[
    {
        "id": 241300,
        "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": "CO129-062 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [1-3]",
        "page_number": 325,
        "title": "CO129-062 - Sir Bowring - 1857 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "The Hongkong Register. \n\n24 \n\nNO. 6. FEBRUARY 10, 1857. \n\nLeaving his shop, which was to be burned, to take While we cannot fail to admire the philosophic ed; a largeness of thought, which has some of the effect of lantry and self-devotion to which he pished briefly\n\nestrup They think in lakhs and pounds, of provinces advert. There were on board the Birkenhead, in að- sare itself, and carrying biz \"pate in peril\" into view which our contemporary tales of this as fut parishes, of populations and classes of society. Mondition to the soldiers, a number of women and children a place where it could be more easily cut off. To every other great question, we must confess our we have seen race to warm the Katrs se children, and sick persons. The discipline exhibited by the troops as the inference is natural, that he feared to lose selves at a loss in arriving at way thing like a Tinta Joelity, cannot regard & Katie war i\n\nwyl:tu-\n\nhis family, and knowing he would do so if he repractical solution of his vast problem. It is, in its purtent. Tee who saw a badron more numbered and while the vessel was going to pieces under their feet was efficient than that of the Mediterranean despatched to Kanot remarkable. The only boats available were filled mained here, unless he first of all lost his life, he present unwieldy hulk and shapeless outline, too goon sus phrase, canol consider air davedition to Naples with the women and children, und went off from the fled with them to save himself, taking with him, as many for ue. It is like the discovery of a new very exfestive effort. Even the advance of Rusis which ship's side; so that the officers Kil soldiers, remaining he supposed, the lives of a large number of foreign-planet outside all our known sidereal system, and which has seen the red ine in a single reigu embrace King means of safety, and, calm and motionless, awaited the swallows comicis in a year, per less strange to a public on deck, deliberately deprived themselves of their only ers as a peace offering to the Mandarins; perhaps which we must consequently take upon trust of doms grew in a Frapoan houseby. This disposition, sinking of the messe). Their noble conduct was well also calculating that in the event of the poison the mathematician's calculations. When the however, though wo adnit its advai rugs, las one very described by Captain Wright, one of the survivors, who\n\nserious drawback. It war's triday to their true proportion, carrying off a large number, he would be more Friend has added the three or four hundred but it blinds us somewhat to tou alcance of the events\n\nu a private letter, said that all the odiders received their with us mattips round 1, the said that all the odiders received their with us mattips round 1, the sunly vir rus taan indemnified for what he lost here. Waat he 1 millions of China, to the hundred and fly with Stienst the account of ties attack Chaton, que af bucking, lastead of going to she bottom; that, indeed, orders and had them carried out as if the men were êm-\n\nspeculded ist um 1 effeat at focision would exorci never saw an crabarkation conducted with such\n\nan\n\nthe boats were filled with women and children, and fer a war of conquest, the Exeter Hall wit be clamorets must inevitably be swamped if their living freight were\n\nwas to lose here was advanced as a reason why he millions of Hindostar, his aggregate becomes a was not likely to commit such a crime; it was ecraething so stupendous, that the very idea cakes n the opium trade Of de few who believe at Sir Johu absence of note and confusion at there was not a however shown, that he was nothing more than sa our breath away, especially if this heterogenous Bowring intends to keep the city, the majority regard the single ery or morietur from any of the men; but, just active, perhaps thriving tradeanan. We say. per- mass of peoples and tribes and nations, is expected as a lead to in inexplicable To Plori before the final plunge a suggestion having been made, polertiary it is said, can have a settled policy lie at that ail who could swim should jump overboard and join haps thriving tradesman, because it may be, that to cohere under the unity of the same Imperial ient is not infected by the with dreams of the? Friend of the boats, the officers begged them not to do so, because if he were able collect his recounts he would be Rule emanating from a geographical speck in the Indiu. aowa sled the Condly ental powera will not per in a position to pay the very heavy debts he owes. Northern seas at a disttee of ten thousandil us to hold land in Cia, Dist Pa-Esment, will not suf perhaps not. Hut, to continue with his statement, tuiles. It is true this is the age of wonders and against the frightful siaughter of them and brothers! Be increased, when the men replied by a cheer and only he takes bread to be consumed by his family on monster undertakings. We are told that distance fort is, and is; be, it is said, a mers provali, rifuru three of them attempted to reach the bonds (Heat the passage, and to be given away to his friendsinis anihilated. We are at this moment putting in the Earoy will not have the mears to follow our bear.) This net of chol keroism, which had been es\n\nIt may guntoran, Tha bombardment, and virtual timated at its full value, not in this country alone but lus native village. Strange to say his liberality in electric girdle around our Indian dominions, conquers of the third city in the wori thay be simply an abroad, and find done much to sustain, and even su czise, commences on board of the steamer, and we find which will virtually establish our imperial presence \"incident.\" The tempt to retain it may be premature, or the high character of our army for unflinching diset- biru cutting up the not very large supply of four at Calcutta and Delhi, and carry the imperial fiat may be overbell, or y bu rastrate by the Jealousy of\n\nother European powers. But it may also be, that another pline, was beyond all praise. This result was in a greet loaves among a dozen people! Then we are told for peace or war and all the main issues of gov stroke los sounlod of the great passing ball which this Can- incasure due to the efforts of Colonel Scatoo, who was he offered 50 and eventually $100 if the crument, to eur most distant borders, in less than sury is ringing veus the ions of the Bast. Bin your certainly no ordinary man, and who rare talent for own view of the subject is upon to grave question \"Sir gaining the effections of the soldiers unter his command steaner would go back to Hongkong that night, the fortieth part of \"forty minutes.\" Even at\n\nJohn Bowring, the qua phitose e Gadici, is not and moulding them to his will had trained these men, the offer being made after the fires were put out, the same put are the solitudes of the the great ways for the sake of falling on his face. most of whom were young and untried levies, to face It must have been one of Ahlum's unlucky days Euphrates Valley, hitherto but the lonely halting His sotions at least indicate something very like a settled danger and death with unshaken fortitude. (Hear, hear.) in which so many extraordinarily suspicioua cir- place of the wild Bedouin, being broken in upoti detuviction, Frau is not about to oppase, for the men of An equal meed was due to all the other officers and men cumstances were arrayed against him, though his by the heralds of our civilization, as they map it the grims were in the breach, and the Muleur values prosent on this trying. occasion, (Hear, hear.) The patente cordial. While France and England net in ect, youngest officer of the regiment, to whore life was full Inek certainly was in the ascendant on the trial, as it for that iron road which shall convey a future\n\nit masters very little whed the reader of Barope chriose of hope and promise, trod the deck by the side of his to fancy in the mater. Nor is it at certain that he blow the result shews. To go on to other points, we have British Viceroy within a week from St. Jamess to\n\ncommander with an em a step, and looked upon the will be misouderstand at home. Lord Palingesson is still first of all his numerous contradictory statement the Ganges.\n\nghastly horrors of death with as much travery and com- dietacor, and likely to remain no, and it was lord Palmer- as to whether ho was going, or not going to leav-\n\neton who said that one day we should be compelled to co-\n\nposure as those who had been longest ingred to peril ing Hongkong. He tells the public in a chop; i\n\nquer China\n\n(Haar.) He (Mr Gordon) did not think'it too late to That grent Seligious body which you call Exe fer Hall, and which when in earnest is evorger than a the\n\nmark the country's sense of the discipline and heroisuz of men who liad thus calmly sacrificed their lives la savo\n\nIt will no doubt be argued,-if we have thus\n\nJudia, while\n\nis not on the side of Manchester. Every religiosa peper others, and he therefore begged to put the question uf\n\nnien\n\nthat he feguing he tells people that he fears centralized our rule and comenlidated our power he must go, at the very time he had his worthy over the vast continent of India, giving the philosophers in the kingdes, on the snigeer of amuxation aid grandmother's letter in his pocket which ad- blessings of peace and goed government to itaf mack in England approves the unexation of Use. The which he had given notice. (Tere, hear.) vised him to remain, aud on which advice he said long oppressed and plundered races, shall we repeated murders of Missionaria, the prepetual insults co Sir G. Grey said that every one acqualated with dew he intended to act. We have bie final assertion | shrink from a similar mission upon thus, waere Christianity, avove ail de up-rising of a new high which,citemstances just described he his hon. friend must\n\nbe it what it may, is founded on the Bible, have borne teir\n\nIt la nut vo ceronic a many insgime that the len filly concur in the feeling tribute which he had paid to that he would not go home, and by way of every enormity of misrule and every phase of it.\"\n\nthe gallart and devoted band of British officers and adencher the purchase of a cargo of word; net social disruption and suffering, seem to cry aloud pounders even will protest. The sales about the mild Hit-\n\nwho lost their lives on the melancholy occasion of the withstanding all this he does go. He is brought to the Invader in the naine of our curamundou which slinded Fatope for half a centary, have never\n\nbeen circulated about the Chinese. That race is underated wreck of the Birkenhead. This act of cole daring, per- back, tried, and found not guilty, and the crime humanity; and shall we shrink from this great duty very nearly in its true character, as one in which disgusting furitest by men who were not inspired by the incentives\n\nuncenaid by a cruelty abhorrent the warat is now laid to the charge of two abeconding fore. solely through fear of offending political jeal seriguality\n\nor surmanded with the glory and excitement of the bat men, who, far any thing we see that could be! Ousica, and because of the sgnitude of the of the ropean peoples. It is just possible,we write in tlefield, bat under circumstances in which there were no mumise deference to the community who deals in api approving eyes to see them, deterred to equal measure brought against them, might return and take their enterprise? Its mognitede is, after all perhaps, that England say vitare le approve. And then-\n\nof admiration and gratitude with the brightest achieve. trial, in all confidence that the black deed could more Collossal than formidable. It may be that!\n\nIt is useless to predict, when the event inust so speedy ments in our military history. (Hear, hear.) With it will be found to lie cather in pussive bulk and falsify or realize all speculations. But if ever Cons of these sentiments Her Majesty's Guvernment were co- be proved by no evidence that would satisfy helpless inertia, than in any vigorous and intrinsic a failug Empire wore laiby on the fan of any land they tainly prepared to take into consideration the propriety jury of this place.\n\nThere is one consolatory point of view in this China would be but the double of what we have den up sing from below, but of its wir rotenness. The referred to. (Hear, hear.)-Times, July 19,\n\ngreatness. Numerically, the task before us in apparent in China gow, The Central Goverment is\n\nof erecting some permanent memorial of the description dying, not of any attack from without, ast event of any sad- had business, it is the fact, that the English public\n\nActually achieved are not bland thiresy, and that an Baglish jury effort it would seem to sink into insignificance in which, whatever the Manchester actout may say, a national Military people weighed down by their scaldbrug civilization have Just all the virtues which spring of strength, and without will do what it believes to be ste duty, even al though that inty may run counter, not only, to the comparison. We are year by year, doubling eztaremos a net posible. They have not even pride, for outside prefice, but even to the opinion of the and quadrupling with success, every domain of their exclusivisin is rather that of a Spanish aristoorsey than a healthy self-assertion, A new creed with some of our productive system; shall we then besitate, if the renate et Christianity and all the ferocity of Judziem judge on the bench. fa that view the trial is a great triumph. Perhaps the Chinese may not our Destiny thrust it upon us, to double the area is striving to attain dominion, as the Huguenots strove, and understand it, perhaps they may think that, what of cur Indo-deminions, and the census of unred. The sticial caste, selectal by competitive examira\n\nconquered populations? the Attorney Gencral happily designated judiciome prodigality\" may have bought justice to At present, however, all such magnificent con- turnside its blow-We cannot help that and must captions as these are remote and shadowy and so- trust to further teaching. In our first Burmese war the same brutal proceedings were carried on see our forces held at bay on the very threshaid of ash a handful of marines, is an fecere by the social ty time he has learned the value of a chapeau and sword, against as as are now being carried ou by the the Friend's great enterprise, the discussion of company predaniant for cudurfer, that it dare not even leave Since this zaemorable event, however, things have gone\n\nthe city til Fel ne given permansson. That ly to mu Chinese-poisoning and massaure-two years after quest seems premature. Still it is the first office thinking the frature of the recent angle. There are towar on asal. Nothing daunted, var countrymen #sad the commencement of that wor one of the ablest of the politician to forecast the future, especially in the world whose poputation would have forn Sir M. Say-still crowd the offices of the legations in London and Paris, chieftains, who had been among the moet ruthless on the eve of such an undertaking as we find our lab for lane. Tasre are tone the population of demand an introduction to Majesty. General Cad- of our opponents, issued an orier, that every before us at Canton, and in this view the disens- there is another town on earth in which a million of people, Dallas, sed made has appearance at court iu full military which would have'iled in parte terror. Bat we question if walleder, of Pennsylvania, has been presented by Mr. English soldier captured abonid be spared, and sion even of remote possibilitica can do no harm. with death raining over head, dared neither a fight car fly costume, wearing a badge of the Order of Cincinnati well treated. Let us hope we may have similar While we cannot follow our contemporary into Nothing but an iron social organization, noting on a rane half a yard sung No mistake about him. Another results from similar conduct in China.\n\nhis tremendous scheme of \"building up second produced such a result. Tits & resil Romsun Famples, an\n\ndeprived of the smallest capacity for Freedora. would have personage has also had his card endorsed by the cham- which cannot endace, berlain-Mr. Hart, of Philadelphia--and he had the\n\nAMERICAN PRESENTATIONS AT European Courte\n\nThe following appears In the New York Herald :— By the last accounts from Europo we learn there has been no new phase at court of an alarming character. The peace of the world not having been disturbed by tien. has all the cold cruelty of the doctrinaires hour thus Rystem fosters without the inzen which sometime gives\n\nthe contretemps of the West Point Professor, there is then strength. The gread Mansela robs the trader, and reason to believe that the secretary of state will not be retis any coin but wirh a specis: stamp. The Governor called on to communicate with Me. Dellas on the inher General pepitates two hunted a day, and teaches his ent vid clolites rights of mankind in genersi and Ameri\n\ncans in particolar. The embarrassment of Mr. Dallas is\n\nme what out of place; while to us upon the spot who Braves to make faces to frighten the Barbarians to their\n\nshipe The great population of Cantem, 100 cowardly to over, and the Weat Pelne professor has retreated. By this\n\nAnglo-Indian Bapire,\" we het Bonod to admit and the vale help scene to be, ay in the OWING to the prisoning case, a great clamor has that mighty contingencies are even at this ma-Tuption of the still vigorous barbarians. The Chinzee may lagesally, doubtless, to obtain a court dress from the costatniers at the usual price. Though sat a military been raised us to the necessity of the government, looming the troubled horizon of this; The insurgenta tave not yet predané a caw idea, If men, like Professor Muhau, he was not afraid to have a ment declaring martial law. We hardly think country. In entering upon a campaign against Christians, they are all Chinese, still consider\n\nslaughter the reacties: patl: to domini, still punca sword dangling between his legs. Probably the amiable striel master of ceremonies did not know what un honour he parties clamorous for martial law clearly un- Cant n, it is not impossible that in our very first\n\nexaminations\" as the end of all good urvornment, still ex was conferring on his sovereigu, nor did the Queen derstand wint it is, Martial law tho hand-step we shall have crossed the Rubicon of our hicind the old hawed of light from without,\n\nknow it, either. She wea probably not aware that in ing over to the military, the lives of the civi-destiny in furthermost Asis, and shall ultimately\n\nWe contas, \"herefore, dat we recive without pleasure the her presence stood in very respectable bookseller, and a fians. It existed in Scotland and in Ireland for fad ourselves involved jo anch inextricable com- roport that no material auistance will granted to Sie Hebrew of the Ilebres.\" Grub-street, though itself many long years-read what good it did in either plications, that we shall neither be able to with- John Bowing frota India. It is of erase vais to hope that excluded from the drawing-ruus, might on this pECA- Martial bus was proclaimed at the draw or stand still. The situation even in its berately on the reale of hallding up as Indian Europe, the fraternity Healy, it is time our foreign legations\n\na Government composed of Englishmen will set itauit deli- country.\n\nsion have glorified itself upon the reception of one of Cape of trucù riops (wo haljeve) a few years ag very first phase, is big with the most formidable That is not the English fashion. The gut reault must - were protected from this constant avalunetic of irrel- Bid some excesses committe d'under it were brought presentments ze regards the fature, and with theive slowly, and be in a matter forse day, or sur con- seines will scarcely be at rest. But weistande sufficient\n\nJerz, who, baving acquire money enough spend six Lo the notice of Parliament. Earl Grey had the buribers it may lay at our door. A military oc- to hold Canson Baglish opinion has been pro muaths in Europe, seek every opportunity of infing it al court Godfish and old clothes have heen sufficiently hardihood to defend it. and appeal to the example upation of the Southern capital of China-it might sll be granted. Nobody is India at least, doubts of the Duke, which brought that great nun ou ia banking centre at once the wealthiest and most that the Plenipotendary is in the right. The organent that represented abroad, and the dealers in these articles we have not men to send is after all only proity to look t aloid now hold up. The truth is, we are running our legs to tell Earl Grey he did not know what he turbulent city in the empire, appears inevitable, Europeans are not wanted. A Chinese is just as Pttle privileges it.to the ground. Our foreign minister should was talking about. He said \"I certainly licht The appropriation of the Imperial revenues pro tema, marel for a sens as he is for An Englishmay, and we can decline presenting any but those whe by their public countries occupied by my armies noder martial follows a matter of course, and pro fem. at dolormined fud se What are tes reginents of loc-\n\nula infantry Indin? The gay could be ill up ook dietiverian. Ar eminent man, or an accomplished and services and position at home are fairly untruted to the law, but I did bot administer the crim.onl justice lost, the Imperial Government is supplanted by\n\nand conveyance for them cen, un reluced to a prestin về of those countries. that was done by the ordina. an invading Power, and, once suppisnted, what ry tribunals of the country; and the only persons Seer shall foretell the day of its restoration, with I beld subject to martial law were those composii subduct, and with the evil spirit of centuries so may wild elements of disorder to be first the armies nuder my orden\n\nMartial inw will not mend the matter; and be\n\nyand the summary execution of spies and the de. portation of vagrant Chinese wa kertainly alone not proceed. We have warned the government as to the necessity of vigilance, and we have urged them to adopt proper precautions, but we equally warn them against the brutality of Military Jaw which ought solely to be confined to the regain- tion of military men.\n\nCommunicated)\n\nHepere, There are or cough for hire. What is earful woman, right very well expect this attention- wasted is new men or steamers, but a formal rengusion of thought in some cases within our knowledge, even when it has been intimated to suit that their appearance at of says is to sell cotton. The pher, and it is pochtaps the the faci, waste so low to ac-zpt, that the Anglo-Saxen Te in this mixteenth neutmy has fivo furetless to perform. One court would be agreeable, they have declined the honour\n\nblom infancy, to oper. with a strong hand a pak by\n\nrather than enjoy it with so many of the impurient and\n\nworthy. We propose to publish, as for as possible,\n\nto be scourged out of a stubborn goneration, lor, is to ride, to reduce the Asiatic vices to trends\n\nto us as Captain of Industry, to protect civilation, in the names of those Amereens who, when abroad, auc- We may assure curselves that a discipline such as this, is not the work of a flying campaign; way we must admit it to be quite upon the cards, that complications arising out of the emergency which taker our forces to Centon in our day may find them there in that of our children'\n\ncred in their straggles to encounter royalty, and who which a tesching me powerful tun eyes that of Anow- Ledre, may was its way abroad. We have in how the jungle anmoy our ministers with appications for the privilege. as wel as sell the are, to not as pincere as well as pillars, A curious list it would be. Is is not very ereditable to to be the teachers of truth as well as tre thoney changes of oat country to be thus known through our tuft hunters, clo world friend of India, Derober, 25, 185.\n\nand it is time we should cease trespasilag on the good nature of our legations, and the iegulations which all ther nations conform to without hesitation or uncivility. ---Globe.\n\nRECEIVING SHIPS.\n\nVeseli..\n\nA\n\nCAPTAIN.\n\nOWNERS.\n\nFort William Congkong M Dermott. P. & 6. St. N. Co. vielen Adam\n\nHOUSE OF COMMONS-- Friday, July 18, To our thinking the feature of the present struggle is, that it has come upon us without a\n\nLOSS UP HER MAJKATY'S SHIT \"DIRKINHEAD.” word of warning, noiselessly as the tread of Fate\n\nMr. Gordon anked the first Lord of the Treasury itself, not only without our seeking but after the\n\nwhether he would take into consideration the propišety Ws desire to draw the attention of the readers most humane and patient attempts to avert it;\n\nof erecting, in the chapel of Chrises Hospital, of else where, sone permanent memorial of the gallant auci of this Journal to an able article in the Friend of and that it has now assumed character which self-devoted conduct of the officers and inen lost in Her India of 25th December last, containing some in. admits of no compromise upon our part save an Majesty's ship Birkenhead on the 25th day of Febranty, teresting speculations on the present hostile crisis ignoble and a dangerous one-that we have now to 1832. The hon. member observen that it might be usk- at Canton, and on the possible alternative to which fight it out not merely with the Government of ed why he raised such a question at a perful so long it may give birth, in the progress of what our con- Chine but with the people of Cunton, and nuts the erent to which it referred. Its answer was, temporary assumes to the inevitable Destiny of merely with the people of Canton in the better war way happily terminated and we si evinced our Cast it was not an unfitting time for us, now that the Great Britain in the Eas tite que grand sense, whose pridle we shall subdue, but with gratitude to the army which fought and suffered for us ruling and abs bing Poser. In a word, the its infuriate militia, longer a patriotic soldiery, in the Crimea, to recognize services which, though of a Friend of India is not without hope that the amenable to control, but broken by defeat and peaceful character, were universally admitted to he as existing situation at Canton is but the first step disgrace into a desperate banditti, against whose balliunt and distinguished as Gay recorded in our soun\n\nHarlequin tcy's quands. The circumstances connected with the in a career of conquest, the final result of which ravages their own people will be driven to in-loss of the Birkenhead must be so fresh in the ory shail be. (thongh not necessarily in our day or plore our protection. Such is but a faint outline of all that it would be unnecessary for him to canke sur generation) the absorption of China proper into of the probable work out out for the first batta. hat the most passing allusion to thear. The vessel a our Indian empire. Thisis a bold flight certainly, lions in he landed at Canton-Who shall especially for waxen wings within the melting foret all the end 2\n\nheat of the tropics, and we have only to hope\n\nboth for sake of the advocate and his courc, that\n\nit may not prove an Icaran che.\n\nRENT EVENTS IN CHINA-Angle ladinas negaire, simply from tha tireumians by which they are surround\n\nge tooup ship--was ontployed in encrying to the Cape of Good Hupe the draw;hts of vanous regiments. to the amber of 500 men, under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Seaton, and she sailed from Queenstown in the\n\nWhimay\n\nGarant\n\nBrown\n\nM-Muric\n\nC. S. Lungrana\n\nItunoll & Co.\n\nJard.nu, M. &. Dent & Co.\n\nDent & Co.\n\nJardins, A. & Co Jardine, M. & Co. Dent & Co.\n\nDeat & s\n\n. Heard & Co. Deat, Beale & O Jardine, M. & Co.\n\n8. Sens & Co.\n\nRoger\n\nD. S. Sons & Co.\n\n11\n\nCana Family boluy Itupavil Any\n\nWition\n\n[P. F. Cama & Co.\n\nJameson\n\n33\n\nSwntow\n\nSalva\n\nHongkong\n\nPatinder\n\nLord Aust\n\nTernate\n\nChichen Fitzgibbon\n\nBarton Mahamoudie Folthau Crawford Water Watch\n\nBeby Ann Which\n\nWoosung Endicott\n\nFaily Jane\n\nPiketonu Nimrod Sea Horse\n\n¡Baylis\n\nCali\n\nKappel\n\nP. F. Cana & Co.\n\n17\n\nHenderson musty & Ca\n\nJardine M. & Co,\n\n323",
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    {
        "id": 246073,
        "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": "CO129-071 - Public Offices - 1858",
        "page_number": 169,
        "title": "CO129-071 - Public Offices - 1858",
