalist feeling became for a time anti-British, and the chief sufferer was Hong Kong. New Universities sprang up in almost every Province in China, the best of them well-staffed and well-equipped. Pressure on students to study in their own universities diverted, but never quite arrested, the flow of students from China.\n\n(iii) The cost of living, reflected in the payment of commercial and Government salaries and wages, has always been much higher in Hong Kong than in interior China. The disparity of costs may decrease, but it is unlikely to disappear. Revolutionary China made it a policy to pay low salaries to University teachers, as well as to Government officials. So long as a University in Hong Kong has to draw a very large part of its staff from overseas, its expenditure will remain, by Chinese standards, very high. If students are to be drawn from China, a generous provision of scholarships and bursaries will be necessary.\n\n5. His Majesty's Government, in both the Foreign and Colonial Office, considered the recommendations of a Hong Kong University Committee which reported in 1939. It was satisfied of the soundness of what may be called the political aim of the University and recognized the need of Treasury support if it were to be fulfilled. This committee has gone over the whole ground afresh and supports the Foreign Office view that \"the University is a valuable instrument for propagating British ideals and spreading British influence in China, and that it should be given all the support and assistance possible in increasing its usefulness in this respect.\" The Foreign Office Memorandum adds, \"The outbreak of war made it impracticable, however, to pursue the question of financial assistance and expansion.\" The war being ended, this Committee is strongly of the opinion that a policy of \"financial assistance and expansion\" is now needed.\n\n6. Under its Terms of Reference, the Committee is asked to recommend measures for the re-establishment of an institution of higher education adequate to meet the needs of the Colony. Consideration of this point at once raised another question - Is a University, in fact, needed for the Colony of Hong Kong? Between the years 1929 and 1939, about one-third of the University's students were drawn from Malaya and the Dutch Indies; henceforth, such students are likely to go to the Malaya University. Between one-quarter and one-third came from China proper, though a large part of these were Cantonese who had attended schools in Hong Kong for the better teaching of English. In all, in these years, the University gave facilities for higher education to about 2000 students domiciled in Hong Kong or educated at Hong Kong schools - about half of the total for those years. Apart from a foundation contribution that came from Canton, the Colony received no grant or assistance from any of the territories from which its students were drawn.\n\n## 17.", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 581123, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946", "page_number": 114, "title": "CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946", "content_text": "## Men's flow \nXin1439 considered the recommendations of a Hong Kong Liners' Committee which reported in 1939.\n\n2. \nProvision for other branches of studies inevitably ended in an insolvency only to be remedied by a large Government grant in 1922. Partial endowments were provided from Rockefeller Trust and Boxer Indemnity Funds and local Chinese beneficences made more adequate provision for Chinese studies, but even with a greatly increased grant from the Colonial Government in 1939, the University still remained inadequately staffed and provided.\n\n(ii) Nationalist feeling became for a time anti-British and the chief sufferer was Hong Kong. New Universities sprang up in almost every Province in China, the best of them well-staffed and well-equipped. Pressure on students to study in their own universities diverted, but never quite arrested, the flow of students from China.\n\n(iii) The cost of living, reflected in the payment of commercial and Government salaries and wages, has always been much higher in Hong Kong than in interior China. The disparity of costs may decrease but is unlikely to disappear. Revolutionary China made it a policy to pay low salaries to University teachers as well as to Government officials. So long as a University in Hong Kong has to draw a very large part of its staff from overseas, its expenditure will remain, by Chinese standards, very high. If students are to be drawn from China, a generous provision of scholarships and bursaries will be necessary.\n\n5. A committee of the Court appointed in 1939 by Sir Geoffrey Northcote, at that time Chancellor of the University, convinced the Colonial Government that even to fulfil its function as a Colonial institution, the University needed strengthening, and that as an institution to promote friendly relations with China, it needed to be able to spend on a scale far beyond the resources for educational purposes at the disposal of the Colonial Government. The recommendations of the committee were forwarded with the strong support of the Chancellor to the Secretary of State. His Majesty's Government in both the Foreign and Colonial Departments was satisfied of the soundness of what may be called the political aim of the University and recognized the need of Treasury support if it were to be fulfilled. This committee has gone over the whole ground afresh and supports the Foreign Office view that \"the University is a valuable instrument for propagating British ideals and spreading British influence in China and that it should be given all the support and assistance possible in increasing its usefulness in respect.