        "content_text": "## Inclosure 5 in No. 3\n\n**STATEMENT of Sums paid into the Commissariat Treasury Chest from the Postmaster at Hong Kong, from January 1 to December 31, 1857**\n\n| Date | Dollars | Sterling | Total |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| January | 338 | £0 0 0 | 338 0 0 |\n| February | 192 | 15 0 | 192 15 0 |\n| March | 122 | 44 0 0 | 69 8 4 |\n| April | 38 | а 7 | 38 0 7 |\n| May | 230 | 5 0 | 230 5 0 |\n| June | 434 | 0 0 | 434 0 0 |\n| July | 300 | 7 7 | 300 7 7 |\n| August | 297 | 2 0 | 297 2 0 |\n| September | 348 | 19 0 | 348 19 0 |\n| October | 347 | 11 8 | 347 11 8 |\n| November | 369 | 3 0 | 369 3 0 |\n| December | 372 | 0 0 | 372 0 0 |\n| Totals | 3,312 | 3 10 | £25 8s. 4d. |\n\nIn sterling £3,337 12 2\n\nCommissariat, China, Canton, March 24, 1858.\n\n(Signed) **W. TYRONE POWER, Deputy Commissary-General**\n\n## Inclosure 6 in No. 3\n\n**STATEMENT of Sums paid into the Commissariat Treasury Chest by the Military Storekeeper, from January 1 to December 31, 1857**\n\n| Date | Dollars | Sterling | Total |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| January | 1,234 | 24 19 2 | 282 0 10 |\n| February | 430 | 8 12 6 | ... |\n| March | 781 | 15 13 4 | 402 3 5 |\n| April | 320 | 0 16 8 | ... |\n| May | 564 | 17 7 | 67 10 0 |\n| June | 217 | 18 6 | ... |\n| July | 2,031 | 44 0 4 | 467 2 10 |\n| August | 351 | 7 6 9 | 110 2 11 |\n| September | 1,119 | 0 1 7 | 233 4 1 |\n| October | 637 | 13 4 | 223 10 10 |\n| November | 974 | 78 13 1 | 281 11 5 |\n| Totals | 8,377 | 1,319 12 11 | 3,004 17 1 |\n\nIn sterling £1,745 4s. 2d.\n\nCommissariat, China, Canton, March 24, 1858.\n\n(Signed) **W. TYRONE POWER, Deputy Commissary-General**\n\n## No. 4\n\n**Memorandum by Mr. Arbuthnot**\n\nSIR CHARLES TREVELYAN has, in his paper dated the 8th June last, brought under the notice of the Government, in a striking point of view, the heavy charge to which the public has been subjected in raising funds for the Treasury Chest at Hong Kong. As the measure of the loss incurred is the difference between the rate at which the dollar is issued for pay and salaries, according to the terms of the Proclamation of 1844, and the cost of procuring that coin at the current rate of exchange, he has, not unnaturally, attributed the inconvenience to the effect of that Proclamation, and sought a remedy in an alteration of its provisions. I am afraid, however, that a more extended consideration of the monetary condition of China will, at least, raise a doubt regarding the propriety of this conclusion, or the efficacy of the proposed remedy. It may indeed, be found that the Proclamation of 1844 has tended to aggravate the inconvenience complained of, but a doubt may arise whether this effect has not been owing to inherent defects in the system established, and whether, consequently, in seeking palliatives by an adaptation of the same system to altered circumstances, the remedy may not prove to be worse than the disease.\n\nI am far from presuming to think that the opinions which I have formed on this very complicated question are beyond dispute; but I shall best discharge the duty which has been imposed upon me, if I state candidly the reasons which have led me to found on admitted facts conclusions opposed to those contained in Sir Charles Trevelyan's Memorandum.\n\nIt is observed that the settlement of the currency of Hong Kong in 1844 was one of a series of operations upon the currency of the British Colonies which began in 1838. These operations commenced in the West Indies, and I think that much light will be thrown on the subject if we can ascertain the reasons why the system, which obtained complete success in that quarter of the globe, has been productive only of confusion in China. The principles which govern metallic currency are of universal application. It may be assumed as an axiom that no regulation which contravenes those principles can have permanent success; and in case a system, which has been proved by experience to work efficiently in one country, fails in its operation in another, we may surely predicate, not that the theory on which the system is founded is at fault, but that some material condition has been overlooked, which prevents its effectual application.\n\nInto the West Indies, as into other American Colonies, the British settlers carried with them originally the form of money accounts of the mother-country; but as the supply of coins for circulation was obtained from the Spanish provinces, it became necessary to adapt them to the system of account in use, by rating each for currency according to its supposed value expressed in the terms of British money. The errors to which this necessity gave rise, and the causes of them, have been so clearly and accurately described in Mr. Pennington's work on the currency of the British Colonies, that it is unnecessary to enter here into particulars. It is sufficient to observe that in each Colony different rates were assigned to the coins of Spain and South America. Arbitrary valuations were adopted without regard to any principle, and the confusion applied not only to the silver coins but to the gold coins in circulation. Hence the pound currency represented in no Colony the value of the pound sterling, and in each Colony a different value. The confusion arising from local legislation was further complicated by the proceedings of the Home Government. In the West Indies the doubloon was generally overvalued relatively to the dollar, and gold became, therefore, practically the standard of value in those Colonies. The Order in Council of 1825, however, referred only to the silver coinage, and a higher rate was thus declared 4s. 4d. sterling to be equal to the dollar.\n\nI wish here to remark, that most of the information which I have obtained on questions relating to currency, was originally derived from facts and observations obligingly furnished to me by Mr. Pennington. Further inquiry and experience has only served to satisfy me of the soundness of the principles and the great accuracy which characterise his writings on this intricate science. It gives me confidence in the opinions which I have expressed, to learn, on communication with Mr. Pennington, that he concurs in my conclusions on the subject.",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-139 - Sir MacDonnell - 1869 [8-12]",
        "page_number": 270,
        "title": "CO129-139 - Sir MacDonnell - 1869 [8-12]",
        "content_text": "266\n\nas purpose, all the Foreign Population under Police supervision should, in fairness, be included in Hong-kong, as well as Shanghai. The Census Returns from which that total was taken do not profess to include soldiers and seamen. Now, the Foreign Population, including seamen and soldiers, as well as residents and others from Goa, Manila and India, has for years been more than double the number stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, and was, at the last Census, shown to be 7,699, a number which at once makes an error of more than 50 per cent in all Mr. JOHNSTON's comparative statements. (Vide Appendix A.)\n\n5. Again, it may be true that there are 113 Europeans, and 328 Indians in the Police of Hongkong, and only 39 European Police at Shanghai, if the Consular staff, and that of the Supreme Court be omitted. It is not, however, true, as assumed by Mr. JOHNSTON (par. 7), that the Chinese portion of the force is useful only against Natives, which assertion is evidently intended to lead the reader to infer that the Foreign Police are useful only against Foreigners. There is no such distinction. The European and Native Force act indiscriminately, whether in the city, or whether in the outlying villages and harbor, which latter duties alone engage 200 of the force.\n\n6. The proportion, therefore, of Hongkong Police to the total population-121,000-which it supervises is 1 to 191, and the proportion of Foreign Police to Foreign residents is nearly 1 to 70.\n\n7. Misstatements of the materiel and working of the Police force are, however, of little consequence compared with the unnoticed fact that in Shanghai there is only a small level and compact space, and a native population thereon to be watched, whose comparatively peaceful and docile character enables them to be governed with peculiar facility, especially as the Chinese authorities lend material assistance on the spot. In Hongkong, there is no such help. The resident population is far larger than that under supervision of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, whilst it is, moreover, continually recruited with professional criminals from the most restless and turbulent Provinces of the Chinese Empire, so that Hongkong may be said to be in a constant state of siege from without.\n\n8. In Hongkong, moreover, the hills and valleys have to be watched and patrolled. Numerous outstations are maintained, and the Police employed on many duties which never occur at all at Shanghai, and in the absence of which, it would be essentially unnecessary to maintain so large a force as is required by the special peculiarities of Hongkong, whether geographical or moral.\n\n26.\n\n9. Nevertheless, no ignorance of special circumstances can be held to justify a wanton distortion of statistical returns, or the incorrect statement, (par. 9), that in 1868, there were at Hongkong, 1,033 convictions of Foreigners under the head of \"Murder, Manslaughter, Robbery with Violence, Assault, Larceny, Kidnapping, Unlawful Possession...\n\number of Foreigners,\n\n10. The subjoined analysis of the 1,033 convictions of percentage was not 29 as stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, but convictions is due the heads given by Mr. JOHNSTON was not 1,000, common Assault or Disturbance on board ship. (Vide Appendix B.)\n\n20 per cent or (1a:\n\n1868, shows that the total also shows the number of of which 2 were cases of\n\n11. Under Piracy, Kidnapping, and Murder, which Mr. JOHNSTON puts forward so prominently (par. 9) as three of the classes of \"serious\" crime committed by Foreigners in Hongkong, not even one case occurred!\n\n12. Finally, if both for Hongkong and Shanghai the cases of Assault, which are generally trivial, and unfit to be classed with Felonies, and if also the minor offences, such as Drunkenness, Refusal of Duty, &c., be deducted from the totals in each place, the serious crimes committed by Foreigners will be found to have been in the ratio of 1.5 per cent to the population in Shanghai in 1868, and of only 1 per cent to the population of Hongkong,\n\n13. Nevertheless, Mr. JOHNSTON did not scruple to assert that the proportion of \"serious crime\" to Foreigners in Hongkong was 29 per cent, an inexcusable misrepresentation, which I respectfully trust this Government will cause to be corrected, as such misstatement by their Secretary in no way improves the position of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, a body whose excellent administration is generally acknowledged.\n\nAppendix A)\n\nEXTRACT from No. I-Census of HONGKONG, including the MILITARY and NAVAL DEPARTMENTS, 1st June, 1869.\n\nNo. of Houses.\nNo. of BOATS.\nPOPULATION.\nTOTAL.\n\nEuropeans and Americans, Resident Population, Europeans, Military,\n\nMen. Women. Boys. Girls.\n\nEuropeans and Americans, Naval Establishments,\n\n581 68\n\nEuropeans and Americans, Crews of Mercantile Shipping in the Harbour,\n\n323 61\n\nEuropeans and Americans, Temporary Residents,\n\n980 228\n\nEuropeans and Americans, Prisoners,\n\n70 3\n\nTotal of Europeans and Americans,\n\n3,570\n\nGoa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Resident Population,\n\n685 384\n\nGoa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Crews of Mercantile Shipping in the Harbour,.. Indians, Military,\n\n841\n\nGoa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Prisoners,\n\n91 4\n\nTotal of Indians, &c.,\n\n4,880\n\nGrand Total,..\n\n7,199\n\nALFRED LISTER, Acting Registrar General.\n\nAppendix B.\n\nRETURN of CONVICTIONS of Foreigners for Serious and Minor Crimes and Offences, during 1868, in Hongkong.\n\nRobbery with Violence.\n1\n\nBurglary.\n3\n\nAssault with Intent to rob.\n04\n\nLarceny.\n1*\nDisturbance on board ship and Assaults.\n235\n\nGambling.\n15\n\nKidnapping.\n\nManslaughter.\n1\n\nUnlawful Possession.\n3\n\nPiracy.\n0\nDrunkenness.\n444\n\nNuisances.\n154\n\nNeglect and Refusal of Duty.\n\nExtortion.\n\nRogues & Vagabonds.\n\nDamaging Property,\n\nBreath of Gaol Ordinance.\n1\nBreath of Public Vehicles, Ordinance.\n\nObtaining goods under false pretences.\n\nTOTAL.\n1,033\n\nEstimate of Foreign Population, including Soldiers and Seamen,\n7,199\n\nRatio of Convictions for Serious Crimes.........\n1.0 per cent\n\nAssaults and Disturbances on board ship, Minor Offences,\n4.2 per cent.\n\n3.2\n\n9.0\n\nB2\n\nW. M. DEANE,\n\nCaptain Superintendent of Police.\n\nTo\n\nThe Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN,\n\nColonial Secretary,\n\nHongkong\n\nRespectfully submitted,\n\nW. M. DEANE, Captain Superintendent of Police.\n\nPage 270\n\nPage 271",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-145 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1870 [6-9]",
        "page_number": 366,
        "title": "CO129-145 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1870 [6-9]",
        "content_text": "# \npurpose, all the Foreign Population under Police supervision should, in fairness, be included in Hong-kong, as well as Shanghai. The Census Returns from which that total was taken do not profess to include soldiers and seamen. Now, the Foreign Population, including seamen and soldiers, as well as residents and others from Goa, Manila and India, has for years been more than double the number stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, and was, at the last Census, shown to be 7,699, a number which at once makes an error of more than 50 per cent in all Mr. JOHNSTON'S comparative statements. (`Vide` Appendix A.)\n\n5. Again, it may be true that there are 113 Europeans, and 328 Indians in the Police of Hongkong, and only 39 European Police at Shanghai, if the Consular staff, and that of the Supreme Court be omitted. It is not, however, true, as assumed by Mr. JOHNSTON (par. 7), that the Chinese portion of the force is useful only against Natives, which assertion is evidently intended to lead the reader to infer that the Foreign Police are useful only against Foreigners. There is no such distinction. The European and Native Force act indiscriminately, whether in the city, or whether in the outlying villages and harbor, which latter duties alone engage 200 of the force.\n\n6. The proportion, therefore, of Hongkong Police to the total population-121,000-which it supervises is 1 to 191, and the proportion of European Police to Foreign residents is nearly 1 to 70.\n\n7. Misstatements of the materiel and working of the Police force are, however, of little consequence compared with the unnoticed fact that in Shanghai there is only a small level and compact space, and a native population thereon to be watched, whose comparatively peaceful and docile character enables them to be governed with peculiar facility, especially as the Chinese authorities lend material assistance on the spot. In Hongkong, there is no such help. The resident population is far larger than that under supervision of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, whilst it is, moreover, continually recruited with professional criminals from the most restless and turbulent Provinces of the Chinese Empire, so that Hongkong may be said to be in a constant state of siege from without.\n\n8. In Hongkong, moreover, the hills and valleys have to be watched and patrolled. Numerous outstations are maintained, and the Police employed on many duties which never occur at all at Shanghai, and in the absence of which, it would be essentially unnecessary to maintain so large force as is required by the special peculiarities of Hongkong, whether geographical or moral.\n\n3\n\n9. Nevertheless, no ignorance of special circumstances can be held to justify a wanton distortion of statistical returns, or the incorrect statement, (par. 9), that in 1868, there were at Hongkong, 1,033 convictions of Foreigners under the head of \"Murder, Manslaughter, Robbery with Violence, Assault, Larceny, Kidnapping, Unlawful Possession and Piracy,\" amounting to 29 per cent on the number of Foreigners.\n\n10. The subjoined analysis of the 1,033 convictions of Foreigners in 1868, shows that the total percentage was not 29 as stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, but 13.2. It also shows that the number of convictions under the heads given by Mr. Johnston was not 1,033, but 334, of which 255 were cases of common Assault or Disturbance on board ship. (`Vide` Appendix B.)\n\n11. Under Piracy, Kidnapping, and Murder, which Mr. JOHNSTON puts forward so prominently (par. 9) as three of the classes of \"serious\" crime committed by Foreigners in Hongkong, not even one case occurred!\n\n12. Finally, if both for Hongkong and Shanghai the cases of Assault, which are generally trivial, and unfit to be classed with Felonies, and if also the minor offences, such as Drunkenness, Refusal of Duty, &c., be deducted from the totals in each place, the serious crimes committed by Foreigners will be found to have been in the ratio of 1.5 per cent to the population in Shanghai in 1868, and of only 1 per cent to the population of Hongkong.\n\n13. Nevertheless, Mr. JOHNSTON did not scruple to assert that the proportion of \"serious crime\" to Foreigners in Hongkong was 20 per cent, an inexcusable misrepresentation, which I respectfully trust this Government will cause to be corrected, as such misstatement by their Secretary in no way improves the position of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, a body whose excellent administration is generally acknowledged.\n\nBown\n\n## Appendix A.\n\n359\n\nExtract from No. 1.—Census of Hongkong, including the MILITARY and NAVAL DEPARTMENTS, 1st June, 1869.\n\n| Category | No. of Houses | No. of Boats | Men | Women | Boys | Girls | TOTAL POPULATION |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Europeans and Americans, Resident Population |  |  | 523 | 323 | 581 | 62 | 1,489 |\n| Europeans, Military |  |  | 982 | 50 |  |  | 1,032 |\n| Europeans and Americans, Naval Establishments |  |  | 763 |  |  |  | 763 |\n| Europeans and Americans, Crews of Mercantile Shipping in the Harbour |  |  | 2,289 |  |  |  | 2,289 |\n| Europeans and Americans, Temporary Residents |  |  | 720 |  |  |  | 720 |\n| Europeans and Americans, Prisoners |  |  | 130 |  |  |  | 130 |\n| Total of Europeans and Americans |  |  |  |  |  |  | 6,403 |\n| Goa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Resident Population |  |  | 585 | 384 | 341 | 4 | 1,314 |\n| Goa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Crews of Mercantile Shipping in the Harbour |  |  | 820 | 91 | 45 |  | 956 |\n| Indians, Military |  |  | 997 |  |  |  | 997 |\n| Goa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Prisoners |  |  | 22 |  |  |  | 22 |\n| Total of Indians, &c. |  |  |  |  |  |  | 2,599 |\n| Grand Total |  |  |  |  |  |  | 7,699 |\n\nF. ALFRED LISTER, Acting Registrar General.\n\n## Appendix B.\n\nRETURN of CONVICTIONS of Foreigners for Serious and Minor Crimes and Offences, during 1868, in Hongkong.\n\n| Offence | Number |\n| --- | --- |\n| Burglary | 3 |\n| Assault with Intent to do grievous bodily harm | 4 |\n| Larceny | 105 |\n| Manslaughter | 2 |\n| Disturbance on board ship and Assaults | 250 |\n| Garabling | 2 |\n| Kidnapping | 0 |\n| Unlawful Possession | 0 |\n| Piracy | 0 |\n| Drunkenness | 444 |\n| Nuisances | 15 |\n| Neglect and Refusal of Duty | 59 |\n| Extortion | 6 |\n| Rogues & Vagabonds | 17 |\n| Damaging Property | 31 |\n| Breach of Gaol Ordinance | 15 |\n| Breach of Public Vehicles Ordinance | 1 |\n| False pretences | 14 |\n| Obtaining goods under false pretences | 1 |\n| TOTAL | 1,033 |\n\nEstimate of Foreign Population, including Soldiers and Seamen | 7,100\nRatio of Convictions for Serious Crimes | 1.0 per cent\nAssaults and Disturbances on board ship, Minor Offences | 4.2 per cent\n\nW. M. DEANE, Captain Superintendent of Police.\n\nTo\n\nThe Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN,\n\nColonial Secretary,\n\nHongkong,\n\nRespectfully submitted,\n\nW. M. DEANE, Captain Superintendent of Police.",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-152 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [9-10]",
        "page_number": 340,
        "title": "CO129-152 - Lieut Governor Whitfield - 1871 [9-10]",
        "content_text": "# purpose, all the Foreign Population under Police supervision should, in fairness, be included in Hong-kong, as well as Shaughai. \nThe Census Returns from which that total was taken do not profess to include soldiers and seamen. \nNow, the Foreign Population, including seamen and soldiers, as well as residents and others from Goa, Manila and India, has for years been more than double the number stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, and was, at the last Census, shown to be 7,699, a number which at once makes an error of more than 50 per cent in all Mr. JOHNSTON's comparative statements. \n(Vide `Appendix A`.)\n\n\n5. Again, it may be true that there are 113 Europeans, and 328 Indians in the Police of Hongkong, and only 39 European Police at Shanghai, if the Consular staff, and that of the Supreme Court be omitted. \nIt is not, however, true, as assumed by Mr. JOHNSTON (par. 7), that the Chinese portion of the force is useful only against Natives, which assertion is evidently intended to lead the reader to infer that the Foreign Police are useful only against Foreigners. \nThere is no such distinction. \nThe European and Native Force act indiscriminately, whether in the city, or whether in the outlying villages and harbor, which latter duties alone engage 200 of the force.\n\n\n6. The proportion, therefore, of Hongkong Police to the total population-121,000-which it supervises is 1 to 191, and the proportion of European Police to Foreign residents is nearly 1 to 70.\n\n\n7. Misstatements of the materiel and working of the Police force are, however, of little consequence compared with the unnoticed fact that in Shanghai there is only a small level and compact space, and a native population thereon to be watched, whose comparatively peaceful and docile character enables them to be governed with peculiar facility, especially as the Chinese authorities lend material assistance on the spot. \nIn Hongkong, there is no such help. \nThe resident population is far larger than that under supervision of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, whilst it is, moreover, continually recruited with professional criminals from the most restless and turbulent Provinces of the Chinese Empire, so that Hongkong may be said to be in a constant state of siege from without.\n\n\n8. In Hongkong, moreover, the hills and valleys have to be watched and patrolled. \nNumerous outstations are maintained, and the Police employed on many duties which never occur at all at Shanghai, and in the absence of which, it would be essentially unnecessary to maintain so large a force as is required by the special peculiarities of Hongkong, whether geographical or moral.\n\n\n9. Nevertheless, no ignorance of special circumstances can be held to justify a wanton distortion of statistical returns, or the incorrect statement, (par. 9), that in 1868, there were at Hongkong, 1,033 convictions of Foreigners under the head of \"Murder, Manslaughter, Robbery with Violence, Assault, Larceny, Kidnapping, Unlawful Possession and Piracy,\" amounting to 29 per cent on the number of Foreigners.\n\n\n10. The subjoined analysis of the 1,033 convictions of Foreigners in 1868, shows that the total percentage was not 29 as stated by Mr. JOHNSTON, but 13.2. \nIt also shows that the number of convictions under the heads given by Mr. Johnston was not 1,083, but 334, of which 255 were cases of common Assault or Disturbance on board ship. \n(Vide `Appendix B`.)\n\n\n11. Under Piracy, Kidnapping, and Murder, which Mr. JOHNSTON puts forward so prominently (par. 9) as three of the classes of \"serious\" crime committed by Foreigners in Hongkong, not even one case occurred!\n\n\n12. Finally, if both for Hongkong and Shanghai the cases of Assault, which are generally trivial, and unfit to be classed with Felonies, and if also the minor offences, such as Drunkenness, Refusal of Duty, &c., be deducted from the totals in each place, the serious crimes committed by Foreigners will be found to have been in the ratio of 1.5 per cent to the population in Shanghai in 1868, and of only 1 per cent to the population of Hongkong.\n\n\n13. Nevertheless, Mr. JOHNSTON did not scruple to assert that the proportion of \"serious crime\" to Foreigners in Hongkong was 29 per cent, an inexcusable misrepresentation, which I respectfully trust this Government will cause to be corrected, as such misstatement by their Secretary in no way improves the position of the Anglo-American Council at Shanghai, a body whose excellent administration is generally acknowledged.\n\n*Europeans and Americans, Resident Population, Europeans, Military, \nEuropeans and Americans, Naval Establishments, Europeans and Americans, Crews of Mercantile Shipping in the Harbour, Europeans and Americans, Temporary Residents, Europeans and Americans, Prisoners, \n339\n\n## Appendix A\n\nEXTRACT from No. 1.-Census of Hongkong, including the MILITARY and NAVAL DEPARTMENTS, 1st June, 1869.\n\n| No. of HOUSES. | Boats. | POPULATION. | TOTAL. |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n|  | Men. | Women. | Boys. | Girls. | \n| 1,161 | 523 | 323 | 282 | 2,280 | \n| 581 | 62 | 61 | 59 | 763 | \n| 720 | 720 |  |  | 720 | \n| 915 | 915 |  |  | 915 | \n| 130 | 63 | :: | 180 | 63 | \n|  | 3,579 | 585 | 384 | 341 | 4,880 | \n|  | 820 | 91 | 41 | 45 | 097 | \n|  | 862 | 862 |  |  | 862 | \n|  | 805 |  |  | 18 | 10 | \n|  | 029 | 02 |  | 22 | 2,500 | \n|  | 100 | 47 | 55 | 2,810 | \n| Grand Total,, |  |  |  |  | 7,199 |\n\nALFRED LISTER, \nTotal of Europeans and Americans, \nGoa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, \nResident Population, \nGoa, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, Crews of Mercantile Shipping in the Harbour,.. Indians, Military, \nGca, Manila, Indian, and others of Mixed Blood, \nPrisoners, \nTotal of Indians, &c.... \nActing Registrar General.\n\n## Appendix B\n\nRETURN OF CONVICTIONS of Foreigners for Serious and Minor Crimes and Offences, during 1868, in Hongkong.\n\n|  |  |\n| --- | --- |\n| Robbery with Violence, | 14 |\n| Burglary. | 6 |\n| Assault with Intent to do Grievous Bodily Harm. | 1 |\n| Larceny. | 64 |\n| Manslaughter. | 2 |\n| Disturbance on board ship and Assaults. | 255 |\n| Gambling, | 2 |\n| Kidnapping. | 0 |\n| Unlawful Possession. | 0 |\n| Piracy. | 0 |\n| Drunkenness. | 444 |\n| Nuisances. | 15 |\n| Neglect and Refusal of Duty. | 154 |\n| Extortion. | 3 |\n| Rogues & Vagabonds, | 53 |\n| Damaging Property. | 6 |\n| Breach of Gaol Ordinance. | 1,033 |\n| Breach of Public Vehicles Ordinance. |  |\n| Obtaining goods under false pretences. | 1 |\n| 3 |  |\n\n| Estimate of Foreign Population, including Soldiers and Seamen, | 7,100 |\n| Ratio of Convictions for Serious Crimes,. | 1.0 per cent |\n|  | 4.2 per cent. |\n| Assaults and Disturbances on board ship, Minor Offences, | 3.2 |\n|  | 0.0 |\n| TOTAL. | 13.2 |\n\nW. M. DEANE, \nCaptain Superintendent of Police,\n\nTo \nThe Honorable J. GARDINER AUSTIN, \nColonial Secretary, \nHongkong, \nRespectfully submitted, \nW. M. DEANE, Captain Superintendent of Police.",
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        "document_key": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876",
        "page_number": 233,
        "title": "CO129-176 - Public Offices & Others - 1876",
        "content_text": "4\n\n10\n\n5\n\n228\n\nup\n\nto\n\ndues or annul them altogether, for it placed a power in the Annamite Government to cripple foreign trade with the provinces and confine it to the Songkoi River the borders of Yunnan. Such, the Consul said, was the present position. The Government was most obstructive and throw every difficulty in the way, and nothing but great firmness and saying, \"I will have this done,\" effected anything; that this disposition was exhibited from the moment Hanoi, and the other places captured by Lieutenant Garnier, were surrendered, and, as this was done before the Treaty was signed, the Annamite Government refused to ratify it, and some time elapsed before they would; that when the French soldiers, of which there are 100 at Hanoi, were first quartered there, the Annamite Mandarins wanted them to be confined to the limits of the Consulate, and would have made a prisoner even of himself, but he resisted, and so in like manner objections were made to every request; that it was far from his wish to make a display of force, but if there was not a detachment of marines in the Consulate, it is impossible to say to what lengths the Annamite Mandarins would go, and that probably he would be made a nominal prisoner. He instanced a late case:\n\na Tonquinese, who had opened a shop for the sale of European goods, hoisted the French flag over his door, and was instantly arrested by the police, thrown into prison, and finally sentenced to be beheaded. All applications for his release made by him (the Consul) were unavailing. He represented that to execute the man for hoisting the French flag was an insult to that nation, but no notice was taken of it, and finding that the prisoner would certainly be decapitated unless he took some strong measures for his release, he went to the Futai's palace with a detachment of the marines and told him he should not leave it without the man, and thereupon he was surrendered. All this, however, was very disagreeable, but it was forced upon him by the authorities. This feeling, however, was confined to the Government and the authorities, for the people were perfectly indifferent and friendly in the extreme. I asked M. de Kergaradec what means he saw of surmounting this, and he replied, nothing but a change of dynasty would be effectual, and to that the Tonquinese were strongly in favour, for they had never been reconciled to the suppression of the Tonquinese dynasty and the annexation of their country by the Annamese, and were prepared to throw off what they considered a yoke at any favourable opportunity and restore the ancient family of the \"Ly,\" of which some members still remained, and that he hoped, on the death of Tudue, the present reigning sovereign, who was prematurely old, a dynastic change would be made. Such was the feeling of the Tonquinese, M. de Kergaradec said, and when the citadel of Hanoi was captured by Lieutenant Garnier, as hereafter mentioned, above 10,000 of them expressed their readiness to join him; and some did, and were afterwards beheaded for it, and others had to fly when the citadel was returned to the Annamite Government. The account he gave me of Lieutenant Garnier's proceedings will be given in detail hereafter.\n\nSuch is an outline of the first conversation I had with the French Consul, and subsequent ones were much to the same purport. I gather, therefore, that the presence of the French at Hanoi and in Tonquin generally is viewed with extreme distaste by the Hué (Annamite) Government, who lose no opportunity of giving expression to it. Indeed, M. de Kergaradec said that the position of M. Rheinart, the French Envoy at the Court of Hué, was far from satisfactory, and no means were left untried to render his position as uncomfortable as possible. I think it, therefore, exceedingly probable that the present status quo will not last, and that sooner or later the French will assume, what they have not yet done they say, a protectorate of Tonquin, which means a nominal sovereignty of the country, or even go a step farther, for they are evidently at issue with the Annamite Government, and chafing under what they seem to consider its insulting tone.\n\nWhether the Annamite Government has reason to look upon the French as having forced themselves into Tonquin and enforced a Treaty upon it which places a portion of its fiscal revenue under French control, is a question to be looked at from an unbiased point of view. I saw and heard in that time enough, however, to convince me that whether right or wrong in their first proceedings the French will probably have to go on, and when matters assume that phase, it is useless questioning how they were or are brought about; and viewing it thus it would not, I think, be cause for surprise if they encouraged a restoration which would separate Tonquin from Annam and restore it to the independence it had in 1802 when conquered and annexed by Nguyên Auh, known as Gialong, the King of Annam, and replace one of the ancient dynasty of \"Li\" upon the Throne with whom better terms could be made. Be that as it may, I heard from good authority before leaving Canton, that Vice-Admiral Krantz, the Governor of Saigon, and who negotiated the Commercial Treaty with Annam, being dissatisfied with its results and with the position of the French in Tonquin, had gone to Paris to consult with the Ministry upon the situation, and at Hanoi I heard he was on his way back. But I also heard that the Tonquin question was not looked upon with favour by the French Government who feared complications arising from this naval conquest, and hesitated to relieve the Admiralty of its responsibility in the matter.\n\nThe principal Annamese authorities at Hanoi are, the Tong-duc, or Viceroy, and the Chuan-Phu, or Futai. M. de Kergaradec asked me if I would like to see them, or at least one of them, as the Tong-duc was ill, and I said I would, so my cards were sent. And the Chuan-Phu shortly after called upon me, and I remembered having seen him at Canton when he came to have an interview with the late Viceroy Juilin. He reminded me of it, and mentioned several circumstances, and seemed glad to see me. He brought the Tong-duc's card, with his regrets, that he was too ill to leave his Yamên. Nothing, of course, but a complimentary visit passed, and in the afternoon, accompanied by M. de Kergaradec, Commandant Chapotot, and Captain Castle, with a guard of honour of French marines, I returned his visit in the Citadel. The Annamite Yamêns, or palaces as they call them, are much the same as the Chinese. An Annamite guard of honour lined the courtyard, and the Chuan-Phu came to the door to receive us. After some conversation he expressed a hope I was pleased with my visit, and remarked I had come a long way to see Hanoi; and I replied that having been to Hainan to open it to British trade under the Treaty, I had crossed the Gulf of Tonquin to pay the Representative of the French Government at Hanoi a visit, England and France being on the most friendly terms, and that was my sole object. He then inquired whether there would be much trade at Kiung-chow, and if English vessels would come on from thence to the Tonquin ports? I answered they certainly would do so if the Annamese Government were favourable to foreign trade. He then said he wished to show me his troops and elephants, and we accordingly went to a parade-ground close by of large extent, where there were about 2,000 Annamese soldiers, under arms, and two elephants in front, which, when we were seated, advanced, knelt down nine times, and saluted. The troops then went through sundry manœuvres with great precision. They were well dressed, but badly armed with old flint-lock muskets, spears, and swords. After this took my leave.\n\nWe then inspected the Hall of Ceremonies in which the Kings of Annam receive investiture from the Emperor of China. It was here that Lieutenant Garnier had his head-quarters after his capture of the citadel on the 20th of November, and in a plot of ground in the rear he and his four comrades were buried when killed on the 21st December, 1873.\n\nThat part of Hanoi where the citadel is built is somewhat higher than the other quarters of the city, the ground rising gently from the banks of the Songkoi to the height of about 180 feet above the level of the sea. A brick wall about 3 feet thick and 12 feet high, comprising twelve bastions connected by curtains, surrounds the citadel which forms a perfect quadrilateral of some 3,600 feet on each side. This wall is supported by a plain which at places rises gradually from the interior of the citadel, whilst at others its inner side falls perpendicularly.\n\nL\n\nThe height of the plain varies also a great deal, for at some places the besieged can be hidden entirely beyond the upper part of the wall, while in others they are half seen from the outside. Inside the citadel are the houses of the Governor and other high officials.\n\nThe citadel is girt at about a distance of 25 feet with a deep ditch, containing water, of an average width of 60 feet. Five gates give access to the citadel, one in the middle of each side, with the exception of the south side, which has two openings cut through the walls near the corner bastions; they may be called the south-eastern and south-western gate. The doorways are about 15 feet wide and are closed in with strong wooden gates. Above every gate stands a tower or guard-house.\n\nIn front of each gate is a redan, that is, two walls a little lower than the city ones, the faces meeting at an angle turned towards the country. These redans are also encircled with ditches which run into the moat of the fort, a gate connected by a bridge with the city or the fields adjoining is opened through the right face of each redan. Inside the redans small houses and barracks are inhabited by soldiers, and from the middle of the \"gorge\" of the redans strong three-arched bridges allow a passage across the moat to reach the gates in the main ramparts. It is the work of French Engineers employed by Gialong, the King of Annam, after his conquest of Tonquin in 1802.\n\nIn the interior of the citadel, besides the Government buildings and some\n\n[608]\n\nterre plain\n\n11",
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        "id": 305406,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-187 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [1-4]",
        "page_number": 147,
        "title": "CO129-187 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [1-4]",
        "content_text": "144 \n\nW. Hubert. \n\nThe Daily Press. \n\n**HONGKONG, JANUARY 28TH, 1880.** \n\n## MACAO \n\n### FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT \n\n25th January. We do certainly live in the age of surprises and inventions! Suffice it for me to announce the fact of the visit of E., the Viceroy of the Two Kwang to verify my assertion. Yes, Macao was unexpectedly honoured with the presence of such a high personage. In the memory of man, no Viceroy has ever come here and perhaps ever thought of having a glance at or a photograph of Macao. It was even said that the relations between the present Governor of Macao and Viceroy Liu were anything but friendly and that a rupture was imminent. E., the Viceroy, has of his own accord, without any official invitation or intimation, come here to pay a friendly visit to Governor Graça, whose personal acquaintance he desired to make. At 9:30 a.m., under a salute from the Barra Fort, a mountain battery, and a guard of honour, the Viceroy and suite landed and, escorted by a piquet of mounted police, proceeded to Government House, and was received by E., the Governor, the Consuls, and the military and civil authorities, the reception lasting till nearly one o'clock, when Governor Graça accompanied his illustrious guest to the Chinese gun-vessel in the inner harbour, flying the Viceroy's flag. \n\nFrom what I could see and learn afterwards, the meeting may be productive of much good to this city, and perfect entente has been established on several points. \n\nDuring the reception, the Viceroy more than once asserted that his visit to Macao was due solely to his desire to know personally the courteous Governor with whom he had been in such friendly correspondence. All honour, therefore, to our popular Governor, who may justly be proud of the visit of such a high personage. \n\nI may add that the Viceroy extracted a promise from Governor Graça that should His Excellency, as Minister Plenipotentiary, have occasion to go to Peking, he would pay him a visit at Nanking, the capital of the Two Kiang provinces over which the Viceroy has been appointed to rule. \n\nI append here Extracts from the `Pall Mall Gazette` of January 15 - \"The Viceroy who sailed from Hongkong to Macao - Possibly to return Mr. Hennessy's visit.\" \n\nIt is reported also that the Viceroy's reception was successfully accomplished by the few brains who were allowed to act as his escorts.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-187 - Governor Hennessy - 1880 [1-4].txt",
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    {
        "id": 317906,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-202 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1882 [7-9]",
        "page_number": 157,
        "title": "CO129-202 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1882 [7-9]",
        "content_text": "# THE CHINA REVIEW.\n\nand holds the examinations for the first degree.\n\n## Influence of Teachang\n\nReverence for the aged, honors for virtuous widows and filial children, &c. Feasts to encourage learning in the community. This is no longer practised. According to the original design, the local officials should preside at these feasts for the encouragement of the old, the learned, and the virtuous.\n\n## Vol. 33.-Retinues\n\nThis refers to those of the Imperial Family, Imperial Commissioners-Civil and Military officials. There are minute directions in regard to them.\n\n## Vol. 34.-Regulations for Mutual Meetings\n\nas of different members of the Imperial Family, and officials of different grades of rank. It includes also rules to be observed when those who obtain literary degrees visit the Literary Chancellor and Imperial Commissioner.\n\nA few remarks may here be introduced in regard to the ceremonies of the Chinese in official and social life. In order to understand the rules for visiting, it is necessary to be acquainted with the architecture and furniture of the houses in ancient China, which are the models for the classics, and for present customs as well. There were an outer and an inner door, and steps leading to seats arranged on each side of the principal apartment, or large hall. The house was built to face the South. The place of the host was at the East, and of the guest at the West. As among other Oriental nations the modes of salutation are very many, and there is a minute code for observance how to hold the hands, to bow, to kneel, to prostrate the person on the ground, &c. Distinctions of rank, professions, and trades, as well as different degrees of mourning, were shown in the dress. Those ideas are impressed upon the language, which is enriched, or perhaps we should say is burdened, with a large vocabulary of terms to express these degrees of relationship and rank. The history of changes in these ceremonies is interesting. They are greater and more radical than is generally supposed. For instance, in ancient times in China, as with us, the right was the place of honor, instead of the left, as at present. Superstition often comes in to modify established customs. \"Fung-Shui\" or Geomancy is made to determine the position of ancestral halls, and all the dwellings of the village are made to conform to these holy places of the clan. Again it is found inconvenient if not impossible in practice to follow these rules in cities. Modern times are more liberal in this regard than ancient, and immediate vicinity to the Capital and the Court, tends to increased rigor in adhering to established customs of classical antiquity. Southern China is thus far more free in practice than the northern provinces.\n\nThe following is a translation of one passage, which affords a good specimen of this chapter:-\n\n\"Rules for gentlemen when visiting each other.--When the guest arrives at the door, the host is to go out to meet him-outside the large door, and salute the guest with joined hands, with a moderate inclination of the body. After which the guest is to enter. At the inner door and at the steps the salutation is to be performed as at the first. Upon going up (into the hall or upon the raised dais) the guest is to make obeisance-(a greater inclination of the body, or by prostration) and the host is to perform the same ceremony in return. After rising up the host is to urge the guest to take his proper seat (of honor) which the guest is to refuse to do. He is to be urged again, when he is to take the seat and remove to the left. When the guest is seated in the proper place, the host is to take his own proper place in like manner. When the guest receives tea he is to make acknowledgment with joined hands raised. Upon leaving, salutation is to be performed again. The host is to accompany the guest at the steps, and at the door, salutations are to be performed by the guest returned by the host. The host is to accompany the guest to the outside of the large door, and salutation is to be performed as at the first upon arrival.”\n\n## Vol. 35.-Ceremonies for the Army\n\nEmperor going in person to war. General with Imperial authority. Presenting captives. Receiving captives.\n\n## (2.) Superintendent of Sacrifices (Vol. 36)\n\nMuch space is devoted to this subject. It would require no little critical investigation to show the significance of this section, and yet upon the surface it is plain that these rites and ceremonies are much more intimately connected with those of Pagan nations than with those of the Holy nation from which Christianity was derived. It is no matter of surprise to find much error and superstition here, low views of divinity and idolatrous veneration of man and the creature. It will be vain to search here for any adequate and proper ideas of the fundamental doctrines of God, man, sin, and much less of redemption or of a future life; but on the other hand, like all pagan systems, there is much that looks like diabolic imitation and horrid caricature of sacred things.\n\n### b.-Lucky Rites\n\nThere are three classes of sacrifices-\n\n| Class | Description | Volume |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Great Sacrifices | Those in the southern suburb. Those praying for grain. Those praying for rain, not specially in time of drought. | 37, 38 |\n|  | Those in the northern suburb. Exalting ancestors to be guests of Heaven. | 38, 39 |\n|  | Ancestral Temples. Ancestral Temples setting up tablet. Placing jade records and seals beside it. | 40, 41 |\n|  | Imperial Tomb. | 42 |\n|  | Altar to the gods of the land and grain. | 43 |\n| Middle Sacrifices | Altar to the Sun. Altar to the Moon. | 44 |\n|  | Temple of Emperors and Kings. Former Sages. | 45 |\n|  | Altar to the God of Agriculture. Altar to the God of silkworms. | 46 |\n|  | Altar to the Gods of Heaven (Wind, clouds &c.). Gods of Earth (Hills, sea, &c.). Temple to the God of the year. | 47 |\n| Multitude of Sacrifices | North pole, fire, Patron Gods of Cities. | 48 |\n|  | Gods of Healing. | 49 |\n|  | Family Sacrifices. For different members of the Imperial kindred. | 50 |\n\n### c.-Unlucky Rites (Vol. 51)\n\n| Description | Volume |\n| --- | --- |\n| Mourning for Emperor. Mourning for Empress. Mourning for Imperial Concubines. | 51, 52 |\n| Mourning for Heir Apparent. Mourning for Princes. Imperial Funeral Presents. | 53, 54 |\n| Ceremonies during eclipse of the Sun. Ceremonies during eclipse of the Moon. | 55 |\n| Professional classes, Fortune-tellers, Physicians. Priests, both Buddhist and Taoist. Diviners, Astrologers and Eunuchs. |  |\n| Certain of these are recognized by the Government. |  |",
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    {
        "id": 319728,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-205 - Public Offices - 1882",
        "page_number": 283,
        "title": "CO129-205 - Public Offices - 1882",
        "content_text": "# to claim.\n\n## 110\n\nOur merchants, however, did not believe that the Chinese Government would observe the essential conditions; that if the half-duty were paid down, their imports would have the run of the Treaty port provinces free of further taxation. One of the foreign Ministers, Sir Rutherford Alcock's colleagues, declared his conviction to the same effect: that the payment in advance, of the half-duty, would be but so much added to the li-kin or other burdens which it was sought to lighten. Consistently with their theory, as above set forth, our merchants further contended that, in the provinces inland of the Treaty port provinces, the Chinese ought not to tax our imports carried into these under transit duty certificate, even when, by passing into consumption, they had become separated from the certificate. The counter-concessions obtained in other Articles of the Convention from the Chinese Government, it was argued, were not of sufficient value to justify the surrender of the area of exemption from all but Tariff duty (the port area), or of the option to use or decline the privilege of certification by payment of the half-duty. In the end the new Agreement was not ratified.\n\nMy own disposition, when I read Sir Rutherford Alcock's Convention, in 1869, was, I confess, to doubt that, the half-duty paid, our imports would be any the more secure against such taxation as \"the rapacity or necessities of Chinese administration\" might inflict upon them. I doubted the good faith of its officials, where breach of faith could only be established by the evidence of those subject to their authority, and entirely in their power.\n\nI have since found reason to believe that the control of taxation in the provinces is a matter of no small trouble to the Central Government as at present constituted, if, indeed, it be possible at all. The State Papers, of which the sense is given in Appendices 2 and 3, prove this. But the Convention had hardly been rejected, untried, before it became apparent that its rejection had greatly added to our difficulties. It was the first instrument affecting British trade that had not been extorted from the Chinese by force of arms. It was the first in which there was at least a show of reciprocal interchange of concessions. It was the result of two years' negotiations, during which, in one or two instances, the Chinese had spontaneously adopted a course of action implying a more liberal interpretation of Treaty engagements.\n\nIt was not wonderful, therefore, that its rejection without a trial should pique the high officer who had, in effect, represented the Chinese Government throughout the negotiations (the Grand Secretary Wênsiang); or that his pique should show itself in renewed obstructiveness. Whether the forebodings of myself and others regarding its operativeness were well-founded or not, I have, almost from the day rejection of the Convention was made known to the Tsung-li Yamên, found occasion to regret that it had not been allowed at least a term of probation.\n\nAs it was, complaints of the unlawful detention or taxation of goods in transitu continued, and a concession of great value was practically withdrawn. I mean the right of certificating imports carried inland, no matter what the nationality of the holder. I speak of it as a concession, because our demand that the nationality of the goods, not of the owner, entitled them to clearance inwards by payment of half-duty had earlier been resisted. In 1868, however, the Tsung-li Yamên had by Circular intimated to the Provincial Governments that the transit duty clauses affecting imports were henceforth to be so construed. This action of the Yamên was the more noteworthy because it was taken without communication with the foreign Legations. The Circular was not brought to my knowledge until after I had received complaints, in 1871, that the provision which it recognizes had been set at nought. I pressed for enforcement of its injunctions, but without effect. I was always met with the old argument that the Chinese Government had the right to tax any property held by Chinese subjects. This principle had been violated, said the Grand Secretary Wênsiang, when I represented that the Circular of the Yamên, in reality, surrendered it, violated by the issue of that Circular, and its prescriptions, he said, had been generally declared by the Provincial Governments impracticable. He refused me a copy of it.\n\nIt is scarcely needful here to notice in detail a negotiation on the subject of transit duties undertaken in concert with some of my colleagues in the year 1871-72. It resulted in a draft of rules proposed by the Tsung-li Yamên, which were accepted by none of us, and remonstrance was continued as before, I imagine by all, certainly by myself, as occasion required. I have mentioned in the earlier portion of this Report the circumstances under which I thought it my duty more formally to reopen the discussion with the Tsung-li Yamên in 1874-75. The statements of fact, which have run to such a length, were a necessary preliminary to my arguments in favour of the modification of Treaty right which I have agreed to recommend to Her Majesty's Government, in consideration of certain counter-concessions.\n\n## 111\n\nI must first re-state my own construction of our right. I believe that by the Treaty of Tien-tsin (1858) our imports, opium excepted, should be free to be sold on payment of Tariff, without imposition of other taxation, until they are sent for sale to an inland centre past the barrier or barriers between the port of entry and the inland centre in question. To pass these barriers free of other dues, they must be accompanied by a certificate proving that, in lieu of the dues leviable in transitu, the half-duty composition has been paid upon them. Without this certificate they must pay what dues may be demanded. On arrival at the inland centre, when they pass into consumption, I hold them liable to local taxation. I am here at issue with many of my countrymen, as well as with others whose opinion I am bound to respect, who maintain that, the half-duty paid, no taxation should be leviable at an inland centre. I maintain that its levy is just, and for this reason, that the imports can only claim exemption from it so long as they are accompanied by the certificate attesting payment of the half-duty composition, which payment it is at the option of the importer to make or to decline making. Where he finds, as may be sometimes the case, that the transit duties amount to less than the half-Tariff duty, he will, of course, decline it. But as he has this right of option, the Chinese Government, it seems to me, cannot be denied the right to infer, whenever goods are found without a certificate, that the importer has elected not to pay the half-duty.\n\nAt the inland centre, it has been suggested, a system of sub-certification might be established. Such a system would, I think, involve a more costly establishment (for it must be in the nature of a foreign Inspectorate, that is, of a highly paid staff) than it would be fair on our part to require, and such an establishment could not undertake to protect more than the larger operations in imports. Certificates could hardly follow goods consumed in the retail trade inland. As the Treaty now stands, however, I concede the right of the Chinese to tax imports inland, once they are separated, by lawful sale, from their transit duty certificate.\n\nBut the question earlier put remains unanswered. At what point does the liability of imports to taxation in transitu begin? What are the limits of the port area; the area of exemption from other taxation to which the imports are entitled upon payment of Tariff duty? As the validity of the Treaty of Nanking (1842) was reaffirmed by the Treaty of Tien-tsin (1858), and as the Declaration of 1843 (in which it was agreed that the charges to be levied as transit duties were never to be raised) was signed as possessing equal value with the Treaty of Nanking, I have been wont to contend that the barriers at which the liability to transit duties commenced could only be those existing in 1843, at which the moderate charges never to be raised were then levied. But the severity of a condition so sweeping apart, I am compelled at the same time to admit that if my hypothesis of right be unassailable, it still advances me but little towards practical solution of the difficulty before me, for the simple reason that I cannot myself, nor do I know any one that can, affirm what barriers existed in the year 1843.\n\nOf the more modern date of some I am satisfied; but I am unable to say positively of others that they have not the right of taxation which I admit a certain seniority would give them. I have been unable, consequently, even at Shanghae, to define my port area to my own satisfaction, and at some of the other ports the definition of the area would present even greater difficulties; eminently at Canton and Foochow, where there lies between the foreign settlement and the country inland a large city and suburb, in which I think it certain that octroi barriers existed long before 1842.\n\nThe Chinese, however, have in general ignored the port area. In general, not always. That is to say, that where the country inland, from its formation or its poverty, would render the establishment of li-kin collectorates near the port inconvenient, they have not been established. Otherwise, at Shanghae, for instance, collectorates have been established close to the foreigners' dwellings, and li-kin taxation has been laid through these, not alone upon opium, on which, as I contend, the Chinese have a right to lay it, but upon all other British imports; and when my Agreement was signed at Chefoo last September, a bale of shirtings was as certainly taxed at Shanghae the moment it left the foreign importer's door as a chest or less quantity of opium. The bale of shirtings could not be sold by the Chinese purchaser in the city of which the foreign settlement is the suburb, without payment of a certain charge as li-kin, which made it free of but a limited district. Passing out of this, it paid the li-kin charges that freed it in a second district, and so on. The authorities, as a rule, have evaded communication of the li-kin tariff when applied to for it. Our information (see `Appendix No. 1`) comes from the native constituents of our merchants, whom we cannot put in the witness-box.\n\nThe charges in these li-kin districts are not stated, each taken by itself, to be very burdensome. At Shanghae, up to a certain distance from the settlement, they do not...",
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        "id": 319745,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-205 - Public Offices - 1882",
        "page_number": 300,
        "title": "CO129-205 - Public Offices - 1882",
        "content_text": "## Inclosure 5 in No. 75\n\n**Confidential**\n\nMy dear Sir Thomas,\n\nI am in favour of your plan, and in order to avoid smuggling at Hong Kong, he thought all Indian opium should be registered at Hong Kong on its arrival, and delivered there to Chinese dealers. A note of their purchases and exports would be made, and given to a Chinese official stationed for the purpose at Hong Kong, who would inform the Customs authorities of the port to which the opium was to be sent, and the Chinese importer would pay the duty when the opium was landed. He said that Governor Hennessy had declared his willingness to accept this arrangement, and although he, the Governor-General, had no voice in the matter, which was in the hands of the Yamên and Li Chung-tang, he personally would be glad to see some such arrangement as he had described carried out. He then told him of the commercial changes that were under consideration at Peking. He said he knew that you were discussing the import trade question with the Yamên, and M. von Brandt the export trade, but they had told him nothing about the 10 per cent. duty scheme, although they had written to inquire what the annual li-kin receipts amounted to. He thought that the li-kin free-area arrangement, provided for in the Chefoo Agreement, was preferable, but since, as he had heard, the other Foreign Ministers had objected to this arrangement, some new one must be made, if they would not accept the Yamên's readings of the Treaties on the subject of transit passes, and the extent to which they covered foreign imports: 10 per cent. seemed to him rather low, but if the Yamên were satisfied they were quite capable of fulfilling their engagement that no further tax should be levied. Of course, the inland provinces would cry out, but they would have a percentage of the revenue allotted to them, and when once the new arrangement became law by Imperial Decree, no one would dare to interfere with foreign imports. At present, the authorities inland had a right, according to his view, to tax foreign goods that were clear of their transit pass.\n\nI had some difficulty in making him understand the inseparability of the opium and general trade questions, because he maintained that if an understanding could be come to with the Indian Government, the opium trade would be closed to all but British and Chinese merchants, and he seemed hardly to realize the possibility of Persian opium being introduced in any quantity. He thought, as Li Chung-tang had done, that Persia was a dependency of Great Britain, or, at any rate, that she could easily make arrangements with her.\n\nThis finished all I had to say to the Governor-General.\n\n(Signed)\nWALTER C. HILLIER.\n\n## Inclosure 6 in No. 75\n\nMr. Hillier to Sir T. Wade.\n\nFoochow, September 8, 1881.\n\nI paid my visit to the Governor-General this morning, and I think I can perhaps make my Report fuller if I confine myself in the first instance to a private letter. I propose to submit a formal Report of all my interviews on my return from Hankow.\n\nI arrived on Saturday the 4th instant, P.M., and sent in your note to Ho Chih-t'ai on the following morning, after having called on Mr. Sinclair and informed him of the object of my visit. The Governor-General sent back his card in reply to your note, and excused himself from seeing me for a day or two, as the Governor was just starting for Formosa, and he was busy finishing up current work with him. Two days later, he wrote to say that he would receive me this morning at the Yamên of the Ho Chih-t'ai, his own Yamên being under repairs.\n\nI was received on arrival by Yeh Tao-t'ai, the Acting Judge, Sheng Tao-t'ai, the opium li-kin collector, another tao-t'ai whose name I could not catch, and a smaller official who was not introduced to me. The big gates were opened for me, and the Governor-General met me just inside the inner court-yard.\n\nAfter the usual preliminaries, I explained, in much the same words as at Canton, the object of my visit, and assured the Governor-General that no changes in the manner or frequency of correspondence between the Consuls and the high authorities were contemplated beyond the substitution of the forms `cha hui` and `chao fu` for `shen ch'ên` and `cha fu` respectively. Mr. Sinclair had complained that the Governor-General was trying to avoid answering his despatches altogether, and asked me, if I saw an opportunity, to obtain an assurance from Ho Chih-t'ai that he would answer despatches from the Consul, so I dwelt rather pointedly upon the form in which the Governor-General would reply under the new arrangement. Ho Chih-t'ai replied that he would certainly answer despatches from a Consul, but reminded me that these should only be addressed in urgent cases, and when I asked him (also at Mr. Sinclair's suggestion) what circumstances he would consider to justify direct appeal, he said that, without laying down a hard and fast line, he considered that no case ought to be referred to him by the Consul until an appeal to the Tao-t'ai had failed.\n\n...\n\nPage 296\nPage 144\nPage 145\nPage 300\nPage 301",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "page_number": 330,