\" The Foreign Office Memorandum adds, \"The outbreak of war made it impracticable, however, to pursue the question of financial assistance and expansion.\" The war being ended, this Committee is strongly of the opinion that a policy of \"financial assistance and expansion\" is now needed.\n\n6. Under its Terms of Reference, the Committee is asked to recommend measures for the re-establishment of an institution of higher education adequate to meet the needs of the Colony. Consideration of this point at once raised another question: Is a University, in fact, needed for the Colony of Hong Kong? Between the years 1929 and 1939, about one-third of the University's students were drawn from Malaya and the Dutch Indies, and hereafter, such students are likely to go to the Malaya University. Between one-quarter and one-third came from China proper, though a large part of these were Cantonese who had attended schools in Hong Kong for the better teaching of English. In all, in these years, the University gave facilities for higher education to about 2000 students domiciled or educated at Hong Kong schools - about half of the total for these years. Apart from a foundation contribution that came from Canton, the Colony received no grant or assistance from any of the territories from which its students were drawn.\n\n7. The Committee considered as an alternative to a reconstituted...", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 581218, "series_id": 27, "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine", "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946", "page_number": 209, "title": "CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946", "content_text": "## 3\n\nThe help, except in the provision of a site, was trifling. Clearly the University was established with no understanding of what modern University work is bound to cost. A few endowments were accumulated. The Rockefeller Trustees gave a partial endowment of chairs in Surgery, Medicine, and Gynaecology; Messrs. John Swire and Company gave equipment for Engineering, and a sum of £265,000 was assigned to the University from the British share of the Chinese Boxer Indemnity Funds to be a permanent endowment for general purposes. Local funds were invested for high interest in local and Shanghai mortgages. Recent happenings in Shanghai have permanently reduced the possessions of the University. Scholarships provided out of the funds of various Chinese Provincial Governments gradually declined until only one remained (Statement of the University's finances is in appendix).\n\n## 9\n\nIn 1937 the Governor, as Chancellor of the University, set up a Committee of the University Court with Mr. N.L. Smith as Chairman, to survey the affairs of the University. It was obvious that as an instrument of British Policy towards China the University was achieving little and as an institution of Hong Kong education it was too costly. The Committee made useful proposals of economies but strongly supported the view that the University must maintain more than a merely local reference. The present Committee is, in fact, a consequence of the 1937 Committee. Mr. A. Morse, a member of the Committee, became Treasurer of the University and made major reforms in University finance which convinced the Government of the reasonableness of raising its annual grant to the University from Hong Kong dollars 100,000 to 350,000 (i.e., from £6,250 to £21,875). In 1939 Sir Geoffrey Northcote, the Governor, set up another Committee of the University Court to consider what could be done within the limits of the funds available, to widen and extend the University's activities, not only for the benefit of Hong Kong, but in the interests of friendly relations with China. This Committee's Report, of which a summary is in `H.K.U.A.C. No.22`, was accepted by the Governor and sent with his strong support to the Secretary of State. The Committee had realised that even the very modest proposals for development that it ventured to make would cost far more than was a fair charge on Colonial resources and that if the political function of the University was regarded as of importance, it was essential that His Majesty's Government should help both by way of an initial grant for development and of annual grants for maintenance.\n\n## 10\n\nThe Vice-Chancellor was deputed to visit London in the University vacation of 1939. The Colonial Office was disposed to support the schemes of development and aided very materially in gaining the goodwill of the Foreign Office.\n\nThe outbreak of war put an end to conversations, but the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in a letter to the Governor of Hong Kong dated November 9th, 1939, gave his approval to the scheme of development, suggested that a beginning should be made towards its achieving, and quoted the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Halifax, as sharing his view that \"the University was a valuable instrument for propagating British ideals and spreading British influence in China, and that it should be given all the support and assistance possible in increasing its influence in those respects\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-594-1 Rehabilitation of Hong Kong University. For extracted photographs see CN 3-45- Advisory Committee report 29-3-1946 - 3-7-1946.txt", "external_url": "", "rank": 0 } ]