        "title": "CO129-235 - Public Offices - 1887",
        "content_text": "## All these missionaries are Frenchmen, and more French than missionary, having, to a man, the views of Bishop Penginier, of Tonquin. There are somewhere about 150,000 Chinese converts.\n\nNow that the Chinese are awake to the danger that threatened them from the intrigues of the French priests, there is no reason, I believe, to apprehend any harm to British interests from their efforts, especially while there is such a bad understanding between the French officials and the priests. The converts are a scattered body, who would be promptly massacred, as they were the other day in Annam, if they tried to assist the French. On the contrary, by breaking up the population and introducing, to some extent, foreign knowledge and ideas, they prepare the ground for the pioneers of British commerce.\n\nWith regard to the military aspect of the Tonquin question, the reverses suffered by the French have done grave damage to French influence in South-west China, and, in a lesser degree, to the prestige of the other Occidental Powers. The recent disturbances at Ch'ung-king and in Kuei-chou were, without doubt, due in part to this cause; the leaders in these riots were military students, up from the country for examination, stuffed with a hundred lying tales of Chinese successes against the French—tales which would not, however, have gone down had there not been real successes to base them on. From what I saw and heard on the Tonquin border, I believe that the talk about a Chinese military revival is a darkening of counsel—words without knowledge. Chinese are no more able to stand up before European troops, properly led, than they were in 1842 or 1860. The only difference is, that they are now sometimes well armed. I heard an account of the Lung-chou engagement from two braves, engaged there, who journeyed two days with me on the way to their homes in Kuei-chou. The French marched into the midst of a body of 50,000 men, armed with repeating rifles and abundant ammunition (in spite of Chang Chih-tung's statement to the contrary in his Memorial). They said: \"We were ordered to fire all day and all night; the French said it was not fair, as they had no time to sleep or eat.\" The lesson to be learnt from the Tonquin war is to strike quickly if it is necessary to strike at all. The Chinese can make good plans, and carry them out with much determination, but they are never ready, and require a comparatively long time to consult and prepare. No time should be given then.\n\n## Burmah\n\nThe Yünnan officials treated me with marked politeness, and the mediation of Sir R. Hart was frequently mentioned in flattering terms; nevertheless, there was much uneasiness about Burmah: all inquired what we were going to do there, and preparations were made for defence on the Burmese frontier, General Ting, with 5,000 men, being sent from Kai-hua Fu to Têng-yueh in January 1886, and T'ang Taotai being sent from Yunnan Fu in February to superintend the defence of the border. This meant, no doubt, intriguing against the semi-independent tribes south of Têng-yueh to secure their hostility to England. At Ssu-mao, where I stayed eleven days and became intimate with the officials, steps were being taken to put the frontier into a state of defence; besides the right wing of the P'u-êrh Brigade, which should number about 500 men, and which has its permanent quarters at Ssu-mao, an auxiliary force was being enlisted for the defence of this part of the frontier, the officer in command of which, with 200 men, arrived from the Tonquin border a few days before I did. The Magistrate, who was a protégé and a fellow-provincial of the Governor-General Ts'ên, told me that he had recently received instructions to repair the wall of the town and to have a Map of the neighbourhood constructed; he said that the reason for strengthening the garrison was the confusion that reigned in the Ch'ê-li territory.\n\nThe Chinese Government wields little real power south of Ssu-mao, and contents itself with keeping up the prestige of its authority by an occasional act of treacherous violence. Thus in 1884 Ma Chung, the General at Pu-erh, engaged a Mahommedan, also named Ma, to assassinate the Ch'ê-li Prince (called Chiu-lung Wang by the Burmese). The man sent was a friend of the Wang—more, they had exchanged tieh-tzu, i.e., were sworn brothers—or he would not have obtained admittance, the Wang being extremely wary. He was to receive 1,000 taels and a place for his pains, but he caught malarial fever on the Mekong, and only returned to die, as he deserved. In the same year the Shan Chieftain of Liu-k'un was invited to dinner at Ssŭ-mao by the same officer to discuss local affairs, and taken straight out to the market-place and beheaded. I was told in Ssu-mao by several merchants that these acts had greatly disgusted the Shans, and had consequently damaged trade at Ssu-mao.\n\nInquiries along the route showed that the Shan family is a very widely divided one. From Ssu-mao, along the Tonquin border, Shans, under various names, occupy everywhere the lower lands. The whole population of Northern Kwang-si is Shan, and they stretch in large communities, e.g., Shui-chia, Chung-chia, &c., as far north as Kuei-yang Fu, the capital of Kuei-chou. The country between Ava and Ssŭ-mao is probably the home of this race, migration having been apparently from the south; the Shans in Kuei-chou migrated there from Kwang-si in the beginning of the 18th century only. They are indefatigable nature-worshippers in China, and generous supporters of Buddhism and Burmese priests in the Shan States, so that there should be a likely field for English missionaries among them on both sides of the border.\n\nThe Chinese frontier will be found figured in the last edition (1836) of the \"Topography of the Yunnan Province\", and perhaps a frontier running through the passes there named would be all that Her Majesty's Government would claim. But the Topography mentions a number of small clans or places south of this line to which garrisons are said once to have been sent by China, &c. The Topography would have therefore to be carefully studied before it could be suggested as a basis of arrangement.\n\nWith regard to the opening up of commercial relations between Burmah and Yünnan, I have shown in my Report that even at present Burmese cotton comes as far east as Yunnan Fu, and that in spite of bad roads, Western Yunnan will certainly be supplied with foreign goods from Burmah when the route is open.\n\nWestern Yunnan is much richer than the eastern part of the province bordering on Tonquin, and is being filled up more quickly, and by a more vigorous race (Ssu-chuanese), and a very profitable trade will no doubt spring up; but the idea of a route through Yunnan competing with the lower Yang-tzŭ ports is chimerical, to use a mild term. How far the area supplied from Burmah may encroach on the areas that now are, or ought to be, supplied from Canton, Tonquin, and Sui Fu (above Chungking on the Yang-tzŭ), depends on the success of our diplomacy, and on the skill with which our interests may be pushed with the Yünnan Government.\n\nWith regard to the regulation of the frontier trade, there should be the least possible restriction as to what persons or what goods cross the frontier, and in what manner they do so. Perhaps it will be found advisable to promise with regard to smuggling, for it is a wholesome check on greedy Customs officials, and is favoured by the ground and the traditions of the people.\n\nI would beg to suggest that the future of agriculture and manufactures in Burmah should not be forgotten. The nature of the ground—Yunnan being an elevated plateau 4,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea, and Burmah a broken plain with an altitude for the most part of a few hundred feet only—involves a great difference of climate and production. Yünnan will not grow cotton, tobacco, or tea, for instance, necessities to Chinese, in the production of which there may be a great future for planters in Burmah. Tobacco comes at present from Ssu-chuan and the Kwang provinces, and tea from the Shan States outside Ssu-mao, but the supply of the latter is insufficient even at present, and the people in South Yünnan drink all sorts of decoctions in its stead. Salt is produced in many parts of Yunnan, but the supply is insufficient, and there should be an increasing import from Bhamo as the western parts of the province fill up.\n\nThe Report of a six months' journey in Yünnan and Kuei-chou would be incomplete without some mention of the Governor-General, Ts'ên Yü-ying, who has long been, and no doubt will remain, the right arm of the Chinese Government in these parts. He is a Shan of the Pu-man family, born at Hsi-liu Hsien in Northern Kwang-si, where the borders of Yünnan, Kuei-chou, and Kwang-si meet. He has been engaged in fighting all his life, having had to fly from home when a youth because of a clan quarrel about which he was wanted, and having fought through the twenty years of Mahommedan and Miao-tzŭ rebellion. He is superstitious and cruel, bloodthirsty many say, but a strong ruler, and, for an Oriental, thorough in all that he does. There is no man in China who is so feared by officials and people under him, and his presence is the best security for the peace of that province. He is supposed to hate foreigners, and is generally accredited with the murder of Margary and the ...\n\nPage 330  \nPage 331",
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        "title": "CO129-235 - Public Offices - 1887",
        "content_text": "## OCR Proofread Text\n\nThe brother told me that the MSS. contained nothing but religious forms, charms, and such like--the only purpose, so far as I have heard, for which the Lolos employ their writing. I now begged one of the MSS. The wife and brother of the absent perma both saw insuperable obstacles, but the T'u-ssu overruled their objections and insisted that I should have one. This MS. is now in the British Museum.\n\nThese Lolos had bigger and more irregular features than average Chinese. The colour of the skin seemed much the same, but the eyes were deeper sunk. They are divided into three tribes, known in Chinese as \"Hei,\" \"Pai,\" and \"Kan\" (Black, White, and Dry) Lolo, or I-jên, a meaningless distinction, but corresponding to a real tribal division apparently. They believe in a future state of retribution, burn the dead, worship their ancestors with the sacrifice of an ox, and have no idols. Four pieces of brown paper were said to represent the potentialities of the other world, and three sticks of bamboo their ancestors.\n\nThe Tang-tang River is an insignificant stream, but has a broad bed covered with débris from the hills, and is, like the K'o-tu River, no doubt a formidable stream in the rains. At Shih-ya-k'ou we passed the first cart I had seen since leaving Shanghae. This cart we took to be a promise of better things, for it was of such a clumsy construction, with solid wooden wheels, which were worn unevenly into oblate form, that no power of bullock could have dragged it over the roads we had passed. And, sure enough, a turn from the village brought us on to a plain, so that we had actually before us a level horizon--the first that I had set eyes on since leaving I-ch'ang. For the next 10 miles, to the first town in the Yunnan Province--Hsüan-wei Chou--our road ran over an expanse of dry red loam, with scarcely a house or tree in sight.\n\nHsüan-wei Chou is a town about which a pioneer of commerce cannot find much to say. My Chinese clerk went out as usual, armed with samples, to discover what the inhabitants paid for foreign imports, but returned to say that the only trade was in hams, and that there was no one in the place worth $200.\n\nThis plain has been almost cleared of wood, probably at the time of the rebellion, when 200,000 men are said to have been encamped here. But the lack of wood in the neighbourhood of towns is the rule in Yünnan. After the ascent from T'ang-t'ang on to the plain coal is met no more, and during the next three months which we are to spend in the Yunnan Province coal will only be once met with (at Lin-yan Fu). Nearly all the towns burn wood, which the Lolos and other inferior races bring in for sale, often having to go 5 miles from the town to find it. On the other hand, in Kuei-chou and Ssu-ch'uan, coal is found everywhere.\n\nEveryone one meets is armed here. Between Hsüan-wei Chou and Chau-i Chou we met a man carrying a weapon I had never seen before, but which I found afterwards to be very common all over the Yunnan Province. It is a rod of iron about 3 feet long, with a sword handle at one end, and at the other a bar at right angles to the rod about 5 inches long, pointed and sharpened on the inner edge. Asked what it was for and how used, the man replied for men or wild beasts it would give a stab by striking or a cut by pulling. This weapon is called `kou-lien` (hook).\n\nThere is plenty of food for the gun in this part, and probably for the rifle. The lakes are covered with water-fowl, and the country infested by an enormous bird with black head, black tips to feathers, and slate-coloured body called `ching-chuang` or `huo` by the Chinese, probably a kind of crane. I noticed a Proclamation by the Magistrate of Ma-lung Chou offering a reward of 2 dollars each for wild dogs, whatever that may mean, and other beasts who attack children and dig up dead bodies.\n\nAt Ma-lung our road unites with the main western road which runs across China from Hankow to Burmah. This part of it has been described by several travellers, and need not detain us.\n\nAt Yang-lin I noticed for the first time a curious custom that appears widely spread over Western China. Wherever there is an overhanging ledge of rock the coolies brought bits of wood and twigs of trees to prop it up. Under some of these ledges there are hundreds of such diminutive supports; the only explanation I could get was that if they helped the rock it would help them in return, and save them from aching feet and back.\n\nOn the 3rd December we reached Yünnan Fu, the capital of the province, a bright and clean city for China, evidently containing a well-to-do population. The straight broad streets, new p'ai-fangs blazing in gorgeous colours, and gaily dressed women, who affect light blue gowns with bright red linings to the sleeves, and a red band round the ankle, set off by the magnificent clear bright weather, were very striking after the narrow streets and sombre blue clothing of Ssu-ch'uan.\n\nAlthough the city has an altitude of 6,420 feet fever is not unknown, and several of our party suffered badly. The north of Yunnan has a climate probably as suited to Europeans as any in this part of the world. It should be noted that Yunnan Fu is situated on a lake which is at the bottom of a gentle but somewhat extensive depression. I was told that formerly there was no outlet for the water of this basin, and that only in the thirteenth century was the canal cut which now carries the water from the south-west side of the lake into a stream that flows north to the Yang-tzu, and is shown on Mr. Baber's chart west of Anning-chou.\n\nIt is impossible to convey a clear idea of the commercial capabilities of this city without giving a general sketch of the configuration of the great plateau on which it stands, and thus anticipating the latter portions of this Report. This plateau, if so it may be called, for it is everywhere broken by hills and cut through by rivers, and in some parts even traversed by mountain ranges, is on the eastern slope from the Himalayas to the China Sea, and is nearly conterminous with the Chinese Provinces of Yunnan and Kuei-chou. To show the nature of the ground, I cannot do better than make a circuit of the routes that lead to Yunnan Fu. Starting with the road we have followed, reference to Part I of this Report will show that navigation from the Yang-tzu ended at Yung-ning Hsien, 1,060 feet above the sea, and that in two stages the road reached an elevation of 4,340 feet, and touched 7,770 feet before Yünnan Fu was reached. Next to the west comes the route by Chao-t'ong Fu; here navigation from the Yang-tzu ceases before Lao-wa-t'an (Baber, 1,140) is reached; and the route passes Chao-t'ong Fu (Baber, 6,580) and Tung-ch'uan Fu (Baber, 7,190). West of this comes the neck of high land that connects the plateau with the Thibetan uplands traversed by the Hui-li Chou (Baber, 6,000) route, and by the Wei-hsi route. (See Gill's \"River of Golden Sand,\" vol. ii, p. 255.)\n\nFrom Bhamo (430), the terminus of the navigation of the Irrawaddy, the great Burmese trade route runs through Têng-vueh Chou (5,540), Yung-ch'ang Fu (5,880), and Ta-li Fu (6,550). The next route is that by the valley of the Shui-li, past Lung-ling Chou, by which there is said to have been once a considerable traffic, killed since the rebellion. Next comes the caravan route by way of the valley of the Mekong, to Ssu-mao (4,480), and on to Yunnan Fu by an extraordinarily difficult road (see Sketch 3). The next route is that by the Red River, through Lao-kai and Mêng-tzu Hsien. Mêng-tzu is on the southern edge of the plateau, with an elevation of 4,530 feet, from which to Lao-kai there must be a descent of something like 3,500 feet. Next comes the Canton West River, by Po-sé (530)--two days above which the navigation comes to an end--to Kuang-nan Fu (4,310). To the east again is the Kwang-si land route, which passes through Ch'ing-yuan Fu (490), and Tu-shan Chou (3,460), to Kuei-yang Fu, the capital of the Kuei-chou Province. Next comes the great western road from Hankow, traversed by Margary, which follows the Tung-ting Lake and the Yuan River to Chên-yuan Fu (altitude not known), where navigation ceases. From Chên-yuan Fu the traffic is by caravan to Kuei-yang Fu (3,530). Lastly, there is the route between Ssu-ch'uan and Kuei-yang Fu, by a tributary of the Yang-tzu to Chi-chiang Hsien (880), where navigation ceases, through Tung-tzu Hsien (3,020) to Kuei-yang Fu.\n\nIt appears, then, that Yunnan and Western Kuei-chou are very nearly conterminous.\n\n[496]\n405",
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        "document_key": "CO129-249 - Governor Des Voeus Acting Governor Barker - 1891 [1-5]",
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        "title": "CO129-249 - Governor Des Voeus Acting Governor Barker - 1891 [1-5]",
        "content_text": "216\n\nTHE CHINA REVIEW.\n\na petiole 3 to 6 lines long. Stipules, minute, fugitive, easily observed on young branches. Flowers, small, on stalks 3 to 9 lines long, bright yellow, arranged in rather dense terminal and lateral cymes; bracts, few, linear. Calyx, small, persistent, very deeply cleft; sepals, about 1 line long, acute, imbricated. Corolla, rotate, 8 to 9 lines diam., tube 3 to 4 lines long, surmounted by 5 equal lobes 2 to 3 lines long, inner surface of tube marked with red spots. Stamens 5, inserted on base of corolla tube and alternate with the lobes of the corolla, exserted, but shorter than the lobes; filaments equal; anthers lanceolate. Ovary stalked, on a short gynophore, tapering into a style 3 lines long, two-celled, containing many ascending ovules in each cell; style bi-cleft, each division being again slightly divided into two spreading stigmas. Fruit, a brown, dry, oblong, inflated, membraneous capsule, about 1 inch long, having two opposite deep furrows running from base to apex; dehiscence, septicidal. Seeds, very small, furnished with reddish-brown, reniform and imbricated wings.\n\nThe above characters were observed on a specimen gathered on the hills overlooking Mirs Bay, at the back of the city of Kowloon in the Kwangtung province, and on another growing on Mount Gough, on the island of Hongkong; the description of the fruit is taken from specimens gathered on the Canton West River.\n\nGelsemium elegans may now be seen growing in the Hongkong Botanical Gardens.\n\nHABITAT. This shrub grows sparingly in Hongkong, but more abundantly on the hills of the neighbouring mainland of China (Champion, Wright, Wilford, Hance, &c.). In November, 1885, Mr. Westland found a large number of specimens in full flower, climbing round trees to a height of about 12 feet near the Eastern base of Tai Mo Shan.2 It has\n\n1. Flora Hong kongensis, p 229.\n\n2. This is the loftiest (about 3,000 feet) of the hills on the coast of China immediately opposite to the island of Hongkong.\n\nalso been observed growing luxuriantly on the banks of the West River, about 120 miles from Canton (Ford), near the district of Lo ting, and in ravines on the island of Lantau, opposite the mouths of the Canton river (Westland). In the Pên ts'ao (Chap. XVII) it is declared a native of the provinces of Chekiang, Kwangtung, Kwangsi, Sze-chuen, and Yunnan. According to Bentham, this poisonous plant also grows in Sumatra, being probably identical with Zygopteris sumatrana, Blume. It flowers in October, November and December and matures its seeds in April and May.\n\nIt differs from the N. American species1 of this genus in having smaller, scentless, flowers, larger leaves, and smaller fruits and seeds.\n\nPARTS USED, &c. - The root is the only part of the plant used in medicine. As met with in the native drug-shops in Hongkong under the name\n\nM.: Hu muan ch'iang;\n\nC.: U mun k'eung, it consists of thick pieces of the underground stem with or without portions of the true root and rootlets attached.\n\nA piece of the root in our possession exhibits the following characters. Cortical layer, thick, easily removed from central woody portion, externally of a brown colour, wrinkled, marked at intervals of from ¼ to ½ inch by transverse cracks, extending about half way round, and as far as the medullary layer. A section of the latter shows the medullary rays stretching through the yellow woody portion in a manner similar to that displayed by the root of G. nitidum.2\n\n1. In the South. E. States, G. nitidum, Michaux, the source of the eclectic remedy Gelsemin) is known as Wild Yellow Jessamine or False Jasmine. We prefer to avoid the use of the terms Jasmine or Jessamine in the case of the China species. These names ought to have distinct generic significance, and should be applied only to plants of the genus Jasminum, with which Gelsemium was formerly classed. The value of popular botanical names will be seriously impaired, if their indiscriminate use becomes general.\n\n2. Syn. Bignonia sempervirens, Linn; G. sempervirens, Aiton; G. lucidum, Poir. This species is figured in Bentley and Trimen's Medicinal Plants, (1880), Vol. III, No. 181,\n\nNOTES ON CHINESE MATERIA MEDICA.\n\nWhen cut with a sharp knife, the central woody part shows a waxy section.\n\nThere is every reason to believe, that, in the majority of instances, supplies of this drug are brought from the hill sides only as they are wanted. In but few shops can specimens be seen. This fact will possibly account for the scarcity of the plant on the island of Hongkong: the careless collector doubtless destroys a shrub each time he gathers the drug, the root being the only part sought for.\n\nCHEMICAL COMPOSITION. - The active principle of this drug is due to an alkaloid which was first isolated in the Government Laboratory in the course of an enquiry ordered by Her Majesty's Coroner in the early part of 1884. This alkaloid is new to chemical science, and its discovery adds one more to the list of the STRYCHNINE OR TETANUS-PRODUCING GROUP OF ALKALOIDS. Its most characteristic reaction is the production of a deep violet colouration when in contact with oxidizing agents. If the alkaloid is present in very small quantity an observer might confound the colour with that displayed by Strychnine and Gelsemine under similar circumstances. In such a case the observer should apply side by side the same reagents to the alkaloids of Strychnos nux vomica and Gelsemium nitidum - a practised eye will at once note the difference.\n\nThe following table shows at a glance the different colours produced when manganese oxide and sulphuric acid are applied to---\n\nThe alkaloid1 of Gelsemium elegans.\n\nGelsemine.\n\nStrychnine.\n\nA deep violet colouration, changing to a rich green, which latter tint is more marked at the edges.\n\nA damask-purple colour, changing rapidly to and one of a rich purple hue.\n\nA deep purplish-violet colour, finally assuming a cherry-red tint.\n\n1. Pharmaceutical Journal, (3), XVI., p. 95 and 496; also Hongkong Government Gazette, Vol. XXXI, p. 344.\n\n217\n\nThese colours are all evanescent, but that displayed by the first mentioned alkaloid is more lasting than the others. The alkaloid of G. elegans is not associated with gelseminic acid, and unlike Strychnine and Gelsemine (P), it will not bear the action of sulphuric acid at a temperature of 100° C.\n\nThe publication of other chemical features of this alkaloid is reserved for a future paper.\n\nTOXICOLOGICAL NOTE. - In cases of poisoning by any preparation of the root of G. elegans, no difficulty should be experienced, in detecting the active principle in the contents of the stomach, provided, first, that the victim had not vomited to any extent after receiving the dose, and second, that death had ensued within a few hours of the administration of the poison. The method adopted in the Laboratory of the Government Civil Hospital is a modification of Stas's alkaloidal process. The viscera is treated with about twice its weight of absolute alcohol, acidified with tartaric acid, and digested for a few hours in a flask at a temperature of about 70° C., cooled and filtered. The filtrate is evaporated to the consistence of a soft extract, and treated with successive quantities of absolute alcohol and water, so as to free the alkaloid, if present, from as much extraneous matter as possible. The necessary evaporations may be conducted at a temperature of 100°C. The extract after the last alcoholic treatment is now dissolved in a little water and filtered, and the solution (acid) after being well washed with ether until nothing farther is removed - is made slightly alkaline with ammonia, and immediately shaken with a suitable volume of ether. The ethereal layer, which now contains the alkaloid, is removed; and this treatment having been repeated, the ethereal solutions of alkaloid are mixed, and divided into two parts. The first half should be evaporated\n\n1. Pharmaceutical Journal, (3), XVI., p. 642.\n\n2. This washing of the acid solution with ether ought never to be omitted.\n\n133",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-249 - Governor Des Voeus Acting Governor Barker - 1891 [1-5].txt",
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    {
        "id": 378705,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900",
        "page_number": 519,
        "title": "CO129-302 - Public Offices - 1900",
        "content_text": "## 510 \n\n2 \n\nI had the honour to embody the above account in a code telegram to you this morning. \n\nThe village referred to is probably Ku-chen, a place notorious for the lawlessness of its people. \n\nI venture respectfully to suggest that the village in question should be visited by a Chinese and a British gun-boat and burned to the ground as a salutary warning to the surrounding country. \n\n## No. 2. \n\nI have, &c.  \n(Signed)  \n**HARRY H. FOX**  \n\n## Sir C. MacDonald to the Marquess of Salisbury.—(Received April 2.) \n\n**(No. 27. Confidential.)**  \nMy Lord,  \nPeking, February 2, 1900,  \n\nI HAVE the honour to transmit herewith to your Lordship translation of a supplementary Memorial by the Tsung-li Yamên to the Throne, suggesting instructions which they request may be issued to the Viceroy of the Two Kwang Provinces, with a view to the suppression of piracy on the West River and inland waters about Canton.  \n\nThis document was forwarded to me by Her Majesty's Consul, who obtained it from an indirect source.  \n\nI have, &c.  \n(Signed)  \n**CLAUDE M. MACDONALD**  \n\n3 \n\nboats to undertake the pursuit and capture of pirates on the inner waters of that province. This precedent can on no account be allowed to be established, and we have already, by way of putting a stop to this crafty plan, replied to the British Minister to the effect that the lower reaches of the West River are all under the jurisdiction of the Viceroy of the Two Kwang, who can himself order his subordinates to restore order, and that it will not be necessary, therefore, to take measures on his behalf. But this matter cannot be glossed over with mere empty words, and we depend altogether upon the provincial officials to issue strict orders to the civil and military officials directing them to really exert themselves to catch pirates. It is only this which will suffice to put an end to interference from outside.  \n\nWe request that instructions be sent to the Viceroy of the Two Kwang, directing him to dispatch additional naval forces without delay to take the matter in hand, and also to impose a limit of time in which the culprits in all outstanding cases of piracy must unfailingly be caught and punished with the utmost rigour by the law. Thus the locality in question will be tranquillized and complications will be avoided in international affairs.  \n\nPresented the 11th December, 1899.  \nReached Canton the 25th December, 1899.  \nReceived at Consulate the 5th January, 1900.  \n\n## Inclosure in No. 2. \n\n### Supplementary Memorial from the Tsung-li Yamên respecting Piracy in Kwangtung. \n\nPIRACY is extremely rife in Kwangtung Province, and during the present year cases have repeatedly come to our knowledge. During the first moon of the present year the British Minister, Sir Claude MacDonald, in a despatch referred to several piracies committed on British vessels in Kwangtung waters, and stated that if China did not take measures to afford protection, Great Britain would send ships to patrol the waters, and provide guards to escort British vessels, charging the expenses to the Chinese Government. We thereupon instructed Viceroy Tan by telegraph to order his subordinates to display extra care in policing the waterways, so as to stop the mouths of outsiders.  \n\nIn due course we received his telegraphic reply, to the effect that there were pirates everywhere; that the pirating of foreign steamers was inevitable; but that it was entirely out of the question for China to pay expenses. We therefore wrote to the British Minister, taking exception to his attitude, and pointing out that the Kwangtung waterways were in the interior of China, and that even supposing the British authorities were to pay the expenses themselves, they could not be suffered to send an armed force to police the waters, as this would militate against the independence of China. At the same time we instructed the Viceroy of the Two Kwang to issue strict orders to his subordinates to patrol the waterways, so that trade might be peacefully carried on. During the 6th moon the British vessel “Wo-On” was pirated, and the British Minister demanded an indemnity. We again wrote to Viceroy Tan, and all he said in reply was that steamer passengers should be searched for arms; and that, in order to prevent pirates from mingling with the passengers, boats should not be allowed to take passengers en route. This was communicated to the British Minister, from whom we afterwards received a further communication to the effect that there had been, up to the present, no decrease in piracy in the Canton Province; that on the 25th October a British launch had again been pirated near Kumchuk; that a telegram had been received from the British Government to the effect that the Governor of Hong Kong was desirous to at once restore to order the lower reaches of the West River, and would not allow the pirates to commit their depredations unchecked; that he (the British Minister) had therefore to request that we would instruct the Viceroy at Canton by telegraph to render assistance. To judge from the tone of this despatch, it is to be feared that there is an intention to send gun-  \n\n14770  \n1 f",
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    {
        "id": 386702,
        "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": "CO129-314 - Public Offices - 1902",
        "page_number": 157,
        "title": "CO129-314 - Public Offices - 1902",
        "content_text": "## Inclosure 2 in No. 1\n**Sir J. Mackay to Sheng Taotai.**\n\nHong Kong, November 9, 1901.\n\nYOUR Excellency has been informed by Sir Ernest Satow, His Britannic Majesty's Minister at Peking, that I have been appointed by His Britannic Majesty as his Special Commissioner and Plenipotentiary to negotiate with the Government of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China a revision of the Commercial Treaties which exist between the two countries, and I have been apprised that you have been appointed by His Majesty the Emperor of China to treat with me.\n\nI have, therefore, the honour to inform your Excellency that I arrived here yesterday from England, and that I purpose proceeding to Shanghai, after having visited some of the Treaty ports. I shall advise you in due course the date of my proposed arrival at Shanghai, and, on reaching there, I shall have the honour to submit my credentials.\n\nI have, &c.  \n(Signed) JAS. L. MACKAY.\n\n## No. 2\n**Sir J. Mackay to the Marquess of Lansdowne.--(Received December 23.)**\n\n(No. 3.)  \nMy Lord,  \nHong Kong, November 23, 1901.\n\nIN continuation of my despatch No. 1 of the 11th instant, I have now the honour to inform you that I had a further interview with Sir Ernest Satow here on Monday, the 11th instant, at which I was favoured with a full expression of his views on the various subjects set forth in my instructions.\n\nSir Ernest was good enough to place at my disposal, so long as I may require them, the services of Mr. J. W. Jamieson, Commercial Attaché to the Legation at Peking.\n\nOn Monday evening (11th instant) I left Hong Kong, accompanied by Mr. Cockburn and the Secretaries, for Canton, where we spent three days, and had the opportunity of hearing the views of the Acting Consul-General, Mr. James Scott, the mercantile community, and the Commissioner of the Imperial Maritime Customs, Mr. F. A. Morgan. Mr. Morgan's defence of the existing West River and Inland Navigation Rules, of which so much complaint has been heard, was not very strong, and, after several interviews, he finally promised to consider whether some other Rules could be devised which would permit steamers to trade freely upon the West River and inland waters of the Southern Provinces, and, at the same time, sufficiently safeguard the revenues of China.\n\nSince I left Canton I have received the inclosed letter from Mr. Scott, Acting British Consul-General at Canton, dated the 18th instant, with copy of his despatch of the 16th instant to Sir Ernest Satow, by which your Lordship will observe that Mr. Morgan has written to Sir Robert Hart, proposing that certain important alterations should be made forthwith in the Rules; and, if these are sanctioned, the difficulties now experienced in running steamers between Canton and the West River ports will be, in a great measure, removed. There are other important changes which are necessary in connection with the West River trade; but these can stand over till negotiations take place in Shanghai.\n\nIn connection with the new Rules which Mr. Morgan has proposed to Sir Robert Hart, I also inclose a copy of a letter, dated the 18th instant, from Mr. Fearon, Chairman of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, with the correspondence above mentioned. I also send copy of my letter to Mr. Scott, dated the 19th instant, and copy of my letter to Mr. Fearon, dated the 14th instant.\n\nWhile in Canton I called on the Governor, the Tartar General, and the 'Hoppo' (Head of the Native Customs), and received return visits from these officials. The Viceroy was unable to see me, owing to illness; I understand he is suffering from acute phthisis, and is not expected to live long.\n\nWe were entertained at dinner by the Canton Chamber of Commerce on the 13th instant, and on the morning of the 15th instant left by steamer for Wuchow, on the West River.",
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    {
        "id": 386709,
        "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": "CO129-314 - Public Offices - 1902",
        "page_number": 164,
        "title": "CO129-314 - Public Offices - 1902",
        "content_text": "## No. 2.\n\n163\n\n**(No. 3.) My Lord,**\n\nSir J. Mackay to the Marquess of Lansdowne,--(Received December 23.)\n\nHong Kong, November 23, 1901.\n\nIN continuation of my despatch No. 1 of the 11th instant, I have now the honour to inform you that I had a further interview with Sir Ernest Satow here on Monday, the 11th instant, at which I was favoured with a full expression of his views on the various subjects set forth in my instructions.\n\nSir Ernest was good enough to place at my disposal, so long as I may require them, the services of Mr. J. W. Jamieson, Commercial Attaché to the Legation at Peking.\n\nOn Monday evening (11th instant) I left Hong Kong, accompanied by Mr. Cockburn and the Secretaries, for Canton, where we spent three days, and had the opportunity of hearing the views of the Acting Consul-General, Mr. James Scott, the mercantile community, and the Commissioner of the Imperial Maritime Customs, Mr. F. A. Morgan. Mr. Morgan's defence of the existing West River and Inland Navigation Rules, of which so much complaint has been heard, was not very strong, and, after several interviews, he finally promised to consider whether some other Rules could be devised which would permit steamers to trade freely upon the West River and inland waters of the Southern Provinces, and, at the same time, sufficiently safeguard the revenues of China.\n\nSince I left Canton I have received the inclosed letter from Mr. Scott, Acting British Consul-General at Canton, dated the 18th instant, with copy of his despatch of the 16th instant to Sir Ernest Satow, by which your Lordship will observe that Mr. Morgan has written to Sir Robert Hart, proposing that certain important alterations should be made forthwith in the Rules; and, if these are sanctioned, the difficulties now experienced in running steamers between Canton and the West River ports will be, in a great measure, removed. There are other important changes which are necessary in connection with the West River trade; but these can stand over till negotiations take place in Shanghae.\n\nIn connection with the new Rules which Mr. Morgan has proposed to Sir Robert Hart, I also inclose a copy of a letter, dated the 18th instant, from Mr. Fearon, Chairman of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, with the correspondence above mentioned. I also send copy of my letter to Mr. Scott, dated the 19th instant, and copy of my letter to Mr. Fearon, dated the 14th instant.\n\nWhile in Canton I called on the Governor, the Tartar General, and the \"Hoppo\" (Head of the Native Customs), and received return visits from these officials. Viceroy was unable to see me, owing to illness; I understand he is suffering from acute phthisis, and is not expected to live long.\n\nWe were entertained at dinner by the Canton Chamber of Commerce on the 13th instant, and on the morning of the 15th instant left by steamer for Wuchow, on the West River.",
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    {
        "id": 397983,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-330 - Public Offices - 1905",
        "page_number": 473,
        "title": "CO129-330 - Public Offices - 1905",
        "content_text": "## \n\ngaranties concernant la bonne exécution des travaux et la régularité des paiements soient un peu précisées.\n\nLe Doyen. - Il faudrait pourtant attendre de connaître le Mémorandum des intéressés : leur opinion vaut d'être prise en considération.\n\nM. Dubail. - J'ai l'instruction formelle et l'opinion de Shanghaï n'y changera rien - de me rallier à la proposition des Etats-Unis et d'accepter l'offre Chinoise, en nous entourant des garanties nécessaires et en réservant d'en revenir au système de l'Annexe 17 du Protocole Final si les travaux n'étaient pas régulièrement exécutés.\n\nSir Ernest Satow. J'ai des instructions analogues.\n\nM. Lessar. - Conformément aux instructions que je viens de recevoir de mon Gouvernement, je suis prêt à adopter en principe la proposition du Prince Ch'ing contenue dans sa note en date du 13 (26) Novembre, 1904, au sujet de l'amélioration du cours de la rivière Whangpou.\n\nQuant aux garanties à demander à la Chine pour s'assurer que l'allocation des sommes nécessaires sera faite et qu'elles seront dûment employées, je me joins d'avance à la décision de la majorité ; bien entendu que, relativement au contrôle de l'exécution des travaux, le Consul-Général de Russie à Shanghai aura les mêmes droits que les Consuls des autres Puissances.\n\nSir Ernest Satow. - Naturellement. Nous pourrions donc nous entendre sur les bases des propositions faites par le Ouai-wu Pou. Sur quelques points j'aurais des observations à faire :\n\nDans l'Article 2, à propos de la nomination de l'ingénieur, il est dit \"la Chine pourra\", mieux vaudrait \"la Chine devra\".\n\nL'Article 5 devrait être plus explicite, en vue d'empêcher les riverains d'empiéter sur la rivière.\n\nL'Article 7 devrait interdire les dragages par les particuliers.\n\nL'Article 8. Il faudrait adopter le système d'expropriation qui avait été prévu au Protocole au lieu de laisser aux Consuls et Taotai le soin de régler la question. Le système du Protocole appliqué depuis longtemps dans les Concessions internationales a donné de bons résultats.\n\nLe Gouvernement Chinois, en exécutant les travaux, découvrira des terrains nouveaux, gagnés par la rivière ; les propriétaires riverains devraient avoir sur ces terrains un droit de préemption seulement, et non le droit de les acheter en remboursant purement et simplement les dépenses effectuées.\n\nJe ne sais pas si les Articles 11 et 12 satisfairont mon Gouvernement.\n\nLes stipulations du Protocole sur les travaux du Whangpou ne sauraient être annulées ; elles ne peuvent être que suspendues et seraient mises en vigueur si la Chine ne se conformait pas d'une manière satisfaisante à ses obligations.\n\nM. Dubail. - Nous pourrions demander à Sir Ernest Satow d'indiquer, en regard de la note Chinoise, les modifications qui lui sembleraient nécessaires. Nous les examinerions ensuite et nous mettre d'accord.\n\nLe Baron de Mumm. - Mon Gouvernement est décidé d'insister sur la mise en vigueur de l'Annexe 17 du Protocole Final tant que la Chine ne donne pas de garanties réelles pour l'exécution effective de la régularisation du Whangpou par elle-même et pour un prompt commencement des travaux. D'après l'opinion de mon Gouvernement, de telles garanties ne sont pas contenues dans les cinq Articles de la note Chinoise du 9 Juin dernier. Quant à la note Chinoise du 26 Novembre, elle n'est pas encore sous les yeux de mon Gouvernement, et je ne peux donc pas dire si les propositions qu'elle contient seraient considérées par mon Gouvernement comme une base suffisante pour un nouvel arrangement avec le Gouvernement Chinois. Quoique tout disposé à chercher, d'accord avec mes honorables collègues, une issue de l'impasse dans laquelle nous nous trouvons actuellement par suite du refus du Gouvernement Chinois de se conformer à ses engagements formels du Traité de 1901, je crois pourtant devoir affirmer que dans leur forme actuelle aussi, les dernières propositions du Gouvernement Chinois ne pourront guère induire mon Gouvernement à quitter la base sûre du Protocole Final.\n\nMon Gouvernement, cependant, pourrait accepter les propositions Chinoises revisées, amendées, changées. Je suis prêt à rechercher une entente sur ces bases.\n\nJ'adopterais les changements proposés par Sir Ernest Satow. Je crois en outre qu'il serait bon de s'assurer que les revenus affectés aux travaux seront bien utilisés dans ce but.\n\nOn avait spécifié au Protocole les revenus qui devraient servir au paiement de l'indemnité. Le Gouvernement Chinois, cependant, a demandé des fonds aux Gouverneurs des Provinces, ainsi a augmenté la prévarication des mandarins et l'impopularité des étrangers. Il faudrait une Commission pour surveiller la perception et l'emploi des fonds destinés à subvenir aux dépenses nécessitées par les travaux projetés.\n\nJe n'entends pas, d'ailleurs, traiter ici l'affaire en détail ; nous aurons à y revenir. Tant qu'un accord ne sera pas intervenu, le Protocole restera en vigueur.\n\nM. Lessar. Je crois qu'il serait fort grave et irréalisable d'entreprendre de surveiller la perception des impôts en Chine.\n\nM. Dubail. - Peut-on prier Sir E. Satow d'indiquer dans un Mémorandum les modifications qu'il propose.\n\nLe Doyen. - J'élargirai cette proposition. Autrefois, MM. le Baron de Mumm, Conger, et Sir Ernest Satow s'étaient occupés ensemble de la question. On pourrait reconstituer cette ancienne Commission du Whangpou, en priant M. Dubail d'en faire également partie. Cette Commission élaborerait un texte sur lequel nous pourrions nous entendre.\n\nJe suis pour ma part sans instructions à ce sujet.\n\nJe regrette personnellement la brèche faite au Protocole, et j'espère qu'on trouvera un moyen de ne pas annuler l'Annexe 17, et de faire comprendre à la Chine qu'en échange de cette grande concession elle doit apporter de la bonne volonté au règlement de la question de l'indemnité.\n\nCette proposition est adoptée.\n\n## Inclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\n## Alterations in the Stipulations regarding the Whangpoo Conservancy, contained in the Protocol of September 7, 1901.\n\n### Preamble.\n\nWITH reference to the provisions of the Final Protocol of 1901, relating to the establishment of a Whangpoo Conservancy Board, its functions and revenues, China being now desirous of substituting a different Arrangement, charging herself with the work and making herself responsible for the whole cost, and the Powers who were Parties to the Protocol having given their consent, the Arrangement agreed to is set forth as follows:-\n\n1. The works in connection with the improvement of the channel of the Whangpoo River, and of the condition of the inner and outer bars at Wusung, together with the maintenance of such improvements, shall all be placed under the management of the Shanghae Customs Taotai and the Commissioner of Customs. The control of the Whangpoo river-police, lights, beacons, sanitary matters, pilot services, &c., shall be under the same control as formerly.\n\n2. Within three months from the signature of this Agreement, China will herself select an engineer well versed in river conservancy work, and if a majority of the Representatives of the Powers who were Parties to the Protocol consider him suitable, China will at once appoint him to undertake the work. If, after the commencement of the work, a fresh appointment, for reasons approved by a majority of such Representatives becomes necessary, the selection and appointment shall be made in accordance with the method above mentioned.\n\n3. For all contracts for undertaking the river works in whole or in part, and for purchasing materials and machinery and the like, public tenders shall be invited, and the most advantageous accepted.\n\n4. Every quarter a detailed report of the work accomplished, and an account of the moneys expended on the river works shall be made up and sent for inspection to the Consular Body at Shanghae.\n\n5. The authorization of the Shanghae Customs Taotai and of the Commissioner of Customs shall be necessary before new bunds or jetties are constructed or pontoons placed in position or bulks stationed in the river.\n\n6. The Shanghae Customs Taotai and the Commissioner of Customs shall have authority to expropriate existing moorings as well as to establish a system of public moorings in the river.\n\n## Page 466",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905",
        "page_number": 72,
        "title": "CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905",
        "content_text": "# 71\n\nOn arriving before the Yamen there was a short pause before the large central gate swung open to let us pass, and as we entered three guns were fired off as a salute.\n\nI was met in an inner hall by Wen Taotai, Mr. Kao and Mr. Hsieh; the first named speaks excellent English and was one of the Chinese officials deputed to negotiate the Commercial Treaty with Sir James Mackay.\n\nViceroy Tsen welcomed me cordially and conducted me into a large room where we seated ourselves at a long table covered with the usual sweetmeats.\n\nSir Matthew Nathan, Governor of Hongkong, with whom I have been staying, had asked me to mention one or two things to the Viceroy should I see him. Accordingly, after a few remarks of a general character had passed, I said that the Governor had asked me to convey his congratulations on the successful manner in which His Excellency had put down the rebellion in Kwang-si. The Viceroy looked pleased and requested me to thank Sir Matthew for his kind message.\n\nI then remarked that the Governor was most anxious to make his acquaintance and to visit Canton; he had deferred doing the latter, however, in the Viceroy's absence, but hoped to have the opportunity of seeing him and Canton at no distant date. Tsen smiled and bowed, but made no definite reply.\n\nI next alluded to the procedure which had been adopted in regard to extradition in the \"Perseverance\" case, which had given great satisfaction to the Hongkong Government and which they hoped would be followed in future cases. The Viceroy said that it would be most certainly, and remarked that he sincerely wished that extradition cases could be arranged as satisfactorily with Macao as with Hongkong. With the former place there were endless difficulties and delays which involved heavy expenses. His Excellency hoped that the present regulations in respect to the export of arms from Hongkong to the two Kwang Provinces, which was the next subject I brought forward, would not be relaxed. It was a most necessary measure which went far to secure order and tranquillity which the Hongkong Government must be just anxious ... \n\n## 88",
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    {
        "id": 403557,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905",
        "page_number": 466,
        "title": "CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905",
        "content_text": "## REGULATIONS in force with regard to the joint management by the four provinces of Hupei, Hunan, Kiangsi, and Anhui of the taxes on opium and destination li-kin on boiled opium.\n\nEVERY package of opium weighing 1 picul gross weight will be allowed to deduct 9 catties for the outer covering and 4 catties for inside wrappings. A further reduction of 10 per cent. will be allowed to the 87 remaining catties, and this net weight of opium, neither more nor less, will be assumed for purposes of taxation.\n\nThe taxes may be paid in silver or copper cash, but no further concessions will be made.\n\n### Taxation Details\n\n| Tax Type | Rate |\n| --- | --- |\n| Principal tax | 30 Kuping taels per picul net weight |\n| \"Excess or deficit\" tax | 4.7 taels per picul net weight |\n| Reorganization tax | 9 cash per ounce net weight |\n| Prevention of smuggling tax | 9 cash per ounce net weight |\n| Destination li-kin | 70 cash per ounce |\n\n2. Every picul net weight of opium shall pay a principal tax of 30 Kuping taels, plus 20 per cent., i.e., 6 Kuping taels, and an \"excess or deficit\" tax of 4.7 taels, plus 20 per cent., making a total of 41.64 Kuping taels.\n\n3. Every ounce net weight of opium shall pay a reorganization tax and a prevention of smuggling tax in full money of 9 cash each, plus 20 per cent. in full money, i.e., 1.8 cash, making a total of 10.8 cash.\n\n4. For destination li-kin, from every package of 1 picul of opium 13 catties will be deducted for the outer covering and inner wrappings as in the case of the principal tax, leaving 87 catties of opium net weight; a further reduction of 2 per cent. on the net weight will be allowed for dryness. Every ounce will then pay destination li-kin of 70 cash in full.\n\nThis tax may be paid by a promissory note due in three months' time. When the tax is paid on the spot every ounce will pay 66 cash.\n\n5. As the distance to Kiangsi and Anhui is further than to Hunan and Hupei, and the expense of transport greater, a reduction of 5 per cent. in value of the taxes to be paid is allowed as a concession to merchants, e.g., 95 taels will be received for a tax amounting to 100 taels and 95,000 cash for 100,000 cash.\n\n## REGULATION in force with regard to the joint management by the two Kuang Provinces of the taxes on opium and destination li-kin on boiled opium.\n\nOpium destined for retail sale within the provinces shall report at the first barrier, and a further reduction of 5 catties for the outer wooden or cane packing (in addition to the 13 above referred to) shall be made from every picul. Every picul net weight of opium shall pay a tax of 30 Kuping taels and a destination li-kin of 70 Kuping taels. Every piece of opium shall be stamped, and a certificate shall be given stating in detail the amount of the taxes paid and the weight, in order that it may be passed without further taxation after inspection at other barriers.\n\n## JOINT PROCLAMATION\n\nissued by Chou Fu, Acting Viceroy of the Liang Kiang; Ts'ung, Tartar General of Foochow and Viceroy of Min Chê; Chin Ch'üan Hsuan, Acting Viceroy of the Liang Kuang, Chang Chih Tung, Viceroy of Hukuang; Lu, Governor of Kiangsu; Chêng Kuo Chuan, Governor of Anhui; Hu, Governor of Kiangsi; Tuan Fang, Governor of Hunan; Chang, Governor of Kuangtung; Li Chin Hsi, Governor of Kuangsi; Ko Feng Shih, Imperial Commissioner for the simultaneous collection of all taxes and li-kin on opium in the eight provinces, Governor of Kueichou.\n\nWHEREAS we have received Imperial orders to consult the Board of Revenue as to the better management of fiscal matters; and whereas we have received a communication from the Ministers of the Board stating that His Imperial Majesty the Emperor has been pleased to approve a Memorial submitted by them for the simultaneous collection of all taxes and li-kin on opium coming from Szechuan, Yünnan, and Kueichou destined for sale in the eight provinces, and has been pleased to order that the scheme in the Memorial should be put into effect; and whereas the original Memorial proposed that a central office should be established at Ichang, in Hupei, for the collection of the taxes on opium and destination li-kin on boiled opium, and that branch offices should be established at Hung Chiang, in Hunan, and at Wuchow, in Kuangsi, and that the taxes and li-kin should be collected in accordance with the Regulations in force in Ichang; we, therefore, order that the destination li-kin shall be paid in advance on all opium, whether carried in steamers or sailing-boats. We have also, after consultation, added twelve new Regulations to those already in force, and have temporarily established the central office at Wuchang, and submitted these proposals in a Memorial to the Emperor.\n\nThe Regulations for the collection of the taxes at the offices at Ichang, Hung Chiang, and Wuchow shall continue to be the old ones. From the date of the enforcement of the new scheme, Ichang and Hung-chiang will collect for the Hukuang Provinces, and Wuchow will collect for the two Kuang Provinces.\n\nEach province will provisionally use its own documents and stamps on opium retailed in its borders in order to avoid confusion. On no account may opium destined for retail sale at present in stock in the Hu and Kuang Provinces be carried beyond their borders and confused with opium in other provinces.\n\nWhen application is made to convey opium beyond the limits of the eight provinces it will pay all taxes and li-kin. Opium carried in a steamer must pay all opium li-kin before dispatch. The central office will then issue a certificate and place a stamp on the opium. No further taxation will be imposed, whichever of the eight provinces may be declared as its destination.\n\nInspection and prevention of smuggling stations will be established at various important centres in Kiangsi, Anhui, Kiangsu, and Fukien. On the production at these stations of an export certificate issued by any office, stating that all taxes and li-kin have been paid, the opium will be passed free and certificate indorsed and stamped. If the certificate and the opium do not correspond, or the stamp (on the opium) bears traces of substitution, the facts shall be telegraphically reported to the central office for investigation and decision. If the opium does not bear the stamp of the central office it shall be confiscated according to Regulation.\n\nWhen on arriving at a customs barrier it is reported that opium has only paid the customs duty, the destination likin shall be made good, and paid to the inspection station in accordance with the Regulations in force for the four provinces, and the opium stamped with the stamp of the central office; it will then be allowed to be taken to any of the eight provinces and sold by retail.\n\nThe Reports of the various offices in the past show that, leaving Kiangsi and Anhui out of account, the amount of opium destined for Kiangsu and Fukien is trifling. Traders have not in the past established houses for the sale of opium beyond the eight provinces, and under present circumstances they cannot with justice carry it there for retailing purposes.\n\nStill it is much to be feared that when the scheme for the simultaneous collection of all taxes comes into operation, they will declare that the opium is destined for places not in the eight provinces, in the hope of escaping with the lesser tax on opium in transit to the detriment of the revenue. Steps must be taken to prevent this abuse. All opium that passes the stations of Ichang and Hung Chiang...",
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    {
        "id": 407335,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-337 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1906",
        "page_number": 631,
        "title": "CO129-337 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1906",
        "content_text": "The new scheme will, on the face of it, benefit the Steam-ship Companies on the Yang-tsze, as it will tend to increase the amount of opium carried by steamer. Hitherto steamers have been practically debarred from taking opium destined for the four inner provinces, i.e., Hunan, Hupei, Kiangsi, and Anhui (these including the important markets of Shasi, Hankow, Changteh, Kiukiang, and Wuhu), owing to a differential tax in favour of junk-borne opium amounting to 118.93 Haikwan taels on junk-borne and 134.79 Haikwan taels on steamer-borne, the actual duties charged being: For junk-borne opium, \"koa chuan\" tax, 82.79 Kuping taels; l-kin, 38.10 Kuping taels; total, 120.89 Kuping taels (118.93 Haikwan taels); for steamer-borne, \"kao chuan,\" 82.79 Haikwan taels; customs export duty, 52 Haikwan taels; total, 134.79 Haikwan taels per picul.\n\nWith a uniform tax of 115 Kuping taels, steamers, offering speedy and safe transport, should obtain the bulk of the opium shipped from this port.\n\nThe new Regulations have, as far as I can learn, been well received by the local opium shippers, although they are taking exception to the clause providing for the payment of the tax in ready money. They seem to think, however, that the present comparatively low tariff will be increased as soon as the scheme gets into proper working order.\n\nOne or more Taotais are to be appointed to each province as delegates of the Board of Revenue to superintend the collection of the new tax. Taotai Ts'ai Yuan-shun assumed charge here on the 16th instant as Superintendent for Hunan and Hupeh, his official title being \"Tu pan Liang Hang t'u yao t'ung shui tsung pan.\"\n\nI venture to think that the new scheme, in so far as it affects the opium trade of Western China, deserves careful watching, as although the avowed object of its promoters is to regulate, limit, and eventually suppress altogether opium growing in China, it seems quite possible that the new tax, which, if properly administered, will simplify procedure and reduce taxation in the most productive areas, will have the effect of increasing and stimulating rather than diminishing and discouraging the production of opium in China.\n\n(Translation.)\n\nI have, &c.\n\nHARRY E. FOX.\n\n(Signed)\n\nInclosure 3 in No. 1.\n\nA PROCLAMATION by Ko Feng-Shih, Junior Vice-President of the Board of Revenue, Imperial Commissioner for the Reform of the Currency, Imperially appointed to supervise the arrangements for the collective taxation of native opium throughout the Empire.\n\nWHEREAS the Board of Revenue and the Board of Financial Reorganization have jointly memorialized the Throne with regard to a uniform scheme for the conversion into one collective tax of all taxes and dues hitherto levied on raw and prepared opium in the various provinces, and whereas the Imperial sanction has now been received to the universal adoption of this scheme, be it known that hereafter all opium, no matter in what province it is produced or in what province it is consumed, shall pay its dues in full at the first custom-house or barrier en route, have a label affixed, and receive a certificate, after which it may be conveyed for sale into any province without any further charges whatsoever, thus securing uniformity of treatment.\n\nThe Boards having memorialized for the appointment of high officials in all the provinces who, in consultation with the territorial authorities, will establish offices for the administration of the new scheme, hereby issue this Proclamation, in which are embodied the most important Articles of the Regulations which have received the Imperial sanction for the information and guidance of the public.\n\nRegulations.\n\n1. For the purposes of taxation a package of opium without its outer covering and inside wrappings will be called \"net weight opium\"; on this no deduction will be allowed under any circumstances. Weights will be calculated at the uniform rate of 16 Kuping ounces to the catty.\n\n2. One picul of \"net weight opium\" shall pay a collective tax of 100 Kuping taels, and at the same time a supplementary fee of 15 Kuping taels, no distinction being made between raw opium, l-kin, and boiled opium excise, and no other charges. All levies coming under the heading of production tax, consumption tax, fees for reporting to barrier, meltage fees, charges for loss by exchange, office repairs, examination, labels, certificates, &c., are now abolished.\n\nIf the slightest addition is made by any office or official to the 115 taels above mentioned, the merchant should report the case, giving particulars, when the case will be inquired into and the guilty parties dismissed or punished.\n\n\"Net weight\" opium reported to the Foreign Customs for export shall pay in accordance with these Regulations 115 taels per picul. There shall be no further charges.\n\nKuping taels will henceforth be substituted for Haikuan taels in assessing duties.\n\nOn payment by the merchant of the collective tax and supplementary fee a label will be affixed to each ball of opium, and a certificate will be issued for each package; the Foreign Customs will in addition affix a box label. There shall be no further charge, no matter to what province the opium is conveyed for sale.\n\nNo matter in what province the opium is produced, it is to be taxed according to these Regulations. No compromises of any kind shall be permitted. Duty-paid opium conveyed for sale into another province shall at the first office or barrier across the frontier be reported for examination of weights, numbers, labels, and certificates. If found to be in order the opium will be stamped and released. It shall not be subjected to any delays or exactions. If not in order the opium shall be confiscated.\n\nThe offices and barriers are strictly forbidden to allow the payment of fines. If it is found when the opium comes up for examination that the labels have not been properly affixed but are handed in by the merchant, or if the label has been removed and fastened on in another place, or if the label is torn or mutilated in any way, or if the label is not accompanied by a certificate, or vice versa, or if the label is in any way not in order, then the opium shall be detained, and the name of the office and official responsible for the issue of the original documents shall be reported for punishment and dismissal.\n\nAll documents such as labels, certificates, duty-paid memorandums, Customs certificates (\"chuan chao\"), box labels, &c., shall be supplied by the Head Office and distributed to the various branch offices, where they will be in charge of special deputies. In order to avoid complications no documents shall be made in the provinces.\n\nWhen an opium merchant intends selling his opium in any province he shall report to the nearest office or barrier and have the original certificate cancelled; the official in charge shall issue in exchange a box label on which will be indorsed the number and \"yin hua\" and which will be affixed to the package. Every package locally sold shall have its documents in order, that is to say, the box label must agree with the \"yin hua,\" otherwise the opium is liable to confiscation. In the case of box labels fixed by the Foreign Customs, the merchant shall produce (to the office or barrier) the Customs certificate and the red stamp indorsement showing the opium's destination. These documents may be handed in at any office or barrier free of charge.\n\nNo opium can be sold until its documents have been properly cancelled.\n\nAn opium merchant, having paid the tax and received his documents from the barrier, shall, if the opium is to be transported by steamer, report at the nearest custom-house, hand in his certificate for examination, and will receive in return a new certificate and a Customs box label. No further \"yin hua\" will be issued. It may then be transported anywhere free of charge. Arrived at its destination, the Customs certificate and box label must, as above stated, be handed in for cancellation.\n\nThe offices shall, in consultation with the territorial authorities, make arrangements for the taxation of opium produced for local consumption. The Head Office will issue labels and quadruplicate duty-paid memorandums, on which will be indorsed the number of balls, weights, and serial number of \"yin hua,\" but no certificate will be issued. Such opium is for local consumption only; if sent into another province it will be treated as contraband.\n\nThe revenue hitherto derived by the various provinces from opium duties and levies now included in the collective tax will be refunded in full to each province. No further levies of any kind are to be made. Any attempt by provincial offices and officials to levy taxes on their own account should be reported by the merchants, and will be dealt with according to the circumstances of the case.\n\nThe collective tax must be paid in ready money; if the merchant has no ready money his opium will be detained and a receipt given.",
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    {
        "id": 411391,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907",
        "page_number": 568,
        "title": "CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907",
        "content_text": "# \nFirst, the gains from such influx :- \n\n(a) Increase in customs revenue. The trifling land tax is insufficient to meet our vast expenditure, which leans chiefly on the revenue from foreign trade. This improves with influx of foreign capital, even under foreign control, which impairs our rights, and it covered the indemnity, to secure which duty-free list was abolished and 5 per cent. duty made effective. This voluntary surrender of what foreigners had hitherto disputed was due to no change of feeling, but to fear of China's weakness endangering their vast investments in China. \n\n(b) Opening up of sources of profit. China's official attitude had been to beware of speculation because of Sung and Ming dynasty disastrous experiments. So mines were left untouched and industries neglected. Intercourse with foreigners has changed all this and brought appreciation of mining, railways, machinery, and science, even though foreigners take the lion's share of the profits. The result is that mining and railway shares, which formerly were looked on askance, are now struggled for. Moreover, the provinces have learned zealously to conserve such rights even to the death. All this revolution is the effect of foreign capital being tendered. \n\n(c) The repression of outside aggression. Since trade was opened the occasional disputes have rarely resulted in hostilities, the exceptions being the Opium War, the Japanese War, and the Boxer trouble, which were severe blows. For if one nation breaks the peace all the others try to restore it and to minimize the spoils of war. It is not that they are wanting in power or unequal to the task, or doubtful of their right and not desirous of our territory, nor that they shrink from hurting us; it is simply that they have large mercantile interests at stake in China which suffer directly and indirectly from disturbance, so that war, while it may benefit one Power, hurts the rest. Thus our neutrality was sedulously kept in the recent war, Russia not daring to rouse general opposition by giving rein to her designs against us. \n\n(d) The keeping of internal peace. In time of weakness rebels take the chance to rise and hope for foreign aid. Powerful neighbours are prone to play the fishermen's part when he found oyster and bird at loggerheads, and rebels hope thus to secure asylum in case of failure and are thus encouraged to risk all on one throw—as history shows in case of Pu-Ku Huai-en's inviting the Turfan, Li Ch'uan's dealings with the Mongols. Nowadays, however, the greatness of their stake, public and private, in China and the damage to trade caused by prolonged rebellion incline foreign nations to side with Government, as when Taiping's rebels threatened Shanghae, and the French and British, though at war with us, came to our aid with men-of-war and troops, and their General died in attack on Soochow. So foreign capital invested secures foreign aid against rebels and keeps off rebellions. \n\nNevertheless, gain and loss are constantly intermingled, and the greatest gain implies extraordinary hurt, so that if one looks only on the advantageous side one is apt to awake too late to its disastrous concomitant. It is possible, however, to take precautions, and in the present case the evils are four—namely, loss of control of profit, which affects the State; loss of livelihood, which affects the people; daily drain abroad of gold and silver, which affects the prices; opening of strategic points as marts, which makes the country defenceless. These four evils are especially obvious, and the writer will take them up generally in order to warn his brethren. \n\nAs to the first two, the old reliance on agriculture is now changed to reliance on trade, so manufacturing is the source of profit, mining its means; railways and steam-ships also are the medium for interchange of resources. On commercial interests depend livelihood and control. Formerly, foreign trade meant merely shipping of goods, and those who brought wealth for business in China confined themselves to importing and exporting, the import of machinery for industrial purposes being forbidden as prejudicial to sale of native produce. The Treaty of Shimonoseki opened the door for all to establish factories in China to the vast detriment of our people's livelihood. Piece-goods, provisions, utensils, drugs, all the needs of daily life, which used to be the main means of subsistence and profit to our people, daily decline in demand, and the employment of Chinese workmen by the foreign houses is quite inadequate compensation; besides which, such employés are treated with the utmost harshness. \n\nOur tameness under such treatment is due simply to pressure of poverty. \n\nAs to gold, silver, coal, and iron mines, our country is fuller of rich ones than any other, but the control of those opened and proved has passed to foreigners, e.g., in Manchuria to Russia, in Shantung to Germany, in Szechuan to England, in Kuan Hsien, Chien Wei, Wei Yuan, Chichiang, Hochou, and Chungking to France, in Shansi, Honan, and Anhui to England, in Hsuan-cheng to Japan, in Chehkiang to Italy, in Kueichou and Fukien to France. The capital runs to millions or tens of millions, but the benefits are manipulated by outsiders. As to railway construction, it needs still vaster capital, but is still more beneficial. But outsiders know our insufficiency of means and of arts, so they pour in capital to wrest away our rights and grasp our railway administration. By their string of Agreements, the Eastern, Port Arthur-Dalny, Chengting-Taiyuan fell to Russia, the Yunnan-Tonquin, Kueilin-Tonquin, Pakhoi to France, Kiaochow-Chinan to Germany, Shansi-Honan, Shanhaikuan-Newchwang, Shanghae-Nanking, Soochow-Ningpo-Hangchow, Nanking-Chehkiang, Canton-Kowloon, Yunnan-Szechuan, to England, Lu-han to Belgium, Yueh-han to England and America, Tientsin-Chinkiang to England and Germany. Even though in Railway and Mining Agreements the rule was to have chiefly Chinese shareholders, the control and management to be Chinese, or, if a term of years for redemption were fixed, the real grip would remain foreign, and Chinese, on the plea of inexperience or obstructiveness, would be put aside, however great their subscriptions. A greater danger is the incalculable disaster that would follow a casus belli, while, as to the term for resumption, plenty of excuses for extending it would always be trumped up. Happily, of late, men of spirit have come forward to collect capital and dispute foreign claims; but our Government, alas! considers its action fettered by the existence of the Agreements. \n\nAs to other points, the vast steam traffic on inner waters has long been accepted without objection. But our rights slip away; subsistence becomes very hard from day to day. \n\nAlas! the Shimonoseki Treaty meant growth of foreign industries; the Secret Treaty with Russia encouraged foreign aggression; the Lu-Han Agreement opened the way for foreign capitalists' designs on our financial control; with the Boxer Treaty foreigners openly attacked our rights. Unless a remedy is found loss of rights will be followed by exhaustion of wealth, and that by extinction of the State, which nowadays means most cruel treatment of the people and the jeopardy of their race. Under these circumstances leaders of society should encourage to the utmost any who at the risk of their lives would struggle to recover our lost rights, and extend the people's dying means of livelihood to the vast benefit of our millions and the eternal foundation of our Government. To look on as they do with hands in their sleeves on plea of strong precedents is to promote outsiders' evil greed, to nip in the bud our people's patriotism, and simply amounts to letting our rights and our livelihood be engrossed by foreign capitalists. \n\nWhat is meant by the daily drain abroad of the precious metals raising prices and the establishment of ports at strategic points sapping our defence? Since trade was opened the foreigners have constantly poured in their products, e.g., opium, yarn, and rice, in exchange for our gold and silver, while with their imported gold and silver they have bought cheaply our products for export abroad, whence they return transmogrified to do us out of our wealth and rob us of our livelihood. The Chinese are naturally fond of novelty, and foreign nice-looking novelties are eagerly bought, and when the shoddy nature of one sort is found out, they are ready to alter them into something and under another name, which Chinese rush to buy, to foreigners' vast gain. Any attempt to put our goods on foreign markets is obstructed in every way and our goods imitated, as in the case of imitation of our former staples, tea and silk, and the press campaign against their use, all with the object of making our traders lose their money. Thus gold and silver drain abroad and the price of silver rises, entailing higher prices for goods and growing difficulty for Chinese in keeping themselves in necessaries, while the increased influx of foreign capital intensifies our people's difficulties. \n\nAs to the last point, nowadays seaboard defence is more vital than inland, and the danger is not from the tribes on our north-west, but from oversea Powers; so our south-east coast and the Yang-tsze Valley are the chief strategic areas. The centres of trade and wealth are the arteries of the State. International help began with the Dutch help against Koxinga, and the English also traded at Amoy, &c., before the opium dispute led to the loss of Hong Kong, a big indemnity, and the opening of five ports. France and America claimed equal treatment, and oversea trade on the southern waters started. In 1858 France and England took advantage of the Taiping Rebellion to declare war, and raided Tien-tsin and Peking; Prince Kung was intrusted with Treaty-making, and new ports included three on the Yang-tsze. So it went on, more ports and more nations being added, until all our strong places are squatted on, and men-of-war are sent to them nominally to protect, but really to bully, as the Kiaochow, Port Arthur, Wei-hai Wei cases proved, until China is stripped of her dependencies and ... \n\nPage 562",
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    {
        "id": 412052,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907",
        "page_number": 552,
        "title": "CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907",
        "content_text": "## About the middle of April last, the Viceroy of Hukung, Chang Chi Tung, telegraphed to Odagiri Manjiunosuke, Manager of the Specie Bank, with whom he was on friendly terms, asking him to come to Wuchang as he wished to speak to him on urgent business. Odagiri did not know what the business was, but as he intended to go to Wuchang in any case on bank business, he went there and saw Chang Chi Tung, who told him he wished to raise a loan of 20,000,000 taels for the carrying out of an enterprise. He explained later that the loan was for the purpose of building a railway, but at first this was not explained, and Odagiri could only presume that this was the object. As the Specie Bank could not undertake this matter single-handed, it was decided with Chang Chi Tung's consent, to raise the money in London, and the bank having received permission from the Imperial Government, at once communicated with the Hong Kong and Shanghae Bank and with Parr's Bank. These two banks replied that the guarantee of the Chinese Central Government must be a condition of the loan, and unless this condition were fulfilled they could not agree to the loan. Odagiri accordingly exhorted Chang Chi Tung to this effect, but the Viceroy at first refused to agree to this, and consequently the Specie Bank regarding the negotiations as quite hopeless, communicated with the British banks in this sense, and Odagiri was instructed to return to Japan. Chang Chi Tung, however, suddenly abandoned his previous statement and informed Odagiri that there would be no objection to introducing into the Agreement for the loan in question a guarantee clause similar to Article 14 of the Kiulung-Canton Railway Loan Agreement, or to Article 15 of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway Loan Agreement. Consequently, the Specie Bank, thinking that both the Hong Kong and Shanghae Bank and Parr's Bank would be satisfied with this new proposal, was on the point of telegraphing to London when Mr. Bland, of the British and Chinese Corporation, and Mr. Hillier, of the Hong Kong and Shanghae Bank, came to Hankow from Peking and commenced direct negotiations with Chang Chi Tung.\n\nAt the same time the British Minister in Peking and the British Consul-General at Hankow informed the Japanese Representatives at those places that there was an agreement that in the event of capital being required for railway construction in the two provinces of Hunan and Hupeh, negotiations should first be opened with Great Britain. It was then that both the Specie Bank and the Imperial Government heard for the first time of the existence of this Agreement, and the reason why Chang Chi Tung had in the beginning shirked mentioning to Odagiri the object of the loan, became clear. The Imperial Government accordingly at once caused the Specie Bank to decline the proposals of Chang Chi Tung'; and at the same time the Imperial Consul at Hankow informed both the Viceroy and the British Consul-General that the Specie Bank would not directly undertake the loan, but would be satisfied with being one of the issuing banks. That the Specie Bank took no initiative in this matter, and made no attempt to induce Chang Chi Tung to raise a loan, and moreover had not the smallest intention of injuring British interests, is abundantly clear from the fact that it made strong representations to the Viceroy in connection with its communications with the British banks on the subject of the proposed loan, and when his consent was obtained at once gave effect to it, and subsequently communicated the negotiations between the bank and the Viceroy without reserve to the British banks. If the British Government had any apprehensions in regard to the action of the Imperial Government and the Specie Bank these were due solely to ignorance of the existence of the above-mentioned agreement. The official intimation I have received from you has enabled the inner history of the matter to be made clear, and will be useful in preventing unexpected misunderstandings in the future.\n\nI beg to thank you for this communication and to state that rights already acquired by Great Britain in regard to railways in China will of course be respected. At the same time in order to avoid the possibility of any misunderstanding in the future, I would like to add that according to a telegram recently received from the Imperial Consul at Hankow, the official communication addressed by the Viceroy at the time to the British Consul-General regarding the above-mentioned Agreement, contained a clause to the effect that half of the engineers employed in making the railway should be natives of the country granting the loan, and half Japanese, and that they should work in separate districts, and that the British Consul-General told the Imperial Consul that he had no objection to this. Moreover, the Imperial Government have been engaged since the beginning of 1900 in demanding the right to construct a railway from Amoy and Foochow to Hankow via Nanchang, and the Chinese Government have repeatedly said that they would on no account grant the Concession for this railway to any other Power. The Imperial Government expects eventually to arrive at an understanding with the Chinese Government as to a suitable scheme of construction, and to carry out this project.\n\nI beg you will also take note of this fact. The Imperial Government feel confident that in the end the best plan for our two countries will be to act together and co-operate harmoniously in China in financial as well as political matters, and thus extend our mutual interests. And they trust that this incident will have the result of assisting the realization of the wishes of the two countries in regard to financial relations in China, and that in the future they will more and more consult together without reserve, and have increasing confidence in each other.\n\nI take, &c.  \n(Signed) **HAYASHI TADASU, Viscount**,  \nMinister for Foreign Affairs.",
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        "content_text": "# AFFAIRS OF CHINA\n## CONFIDENTIAL\n\nNo. 1.\n\nPeking, April 4, 1907.\n\n(No. 170.) Sir,\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.(Received May 18.)\n\nWITH reference to Sir Arthur Nicolson's despatch to you No. 19 of the 6th January, I have the honour to state that there have been frequent indications in the Chinese press during the past years that changes in the administration of Mongolia have been at least mooted. The inclosed extract from the \"Nan Fang Pao\" of the 16th March is a more than usually detailed specimen of the suggestions published.\n\nThe Prince Su mentioned is a prominent member of the Court, and known to hold strong and patriotic views in favour of radical reform. In April 1906 he was sent on a special tour of inspection among the principalities of Inner Mongolia, which lies east and west of the Hingan Mountains. His Report was not published, but I have gathered generally from conversations with his Highness, and from other sources, that his mission was hortatory, and designed to put the Mongol Princes on their guard against outside encroachments. I have exchanged calls lately with an Inner Mongol Prince visiting Peking, who told me that no changes had taken place, or were likely to take place, in the internal government of the principalities, though efforts were being made to introduce a more modern system of education. At this Prince's seat, for instance, a school for boys had been established with a Japanese instructor, who taught languages and elementary science, and also a girls' school, which is altogether a novelty.\n\nWhile Prince Su was touring in Inner Mongolia, the Duke P'u, referred to in Sir Ernest Satow's telegram No. 90 of the 3rd May, 1906, visited some of the Princes of Outer Mongolia with a similar object. His Report also remains unpublished.\n\nThere is no doubt that the occurrences of the past ten years in Manchuria have made the Chinese Government anxious to forestall similar measures from other quarters, but until the promised reforms of the Central Government and Provincial Administration have assumed material shape it seems improbable that any changes of real importance can be established in Mongolia.\n\nI have, &c. \n(Signed) **J. N. JORDAN**\n\n## Inclosure in No. 1.\n\n### Extract from the \"Nan Fang Pao\" of March 16, 1907.\n\n#### THE PROPOSED DIVISION OF MONGOLIA\n\nWE mentioned in our telegraphic news a short time ago that it is the intention of the Government to divide Inner and Outer Mongolia into four provinces, with a Governor over each after the style of the regular provinces in China. We now learn that a Secretary of the Ministry of Colonies has memorialized the President to the following effect:\n\n\"As Mongolia touches Russian territory, the defence of its frontier is more important than that of Manchuria, and a change in the present system should at once be inaugurated so as to put a check on foreign encroachments.\n\n\"It is suggested that Mongolia be divided into four provinces, with a Viceroy over two provinces, and a Governor, Provincial Treasurer, Judge, and Educational Commissioner over each province. The provinces should be as follows: The Tsetsen Khanate of the Outer Mongols to be one province under the title of East Mongolia; the Tushet'u and the Sain Noyan to be combined into one province under the name of ...\n\nPage 5 \n[16219] \nC.O. \n[2494 -6] \nPage",
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        "title": "CO129-345 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907",
        "content_text": "# 239\n\n(This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government)\n\n## CHINA RAILWAYS\n**CONFIDENTIAL**\n\n37403\n\n[October 5]\n\nRECEPTION OCT 07\n\n[33110]\n\n### No. 1\n\n**Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received October 5.)**\n**(Confidential.)**\n\n(No. 402.)\n\nSir,\n\nPeking, August 20, 1907.\n\nIN my despatch No. 306 of the 24th ultimo I had the honour to report on the progress of the negotiations between Herr Cordes and Mr. Liang Tun Yen respecting the Tien-tsin Yang-tsze Railway.\n\nFor some days subsequent to that date no further steps were taken between the two negotiators, as they had reached a point beyond which they could not usefully go pending the arrival in Europe (vià Siberia) of the draft Agreement, a copy of which was inclosed in my last despatch.\n\nMr. E. G. Hillier had meanwhile begun his negotiations for the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway, and it soon became evident that he could not expect better terms than those which were offered to Herr Cordes.\n\nMr. Hillier had been convinced since his return to Peking on the 17th July that the terms for the Tien-tsin-Yang-tsze Railway were unsatisfactory, owing to the omission of any safeguard for the proper disposal of the loan proceeds, and he had pointed out to Herr Cordes in a friendly way that he should insist on the Engineers-in-chief of the two sections of the line being persons acceptable to the Banks, and on the appointment of a Chief Accountant, with the stipulation that all indents by the Chinese Managing Director for loan funds should bear the counter-signature of these officials.\n\nHerr Cordes appeared singularly indifferent to these important points, and this fact, coupled with the apparent willingness of the German Minister to have the Agreement signed at all costs, led me to infer that there might be other considerations at stake.\n\nI therefore telegraphed to you on the 6th August (No. 157), drawing attention to the possible danger of having Herr Cordes as sole representative of both groups, and pointing out that whatever was settled in these negotiations would react upon the settlement of other outstanding Concessions.\n\nOn the 9th August Mr. Hillier received instructions to act as representative of the Central Chinese Railways (Limited), and proceeded forthwith to join Herr Cordes in carrying on negotiations with Mr. Liang.\n\nAt their first meeting, on the 13th August, the question of security was discussed. Mr. Liang stated that the securities which the Chinese Government proposed to offer were the general and opium li-kin of the Province of Chihli, amounting to 1,200,000 taels per annum, and the wine, tobacco, and opium li-kin of Shantung and Kiangsu, representing an annual revenue of another 800,000 taels and 600,000 taels respectively. This total of 2,600,000 taels was shown by Mr. Hillier to be insufficient to cover a loan of 6,000,000l., which, according to his calculation, would require a security of 4,000,000 taels per annum. Mr. Hillier pointed out also to his Excellency that the allocation of opium revenues by the Chinese Government as security at the present juncture, when the British public understood that the use of opium was to be totally prohibited within ten years, might arouse unfavourable comment when the loan prospectus was being examined by intending investors.\n\nTo this Mr. Liang replied that these totals represented the sums for which the three provinces undertook to hold themselves responsible, and that it was therefore immaterial from what source they came. They were general li-kin revenues, and if, as Mr. Hillier held, they were insufficient, the Central Government would have to indicate additional sources of revenue as security.\n\nThey then passed on to the points which Mr. Hillier desired to introduce into the Agreement, namely, the appointment of Engineers-in-chief and a Chief Accountant acceptable to the Syndicate, and with a share of responsibility in the application of loan funds.\n\nThe Chinese negotiator begged that the point should not be pressed, as he foresaw endless difficulty in persuading the gentry to accept such a condition.\n\n[2691 e-1]",
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    {
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "title": "CO129-345 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907",
        "content_text": "# CHINA TRADE\n## CONFIDENTIAL\n(33092)\n\n**(No. 384.) Sir,**\n\n### No. 1.\n319\n[October 5.]\n### SECTION 5.\n\nSir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received October 5.)\n\nPeking, August 14, 1907.\n\nI HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 231 of the 14th June last, and to transmit to you herewith copy of a note which I addressed to the Wai-wu Pu on the 12th instant, embodying the views of His Majesty's Government with regard to the proposals of the Chinese Government for giving effect to the Imperial Decree for the abolition of opium smoking.\n\nAt an interview which I had yesterday at the Wai-wu Pu, I explained to the Ministers that this communication merely contained a summary of the instructions with which you had furnished me, and that I should be prepared at any time to enter into a fuller consideration of the various points, and explain to them the reasons on which the conclusions of His Majesty's Government were based.\n\nThe Grand Secretary Na Tung thanked me for this offer, and intimated his intention of availing himself of it as soon as he had found time to study with sufficient care the contents of my note.\n\nAs the further consideration of the question with the Wai-wu Pu will require fuller information on certain points than is at present in my possession, I have issued a Circular to His Majesty's Consuls (copy inclosed) calling for reports on the subject.\n\nIn a country where no statistics are published, and where there is great irregularity of procedure in all Departments of the Administration, it is extremely difficult to give anything in the nature of accurate replies to the three questions propounded in your despatch in connection with the Chinese demand for an increase in the taxation of foreign opium.\n\nThe following information has been derived from Sir Alexander Hosie, the Acting Commercial Attaché:\n\n| Question | Answer |\n| --- | --- |\n| (a) Whether the new taxation is levied on all native opium | The new tax is not a tax on production, but a transit tax, so the answer is in the negative. |\n| (b) The effect of the new tax on the taxation of opium in transit | The new tax of 115 Kuping taels may have doubled or largely increased the taxation of opium in transit in some parts of China, but in others it would seem to have resulted in decreased taxation. At Ichang, for example, in the first half of 1905 (i.e., prior to the introduction of the uniform tax of 115 taels) native opium, if junk borne, paid 318.93 Haikuan taels per picul in taxes; while, if steamer borne, it paid 134.79 Haikuan taels if destined for the four inner provinces, and 101 Haikuan taels if for the four outer provinces, of the \"Kao chuan Zollverein.\" |\n| (c) The cost of production of native opium | The Government of India state that the cost of production of a chest of opium is about 500 rupees, or 330 dollars. From the Mengtzu Trade Report for 1906 it appears that native opium was bought on the farms near Yunnan-fu for 288 to 320 dollars per picul, the picul being little less than a chest, while at Mengtzu the price was 480 dollars. At Ichang, in 1905, the f.o.b. price of Szechuan opium is given as 340 Haikuan taels per picul, and if taxation of 134.79 Haikuan taels is deducted, the cost of production is 205.21 Haikuan taels, or 308 dollars. On the whole, therefore, it would appear that there is little difference between the cost of production in India and China. |\n\nAs regards the strength of Indian and Chinese opium, I have been given to understand that the former yields from 10 to 15 per cent more prepared opium, and that a smoker of 3 mace weight a day of Indian opium requires 4 mace of Chinese opium to produce the same effect.\n\nThe replies from the Consulates will, I hope, enable me to submit to you more detailed information on these various points.\n\nI have, &c.\n\n**(Signed)**\nJ. N. JORDAN.\n\n`[2077 e-5]`",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908",
        "page_number": 278,
        "title": "CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908",
        "content_text": "3\n\nInclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nConsul-General Sir P. Warren to Sir J. Jordan,\n\n(No. 18.) Sir,\n\nShanghae, February 12, 1908.\n\nI HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 8 of the 27th ultimo, forwarding to me, for my observations, a pamphlet which you had received from the Foreign Office, intitled \"Another Opium War,\" by Mr. Marshall Broomhall.\n\nThe author of the pamphlet appears to me to have been carried away in writing it by his feelings of indignation at what must seem to him, no doubt, the lukewarm attitude of the Shanghae Municipal Council towards the opium question.\n\nHe commences, on p. 4, his indictment of its policy with the following sentence:-\n\n\"To the shame and humiliation of the British people, the Municipal Council of Shanghae is now availing itself of its exterritorial rights to defend a vice which the British House of Commons has twice declared to be morally indefensible, and--for so it appears to the writer and many others--to make null and void the pledge of Mr. John Morley, and to defy definite Government instructions.\"\n\nThe Shanghae Municipal Council is composed of gentlemen, not only of British, but of American and German nationality, all of whom I know to be men of high character, and imbued with a strong sense of the duties of their position. As far as I am aware, they are none of them in any way interested in the opium trade, the extinction of which, by the fillip which it would give to trade in other commodities, could only be beneficial to them as business men.\n\nI find it difficult, therefore, to understand on what foundation Mr. Broomhall bases his charge that they defend the vice, for, on the contrary, I have every reason to believe that they, one and all, regard the opium habit with the utmost detestation.\n\nAgain, when he accuses the Council of availing itself of its exterritorial rights to make null and void the pledge given by Mr. Morley, and to defy definite Government instructions, Mr. Broomhall appears to have forgotten that the foreign Settlement at Shanghae is not a British, but an international Settlement, for the policy of which Mr. Morley can have given no pledge, since, strictly speaking, His Majesty's Government has no more authority to dictate to the Council elected by the ratepayers what this policy should be than the Government of any other Treaty Power.\n\nThis mistake of his, which is no doubt unintentional, puts the action of the Council in a far worse light than it merits, and is unfortunate, for this reason: that when the document comes to be translated into the native papers or missionary journals, as such tracts usually are, by conveying to Chinese readers a totally wrong idea of the real facts of the case, it may do serious injury to British prestige, and undo to a great extent the good impression that the action of His Majesty's Government has created in this country.\n\nThe policy of the Council is summarized very clearly in the following telegram from the \"Times\" correspondent at Shanghae quoted in the pamphlet:--\n\n\"The Shanghae Municipal Council announces, in reference to the opium policy, that, at the request of the British Government, it has already ceased to issue fresh licences, and will restrict renewals gradually, with a view to their complete cessation, simultaneously with the complete suppression of the opium trade throughout the empire, by the end of ten years.\"\n\nIn justice to the members of the Council it should be stated that, if, in failing to close the opium dens in the Settlement before being approached by the Chinese authorities, they disregarded the views of His Majesty's Government, they had very excellent reasons for doing so.\n\nIt is not usual for the Council to ignore the express wishes of His Majesty's Government. Its members have been accused in the past of being too subservient to these wishes, and if, on this occasion, they paid no regard to them, it was not done lightly, nor without a keen sense of the responsibility which they were assuming.\n\nThe considerations which guided them are carefully set forth in the Chairman's letter to me of the 18th October. He points out that the revenue of the municipality is fixed for each year in advance at the annual meeting of ratepayers, and no alteration, therefore, of the schedule is legally possible until the next such meeting in March 1908.\n\nI should explain that the licences for the opium dens are issued for a period of twelve months, and the revenue they bring in amounts to no less than $5,000 taels per annum.\n\nApart, therefore, from the legality or otherwise of this step, the cancellation of these licences before expiry and the closing of the dens would have involved so serious a disturbance of the municipal finances, and would have constituted such a grave breach of faith towards the proprietors of the establishments, that, if any consideration at all was to be paid to the interests of the ratepayers and to the good name of the Council, it was impossible for the Committee to pursue any other course.\n\nIt is evidently, however, Mr. Broomhall's opinion that neither the above nor any other considerations should have been allowed by the Council to weigh with it as against its moral obligation, as he considers it, to follow in the footsteps of the Shanghae City authorities and close the dens in the Settlement simultaneously with those in the native city, and he appears to think it inexcusable that its members should hold views of their own on the opium question in its bearings on the welfare of the Settlement, and particularly that these views should be influenced in any way by the financial aspect of the question.\n\nAs the elected representatives of a cosmopolitan community, of which the British section, although comprising a majority of qualified voters, constitutes barely one-third of the total foreign population, it is unquestionably the first duty of the Council to consider the interests of the ratepayers as a body, and not the wishes, if they happen to clash with these interests, of the Government of any single nationality amongst them.\n\nMr. Broomhall loses sight, too, of the fact that the Shanghae community is a business community, and that its representatives are business men, with whom sentimental considerations, when they conflict with their reasoned views, cannot be expected to weigh very seriously.\n\nOf the genuineness of their disbelief in the power of the Central Government to enforce the new opium Regulations I have no doubt whatever, and I may say that their scepticism on the point is shared by practically the whole of the foreign community of the port.\n\nAs an excuse for them and for those who agree with them, I may perhaps quote that extract from an article in the \"Times\" of the 23rd November, 1906, which the author of the pamphlet cites with such evident approval.\n\nIn it China's undertaking is acknowledged to be \"so formidable that the strongest of Governments might flinch before it. If China performs it with even partial success she will have demonstrated that her rulers exercise a sway over the minds and consciences of her people such as no Western Government can claim, and such as Western people can hardly comprehend.\"\n\nI can, moreover, thoroughly endorse the argument used by the Council as to the desirability of keeping houses in which opium is smoked under supervision by the police, as opium dens in the Settlement now are under the terms of their licences.\n\nThe reason is that the criminal classes in China are as a rule opium smokers, and it is in the dens that most arrests are effected.\n\nIn view of the great influx of criminals into the Settlement, and the consequent increase in crime which has resulted from the abolition of the bamboo at the Mixed Court, the loss of such an excellent means of keeping bad characters under observation might prove an extremely serious matter for the law-abiding population of Shanghae.\n\nAs the Chairman mentions, the closing of the opium dens in the city of Shanghae and of Soochow has led to no apparent diminution in the sale or consumption of the drug in either town.\n\nHe might, indeed, have laid more stress in his letter on the failure in this respect of the measure, on the benefits of which so much stress is laid by Mr. Broomhall.\n\nThere is no reason to believe that the results in the Settlement will be different from those in Shanghae City and at Soochow.\n\nThe consumption of the drug will still go on to the same extent in private houses, lodging-houses, native hotels, and other haunts over which the police can exercise no effective supervision, and the only persons to benefit by the change will be the retail dealers and the criminal population.\n\nHow far the terms of the Anti-Opium Edict, and especially of Article 4, which enjoins the closing of opium dens, have been obeyed in the provinces is a matter regarding which you are in a better position than myself to judge.\n\nOne might infer from the pamphlet that it is only in the international Settlement at Shanghae and the French Settlement that its recommendations have not been promptly and effectively carried out, whereas it is well known that in many parts of the country the Edict has been completely ignored.\n\nEven at Soochow, as a missionary correspondent informs me, no serious attempt to enforce it has been made, the only difference between the present state of affairs and the old conditions being that what used to go on in the open is now going on surreptitiously.\n\nThe state of things in the city of Shanghae is little, if any, better.\n\nThe policy of the Council on the whole question will be submitted to the ratepayers for their approval at the annual general meeting to be held next month, and it is possible, though not, I fear, very probable, that it may then be modified in a manner which may...\n\n[2880 dd→1]\n\nB 2\n\n274",
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        "content_text": "regulations have been drawn up and enforced more or less throughout the southern province. In the northern provinces it was only after the visit of his Excellency the Viceroy that any effective action was taken. The regulations provide for the closing of the opium dens, prohibition to all under 20 years of age, the licensing of opium smokers, the gradual lessening of the quantity consumed, opening of establishments for the cure of the habit, and punishments of offenders. These regulations are all rigorously carried out in the southern province. The high officials have shown a zeal that leaves no room to doubt their sincerity.\n\nOf what has been effected in the way of controlling and limiting the cultivation I have only reports from the northern provinces. In Heilungchiang, the nursery of the Manchurian poppy, no perceptible diminution of the area cultivated. In Kirin, some localities, but last year was an exceptionally bad year for the poppy crop, and it is difficult to arrive at the real facts. An official who is himself an earnest reformer has told me that there has not been so much effected as might have been expected, but assures me that the present year will see a great improvement.\n\nAs regards the southern province of Fengtien, one has personal observation to go upon. It was of this province that I spoke when I said 90 per cent.; I simply meant to say that the cultivation of the poppy in Southern Manchuria had practically ceased. I travelled a good deal in the districts of Haicheng, Liaoyang, and Mukden during the poppy season last year, and was greatly struck with the almost total disappearance of the once ubiquitous poppy garden. Here and there one came across a field, but it was extremely rare. I talked about it with the villagers and gathered that they were afraid to sow owing to the new regulations. I infer from this that the change is not by any means voluntary. Unless the regulations are rigorously enforced there would be no lessening of the area cultivated anywhere. And I am quite sure that the difference between the province of Fengtien and the other provinces is entirely owing to his Excellency the Governor Tang Shao Yi.\n\nJanuary 24, 1908.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\nCHINA TRADE.\n\nCONFIDENTIAL.\n\n[7842]\n\nNo. 1.\n\nSir Edward Grey to Sir J. Jordan.\n\n[March 8.]\n\nSECTION 1.\n\n(No. 50.)\n\nForeign Office, March 8, 1908. (Telegraphic.) P.\n\nOPIUM at Shanghae. Your despatch No. 547 of the 25th November. As soon as decision of ratepayers is given, please let me know by telegraph.\n\n[2889 h-1]\n\nPage 276",
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        "content_text": "654\n\nrepresent them. These arrangements were undertaken by Commandant Chang-pin-kao, to whom great credit is due.\n\nOf some thirty cases left, in about a third places and men had not been identified from the Chinese names given. The Deputy Commissioner has since inserted Shan as well as Chinese names in his complaints, and this procedure may facilitate settlements. Of the remainder, some cases were said to have been settled directly with the complainants; in others the accused were in British territory. It was arranged that some cases should be settled in accordance with Kachin custom, and the remainder were put back for various other reasons.\n\nThe Tengyueh Ting on arriving at Man-ai sent in a dozen complaints against Bhamo district, and protested because none of them were settled. He also proposed that if the Bhamo cases were not settled in three months they should be written off, but naturally I could not agree to the proposal.\n\nChen Kang. The present Taot'ai (Ch'in Shu Sheng) is a member of the \"Hsin Tang,\" which may be called the \"Young China\" party. Its chief aim is to be against the foreigner in everything, and its second is frankly revolutionary. The Taot'ai is unscrupulous and untrustworthy. When he was Prefect of Ch'u Ch'ing (lat. 25° 31′; long. 103° 43'), meetings were openly held in that town applauding the murderers of En Ming, the Anhui Governor, who was assassinated last year.\n\nCh'in Taot'ai received his present appointment in consequence of a signal act of discourtesy. The Yunnan Governor-General invited him to be present at a dinner to which he was inviting His Majesty's Consul-General at Yunnan-fu. Ch'in refused on the ground that the latter was a foreigner! The Governor-General was so impressed that he made him acting Taot'ai here. He bullies the General and the Ting by telling them he will report them to the Governor-General if they do not do exactly as he wishes, and he gives out that he receives daily private telegrams from his Excellency, which everybody knows is untrue.\n\nIt is worth noting that all the Chinese members of Sir Robert Hart's Customs staff here belong to the \"Hsin Tang.\"\n\nWenchow.\n\nCh'i Hsu, who was Prefect at this port in 1900, has again been appointed to the same office.\n\nHe was considered mainly responsible for the attacks on converts and the destruction of missionary property in the Wenchow district in 1900, and was fined 5,000 dollars as a punishment. He has since reformed, and is a friend of the missionaries, who believe in his sincerity. The facts that his son has been taught English and that his grandson is engaged to be married to the daughter of an Englishman would seem to bear out the opinion that his anti-foreign ideas have changed.\n\nChinese Press.\n\nShanghae-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway: Loan Agreement.\n\nThe \"Eastern Times,\" after publishing the text of the above Agreement, contains in its issue of the 15th March an article entitled \"Complete Defeat of the People.\"\n\nIn spite of the vaunted negotiations between the Government and the people, the Government, as things have turned out, has scored a double victory; it has avoided the appearance of harshness, but has got its own way just the same. Similarly, with regard to the people's defeat at the hands of the foreigners, since the publication of the Agreement it is seen that the people can do no better than the Government, and the foreigners score a double victory; they get their way, but can say that the loan has not been forced upon the people.\n\nBut, although the nation is utterly routed, defeat has been turned to victory before now, and there is hope that by success in future cases the disgrace of the present incident may be wiped out.\n\nIn the same issue this journal, reviewing the net results of all the negotiations, makes the following remarks:-\n\n1. The arrangement by which this line is to connect with the Shanghae-Nanking Railway, which, of course, will connect with the Tien-tsin-Yang-tsze line, is like threading fish on a willow twig (for convenience in handing to others), the Provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang representing the fish (to be eaten).\n\n2. The Agreement calls the railway an Imperial undertaking, while the Memorial calls it a private (mercantile) undertaking, i.e., for abroad it is Imperial, for home it is private. Why are the Chinese Commercial Companies thus hidden from sight like a man's mistress and not allowed to appear?\n\n3. Much has been said as to the loan and the railway being kept separate. But the stipulations in the Agreement that the Engineer-in-chief shall be British, that the surplus revenue of the line shall be deposited with the Hong Kong and Shanghae Banking Corporation, and that the railway accounts shall be kept in Chinese and English are all inconsistent with this statement.\n\nIn fine, the Agreement is dubbed an Agreement for the mutual hoodwinking of natives and foreigners, of higher and lower classes.\n\nThibet.\n\nThe \"Shun Tien Shih Pao\" of the 25th March contains the following as regards Thibet:-\n\nChang Ta Chien, the Assistant Amban, has telegraphed to the Grand Council, asking them to present a Memorial on his behalf with reference to the present state of affairs in Thibet. The following are the main points alluded to:---\n\n1. The object of the Viceroy of India in having trade marts opened is really to encroach on Thibetan territory, and we must take our precautions beforehand.\n\n2. The Thibetan people are gradually coming to regret their former attitude, and are desirous of returning to our allegiance. The only thing to be feared is that the Dalai Lama may prove troublesome, and it would be desirable to have the administration of the country put in order before his return.\n\n3. Chang Ta Ch'en proposes that over 100 cadets, who have finished their course in the military academies, should be sent to Thibet to assist in reorganization of army.\n\n4. He also makes the following suggestions with regard to the administration of Thibet:-\n\nThat the Dalai Lama should be given a higher Chinese rank, and should be paid a salary on a liberal scale.\n\nThat a special Board for the administration of Thibetan affairs should be established, having at its head a Prince or other officer of high rank and several subordinate officials.\n\nAs there is at present no army in Thibet, he suggests that some thousand men should be transferred there from Chihli,\n\nHe suggests that the funds required for military and police purposes, the development of mines, reclamation works, banks, &c., amounting to over 3,000,000 taels, should be furnished by the Board of Finance.\n\nThe Memorial has been sent for consideration to the Wai-wu Pu and Army Board. A Memorial on Thibetan affairs has also, it is stated, been submitted by the Amban, Lien Yu. He recommends that the project of making Thibet a province of China should be postponed for the present, but states that, owing to the excessive pretentions of the Dalai Lama and the insubordinate attitude of the Thibetan officials, the administration of the country is very difficult. He suggests that a special Commissioner should be sent to Thibet to organize the Government of the country. He complains that the 200,000 taels, for which he applied some time ago, have not been sent by the Board of Finance, and states that if Thibet is to be made into a province 200,000 or 300,000 taels will not be sufficient for the purpose.\n\nPolitical Societies and Meetings.\n\nRegulations for the control of societies and public meetings have been drawn up by the Bureau for the Study of Constitutional Reform (Hsien Cheng Pien Ch'a Kuan). These regulations refer more particularly to societies and public meetings having a political object, and provide that when it is proposed to establish such a society, or hold a public meeting, notice shall be sent to the local authorities or police. Soldiers, police officers, teachers, students in colleges, boys under 20, and all women, are not permitted to become members of a political society. Secret societies are forbidden, and the local authorities should always have the right to dissolve any society or disperse any public meeting which they consider dangerous to the public peace. Membership of a\n\n1\n\n2\n\n3",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908",
        "page_number": 700,
        "title": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908",
        "content_text": "# 695\n\n## Honan\nIn last Report it was stated that no honest attempt was being made to grapple with the question, but recent reports tell a different story. The area under poppy has been much reduced. Estimates differ, but in some districts the cultivation is placed at only one-tenth of last year's area and in others at one-fifth of the average. The reduction is ascribed to fear of high taxation. The reports also state that less opium seems to be smoked and that fewer shops are open. On the other hand, one correspondent says that in two district cities the opium shops were all closed, but in less than a month, by arrangement with the yamên runners, and in consideration of a monthly payment of some 590 cash they were reopened. All reports agree that anti-opium medicines are on sale, but they add that there are no useful results.\n\n## Kiangsu\nThe progress of the anti-opium movement in this province continues to be well maintained. The provincial authorities have issued orders prohibiting poppy cultivation in Kiangsu after the present year. This will affect the north of the province, especially the Prefecture of Hsü-chou Fu, where opium has been extensively produced. One of the most general statements from the provinces is that no official steps have been taken as regards the registration of smokers. This, however, is now being taken in hand in Kiangsu, and the Taotoi at Shanghae has issued a Proclamation directing all opium smokers within the city to register themselves at the police offices before the 24th October, the penalty for non-compliance being that no unregistered persons will be given licences to purchase the drug when the time comes for their issue. Reports from the centre and north-east of the province state that retail opium shops sell without limit at advanced prices, but this will be remedied when smokers are licensed and their allowances indorsed on their licences. The progress of the movement in large cities like Sonchow is slower than at Shanghae, where there is now a stigma on opium smoking, and where young men shun the opium houses which have in the past been their fashionable after-dinner resorts. There can be no doubt that in Shanghae Chinese public opinion is as strongly as ever in favour of the campaign, and the good effect of the movement is unquestionable.\n\nIn the international Settlement at Shanghae 25 per cent. of the opium houses, which numbered 1,437, were closed on the 30th June, and lots were drawn on the 3rd October for the closing of a second 25 per cent. (350) on the 31st December. The opium houses that survived the first drawing did not benefit from the reduced competition to the extent anticipated. In the French Settlement the opium houses still remain open; but the Council have given notice that the procedure in the international Settlement will be followed in due course. One of the largest and most flourishing of the opium houses in the French Settlement has been voluntarily closed by its proprietor and transformed into a general bazaar.\n\nAlthough the opium houses in the native city of Shanghae are closed, it is stated that opium smoking is carried on surreptitiously in a number of establishments, and it is presumed that the vigilance of the officials has somewhat relaxed.\n\nA report just received from Nanking states that the Governor-General at Nanking and the Governor at Soochow have jointly deputed fourteen officials to proceed to different districts of the Kiangsu Province at the time of the autumn sowing of the poppy to collaborate with the local authorities in seeing that the Regulations as to reducing the area under cultivation are strictly complied with.\n\n## Anhui\nThis province suffers from official apathy. Reports say that the opium-smoking houses are generally closed, at least in the large cities, and that in a few districts a considerable reduction in the area under poppy cultivation has been effected in consequence of uncertainty as to the future and of the fear of heavy taxation. Medicines, whose principal ingredients are either opium or morphia, are very generally sold as a cure for the opium habit. The Regulations regarding the registration and cure of smokers have not yet been enforced. At the port of Wuhu the coolie class are allowed to smoke in straw huts erected on waste land for the purpose. In the north of the province very few traces of any attempt on the part of the authorities to enforce the Regulations are discernible. A correspondent at An-ching, the capital of the province, writes that the places where most smoking is done are the different yamêns, that it is specially noticeable among yamên runners at inns when acting as escorts, and that a good percentage of travellers carry their own opium kits.\n\n## Kiangsi\nIn this province little opium is produced, and the attention of the authorities is occupied with the registration of opium shops and smokers. The bulk of the opium consumed comes from Szechuan and Yünnan. Native importers have, before importation can take place, to report at the official bureau at the place of destination, and have the amount they wish to import indorsed on their registration certificates. They have also to keep registers in which all their transactions must be entered, and the registers have to be produced for inspection at the end of each month. An annual decrease in the import is also provided for. After registration the opium can only be sold direct to the smokers and not to the retail merchants as heretofore.\n\n## Chekiang\nIn last Report it was stated that the official attitude towards opium was one of total indifference, and, as no reports have been received, it may be presumed that no special activity has been discernible. It ought soon to be possible to ascertain whether the order to reduce importation and cultivation has been obeyed.\n\n## Fuhkien\nIn the districts round Foochow there has been a marked reduction in cultivation as compared with last year, correspondents recording diminution of areas ranging from 60 to 90 per cent. In the north and centre of the province poppy in flower was seen in profusion during the spring, but no comparison with previous years is given. In the east very little difference was observable, while in one district an increase was noted.\n\nIn the districts round Amoy, in the south of the province, the authorities are making a determined effort to suppress the growth of the poppy. The Magistrate of one district goes out almost daily to the surrounding villages and forbids the farmers to sow the seed, and he threatens to destroy the crops and confiscate any fields on which he finds poppies growing. He also threatens to remove from office the Elders of any offending villages. In another district the Magistrate has confiscated and destroyed a number of opium pipes. All smoking is now done in secret. The Magistrate has exhorted the people to give up smoking, and has given his underlings under 60 years of age three months in which to relinquish the habit. He has also prohibited the further cultivation of the poppy. In a third district a strong Anti-Opium Committee has been formed, and mainly in response to the efforts of its members the local officials have been stimulated to action resulting in all the opium-smoking establishments being closed. Proclamations have been issued, and, although a considerable amount of illicit smoking continues, there has been a marked decrease in the sale of the drug, and many of the opium shops have given up business. In Amoy itself the Sub-Prefect has issued Proclamations against the cultivation and consumption of the drug, and sees that his orders are carried out. He personally conducts raids on places where opium smoking is going on, on shops, and even, it is said, on private residences. When smokers are caught in the act their apparatus is confiscated and destroyed and they themselves indiscriminately and severely beaten.\n\n## Hupei\nLittle or no real progress is the burden of the reports from Hupei; but it is admitted that there has been a restriction of the area under poppy cultivation. The Hupei Missionary Association presented a Memorial to the Governor-General of Hupei and Hunan in the following terms:\n\n\"The Executive Committee of the Missionary Association, a Society consisting of some hundreds of pastors, teachers, and medical men resident in all parts of the Hupei Province who have come from the various countries of Europe and America and their Colonies, venture most respectfully to address his Excellency Ch'en K'uei-lung to congratulate him on his appointment to the Viceroyalty of the Liang Hu, and humbly to present to him the following Memorial, which shows:\n\n\"That we are deeply interested in all that concerns the welfare of the Chinese Empire and people; not a few of us have lived in China for some decades, and the longer we live here the more we love the country, rejoicing from our hearts in all signs of its prosperity and mourning over all its sorrows and adversities. All of us have seen with great satisfaction the endeavours of your Excellency's illustrious predecessors to advance the cause of education, social progress, and material prosperity among the people of Hupei, and knowing that all true progress must in every country be accompanied by the rectification of moral evil, we have seen with pleasure that in the rules of the various colleges and schools that have been opened of late years the use of opium has been strictly forbidden alike to teachers and pupils, and that in the camps similar rules have been enacted forbidding the use of opium in the army. For nearly two years we have been eagerly watching for the publication throughout this province of the Imperial Edict of the 3rd day, 8th moon, 32nd year, and hoping to hear that the officials of Hupei were vigorously seeking to diminish the sale of opium and morphine and to limit the cultivation of the poppy; but as yet, from all we can see and hear in the various parts of the province in which we live, we have reason to fear that the evil continues with but little abatement. We have learned with deep...",
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        "document_key": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908",
        "page_number": 701,
        "title": "CO129-353 - Public Offices - 1908",
        "content_text": "## regret thât in a majority of places no Proclamations have been issued informing the people of the Imperial Decree and its benevolent intention to deliver them from the evils of opium consumption, while in other places, even where Proclamations have been posted up, no serious attempt has been made by the responsible officials to enforce obedience to their contents. We hear of opium dens from which the sign-boards have indeed been taken down, but all the while it remains a matter of notoriety that doors are still open through which people can pass to smoke their opium as before. We see everywhere opium shops still carrying on their trade without there being, so far as we can learn, any diminution of their number, and we are informed on good authority that the manufacture and sale of morphia, which is a more insidious and even greater evil than opium itself, continues unchecked, a large proportion of this drug being used for manufacture of pills stated to be for the cure of the opium habit, while really they only deceive the purchasers and confirm them in their dependence on opium.\n\nUnder these circumstances we most respectfully but most earnestly implore your Excellency to initiate without delay a reform of the methods by which opium and morphia can be provided in places under your Excellency's jurisdiction. The British Government, which more than two years ago expressed its willingness to co-operate with the Chinese Government in limiting the importation of opium from India into China has recently ordered the immediate suppression of opium consumption in Hong Kong, and has promised its extinction in the Straits Settlements also. The consumption of the drug has already been entirely suppressed in other British Colonies in which natives of China reside. The attitude of the American Government towards opium consumption in the Philippines is, no doubt, well known to your Excellency. Those of us who are British subjects are continually being asked by friends in Great Britain who wish well to China to supply reliable information which can be printed in England for general publication as to the extent to which the use of opium is being really and effectively prevented by the Government of China. We take the liberty of sending herewith an official book presented by command of His Britannic Majesty the King to both Houses of the British Parliament in February last. This book contains copies of the Reports that have been sent through His Britannic Majesty's Minister in Peking to the British Government detailing the action that has been taken in each of the eighteen provinces of China with a view to carrying out the Edict of two years ago. We would draw especial attention to PP. 35-40.\n\nYour Excellency's memorialists are not unaware of the immense difficulties that in every land attend the endeavour to reform great public evils such as the opium is in China, especially when a large revenue to the country is being drawn from their maintenance, but they know also that these difficulties are never insuperable, for Heaven is always on the side of the right. They pray that your Excellency's tenure of the exalted office of the Viceroy of Hu-Kwang provinces may be signalized by the rapid and entire suppression of the opium habit among the people, so that in the days to come your name may live in the annals of China as one of her greatest benefactors, and as one under whose long and enlightened rule the Provinces of Hupei and Hunan became happier, more prosperous, and more upright than they had ever been before.\n\n## \n\nIn June the native papers contained many articles, probably as a result of the above Memorial, stating that active steps were being taken in the cities of Wuchang, Hankow, and Han-yang in closing and taxing shops and in burning opium pipes; but the reports state that these measures are not real, the drug is still sold, and the officials are easily hoodwinked. In fairness, however, it should be mentioned that the sale of opium has not been prohibited: what is commanded is sale under certain restrictions, with annual reduction, as recently enforced in Peking and elsewhere.\n\nFrom Ichang, in the west of the province, it is reported that the opium houses in the city were closed on the 9th September, but the local authorities are said to have represented to the Governor-General the inexpediency of enforcing the prohibition at present as much sickness prevails, and the sudden cessation of smoking would probably be attended with serious consequences to those addicted to the habit.\n\n## Hunan\n\nEnergetic steps in the anti-opium movement were taken by the officials of this province from the beginning, and there is nothing to show that they have been relaxed, or that the expectations held out in the last Report will not be fulfilled. Breaches of the Regulations are promptly dealt with. An instance may be given:\n\nIn a city in the east of the province ten opium smoking-houses were secretly reopened. Under instructions from the Departmental Magistrate a raid was made at night by the police, the shops were confiscated and sold, and the proprietors were imprisoned, beaten, and cangued. The proceeds derived from the sale of the property were allotted to educational and police purposes. There is one point in connection with poppy cultivation in Hunan that requires some elucidation. It is said that the product of the poppy is \"opium juice,\" which is used for mixing with the opium of other provinces, and is not in itself capable of being boiled into proper smoking consistency.\n\n## Kwangtung\n\nThis, the Canton, province produces little or no opium, and the provincial authorities are not concerned with any restriction of cultivation. They are now busying themselves with the registration and licensing of opium shops and smokers. In shops are included wholesale dealers. I have already referred to the registering of smokers at Canton. The system at first introduced was imperfect in that the licences covered prepared opium only, so that smokers could purchase and prepare the raw opium themselves. I have also stated that the licensing system is lax in other parts of the province, and time is required to modify and place it on a proper basis. The efforts of the authorities, in Canton at any rate, are strongly backed by public opinion. A considerable moral reaction against opium smoking has set in, and numbers of moderate smokers are voluntarily breaking themselves of the habit. Their new-found patriotism has a good deal to do with their attitude on the question, and the native press has not been without its influence on educated opinion. It is no longer fashionable to smoke opium at dinner parties, and young men do not have to acquire the taste as one of the polite accomplishments.\n\n## Kwangsi\n\nThis province draws its supplies of opium from Yunan and Kueichow, the bulk of it coming from the former province by way of the West River. There is some difference of opinion as to whether the consumption has decreased at the Port of Wuchow, but importers declare that it has gone down about 40 per cent. during the present year. No decrease has manifested itself at Lungehow or Liuchow; but at Kueilin, the capital, as well as at the port of Nanning, there has been a considerable decrease as compared with three years ago. Many smokers are stated to have broken off the habit, while the feeling against it is so strong that few wish to acquire it. One sign of the diminution of the habit is found in the fact that a certain class of pipe and apparatus which formerly cost 5 dollars can now be had for 50 cents. The licensing system has not yet been introduced. Some of the high officials of the province are opium smokers, and to this the present laxity is attributed. The supplies of opium from Yunnan have greatly fallen off.\n\n## Szechuan\n\nThis is the greatest opium-producing province in the Empire. I have already mentioned the opening of a bureau at Chengtu for the purpose of testing the officials, and the imposition of a tax on salt to compensate for the loss of revenue from native opium. In the districts bordering on the Yang-tsze, between the port of Chungking and Hsü-chou Fu, Proclamations have repeatedly been issued. One at Lu Chou caused such consternation among the farmers that opium cultivation would have forthwith ceased, had not the Magistrate, fearing for the revenue, withdrawn it. The attitude of the local officials and gentry is strongly in favour of suppression. As regards the area under poppy, the production has decreased by more than 50 per cent., and is insufficient for home consumption. Many opium houses have been voluntarily closed. The price of opium has doubled, and the quantity sold is 50 per cent. less than usual. In the Yung-ning district, in the south of the province, cultivation has been much reduced, except in a few places. From districts lying on the west side of the Chengtu plain, such as Ch'iung Chou, P'u-chiang Hsien, and Ta-yi Hsien, it is reported that the gentry of Ch'iung Chou show a general desire to give up the habit. The area of cultivation has been reduced by at least one-half as compared with last year; but nothing has yet been done to close opium houses and retail shops, which are under official control. Corruption is alleged to be rife among inspectors. One official shop sells anti-opium pills containing opium dust.\n\nIn the Pao-ning Prefecture, in the north of the province, Proclamations have been issued by the police authorities explaining the rules to be put in force for controlling the sale and consumption of the drug, and all smokers have been registered and licensed. The area under poppy has been considerably reduced. In the Nan-pu district it was scarcely one-tenth of previous years, and the rise in price of the drug is compelling poor people to abandon the habit.\n\nIn the Shun-ching Prefecture, in the east of the province, no official effort has yet been made to suppress cultivation or smoking, and where farmers had, in fear of ...\n\nPage 696",
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        "document_key": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909",
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        "title": "CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909",
        "content_text": "## Inclosure 5 in No. 1\n\n### The Viceroy of the two Kuang Provinces to Mr. Mayers\n\nCanton, May 30, 1869.\n\nTHE Viceroy received, on the 25th instant, a Report from Lieutenant-Colonel Shang Chang-mao and Pao Ying-hiung (Superintendents of the gun-boat squadrons) to the following effect :- \n\n\"The Acting British Consul, Mr. Mayers, having personally represented the occurrence of acts of piracy among the islands to the eastward of Hong Kong, and requested that a gun-boat be dispatched in company with a British vessel of war, and to cruise in that direction, we hereupon directed Major Fan Kan-ting, Commandant of the gun-boat 'Chên-to', to proceed on the 12th instant to Hong Kong for this purpose, and after visiting the neighbourhood of Mirs Bay, &c., to go on to the coast in the vicinity of Cupche, and use every effort conjointly (with the British force) for seizing any pirates met with during the cruise. These particulars have already been reported to your Excellency, and Major Fan Kan-t'ing has now reported his proceedings as follows :--\n\n[Report of cruise in vicinity of Mirs Bay omitted as unimportant.]\n\nOn the 15th the two gun-boats ('Chên-to' and His Majesty's gun-boat 'Bouncer') anchored together at Ta Sing Bay, near Ping Hoi, and it was thereupon agreed, on the proposition of Lieutenant Lloyd, that we should proceed on the following day to the Pratas Shoal, lying about 150 miles to seaward from Cupche, and overhaul the neighbourhood in search of pirates. Leaving our anchorage on the following day, accordingly, we proceeded in that direction, and, by keeping under way through the night, arrived at the Pratas Shoal at 10 A.M. on the 17th instant.\n\n\"I have to remark that, although the Pratas Shoal is described as lying 400 or 500 li from the coast of Cupche, it is in reality an isolated shoal lying in the midst of the China Sea, semi-circular in shape, the hollow of its curve facing the north-west, and some 100 miles or more in total circumference. (The rocks of which it consists) are alternately covered and left dry by the tide. Near the edge of the shoal is a small sandy island, barely 3 miles in length, where, although a certain amount of herbage does exist, there are no inhabitants. The whole place is studded with rocks in all directions, the winds and tides are variable and not to be depended upon, and an extraordinarily heavy sea prevails all around. The spot is scarcely ever visited either by Chinese or foreign trading-vessels. Having ascertained, in concert with Lieutenant Lloyd, that there were no traces of pirates making this their resort and plundering trading-vessels, we left the Pratas on the 19th instant and proceeded on our return voyage, arriving at Hong Kong on the 20th, and, after reporting to the Commodore, proceeded to Canton,\" &c.\n\nOn receipt of the foregoing Report, the Viceroy has to communicate the same for the honourable Consul's information, and avails, &c.\n\n## Inclosure 6 in No. 1\n\n### Mr. Mayers to the Viceroy of the two Kuang Provinces\n\nCanton, June 1, 1869.\n\nTHE Undersigned has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's despatch of the 30th ultimo, forwarding copy of the Report made by Major Fan Kan-ting respecting the visit of the gun-boat \"Chên-to\" to the Pratas Shoal, &c., which he has perused with attention.\n\nHe begs to observe in reply that the Pratas Shoal, lying as it does some 170 miles eastward from the coast of Kwangtung, occupies a position in the midst of the China Sea precisely in the track of vessels sailing north or south from the Chinese ports, as a result of which it frequently occurs that vessels are lost upon it when deviating, in even the slightest degree from their proper course, owing either to tempestuous weather or defective observations.\n\nSuch avoidable disasters occur on an average two or three times in the course of the year, and it has become a practice with the junk people of this province to lie in wait at the shoal for cases of shipwreck. The moment a foreign vessel strikes they rush on board and commence, regardless of all remonstrance or resistance, to strip her of everything they can lay their hands upon. It is highly necessary that measures be taken to put a stop to this lawless state of affairs. Ere long, undoubtedly, a lighthouse will be constructed at this spot, which will enable vessels to avoid the danger of the shoals, but an undertaking of this description will be a work of time, and in the meanwhile steps should be taken for affording efficient protection to vessels in distress, as is the duty of every civilized and humane Government. The Undersigned would point out to your Excellency that an island exists in the midst of the shoal which is about 3 miles in length, and where, although the island itself is not inhabited, vessels may be anchored and used as a place of residence. He therefore begs that your Excellency will take into consideration the propriety of stationing one or two war-junks at this locality, where their presence will both serve as a check on the desperadoes who live by the plunder of foreign vessels and will also enable your Excellency to carry out the provisions of the 20th Article of the Treaty of Tien-tsin, where it is stipulated that if any British vessel be wrecked or stranded on the coast of China the Chinese authorities shall adopt measures for its relief and security and extend friendly treatment to those on board. Such a consummation will be worthy of your Excellency's benign disposition.\n\nWith reference to Major Fan Kan-t'ing's Report, the Undersigned begs leave to observe that it does not tally in all particulars with that made by Lieutenant Lloyd, R.N., commanding His Majesty's gun-boat \"Bouncer,\" who mentions that on reaching the Pratas he found in the lagoon a Chinese junk, having sixteen men and five women on board, and that on searching her in concert with Major Fan Kan-t'ing and Captain Edwards, Commander of the \"Chên-to,\" he found her to be filled with articles forming part of the equipment of foreign vessels, besides a quantity of miscellaneous cargo. The master of the junk, on being interrogated, stated that he had been at anchor there for two months. It is plain therefore that this vessel was lying at the shoal on the look-out for cases of shipwreck, and the Undersigned is surprised to find that Major Fan Kan-t'ing makes no mention of her in the Report sent in.\n\nHe avails, &c.\n\n## Inclosure 7 in No. 1\n\n### The Viceroy Jui-lin to Mr. Mayers\n\nCanton, June 6, 1869.\n\nTHE Viceroy has to acknowledge the receipt on the 1st instant of the honourable Consul's despatch relating to the Report made by Major Fan K'an-ting respecting the Pratas Shoal (despatch requoted in full), and, in reply, he has to state that, of the shoal in question, the outer side is under the jurisdiction of the right battalion of the brigade of Lung-men, and the inner side under that of the left battalion of the above brigade, and also of the district magistracy of Ho-p'u, but in the despatch now received the Viceroy finds that no distinction is drawn as to either \"outer\" or \"inner\" side. In all cases, however, of shipwreck on the part of foreign vessels along the coast, it is incumbent upon the local authorities, in fulfilment of the Treaty, to take measures for affording them protection and assistance; but the request contained in the despatch now under acknowledgment, to the effect that steam gun-boats may be stationed at the Pratas for the purpose of affording such protection, has not the support of any Article in the Treaty, and it is not expedient to accede to it.\n\nThe Viceroy issues orders to the district Magistrate of Ho-p'u for the latter's guidance, and also to the above-mentioned military departments, to the effect that in the event of any foreign vessel being hereafter wrecked upon or near the Pratas Shoal, measures must be taken in accordance with the Treaty for affording them protection, and also that efficient steps must be taken without intermission for seizing and bringing to trial the piratical characters who resort to that locality, as a necessary part of the proceedings for affording the protection in question. The Viceroy also instructs Colonels Pao and Shang, the Commandants of the gun-boat squadron, to examine into the discrepancy pointed out in the despatch now under acknowledgment.",
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        "page_number": 119,
        "title": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909",
        "content_text": "# \nat Urga had caused a room to be prepared at the Consulate from the date of the receipt of M. Pokotilow's letter-seven months before my actual arrival. On arriving, however, at Urga I inhabited a Chinese inn, feeling more independent in my movements, and it was the easier to decline the Russian hospitality without giving offence, as Mr. Shishmareff was himself in the country. In Uliassutai the Russian Consular officer would not hear of my taking any meals except in his house. My relations with the Acting Consul at Chuguchak were of an especially cordial character, while those with the Consul at Kuldja were extremely friendly. To one and all I explained in the course of private conversation, without laying any emphasis on the words, that I had no mission, that I was on my way home to England by this route, partly because of the hope of getting some sport, partly because of my interest in the vie intime of the Mongols. No secret was made of the route I had traversed, nor of that by which I proposed to travel.\n\n## **Confidential**\nIt is, however, my conviction that my visit was viewed by the Russians as an intrusion, and that a significance was attributed to the journey quite out of keeping with its character, and it is my duty to add that no doubt remains in my mind that all my movements and actions were noted and reported to Peking or St. Petersburgh.\n\nThe Belgian Minister in Peking courteously furnished me with an official letter of introduction to Mgr. Bermuyn, head of the Belgian Mission in the Ordos, which, together with a private letter from one of the Secretaries, proved very valuable.\n\nOne of the Secretaries of the Japanese Legation at Peking offered me a letter of introduction to a Japanese resident in Urumtsi, in case I should visit that town. This is interesting as showing that the Japanese Legation have cognizance of this man's presence at Urumtsi.\n\n## Relations with Chinese Officials\nThe Wai-wu Pu were notified, when application for the passport was made at Peking, of the route by which I intended to travel. At the request of the Wai-wu Pu the Lifanpu Board (Board of Dependencies) informed various officials in the distant dependencies, and requested them to render all assistance possible. This notification had, I found, been sent to the principal of the Ordos Princes' Yamens, to Sair Ussu, where the roads for Urga and Uliassutai fork, and to the settlements of Northern Mongolia and Turkestan. It had not been my intention to call upon any Chinese officials en route, except in case of necessity as, apart from the tedium of the etiquette of Chinese visits, Chinese officials outside the Great Wall are apt to magnify the importance of the civilian traveller until the rumour is spread abroad that the British Minister himself is touring the provinces. The number of visits was, therefore, restricted to three in the first three months. In Northern Mongolia, however, it was different, for no foreign traveller can stay in the settlements without the Governor's permission. It was, therefore, essential and only courteous to call upon that individual. From every official visited I received the warmest welcome (not excepting the so-called anti-foreign one at Kobdo), and every mark of courtesy which a rigid Chinese etiquette imposes; in this respect, I was considerably assisted by my interpreter who, being a Manchu, was persona grata, and who had indeed sometimes personal friends among the officials, or had worked in the same office with others, or had met them on duty in the Palace. To avoid all misunderstandings I endeavoured to make in each case the same explanations respecting the reason for the journey as I did to the Russian officials.\n\nThe following point is necessary to remember in order to maintain good relations in North Mongolia. To secure these with the Chinese, cordial relations must be established with the Russians. The reason for this will be apparent. The Chinese officials have almost daily relations with the Russian Consular authorities. To get on badly with the latter is a serious matter for the Chinese official, involving possibly disgrace and loss of office. He will therefore do nothing to displease the Russians, and will see as much or as little of the casual foreign traveller according as the latter stands well or ill with the Russians. This attitude of deference to Russian officials is so extremely marked at Urga and Uliassutai that one could detect the note of anxiety in the Governor's voice as he asked whether a visit had been paid to the Russian Consul and the relief when the reply was in the affirmative.\n\nThe information obtained from Chinese officials, and which is recorded in these pages, was the result of merely friendly conversations, during which the various points on which I desired to obtain the most accurate information were carefully approached. Chinese officials, in the provinces at least, seem always ready to talk on what they have done, what is happening locally, or who has passed, and if they are not quite certain they appeal to some of the retainers standing round, who know as much as their masters.\n\n## Peking to Kalgan\nThe day fixed for leaving Peking was the 6th April. On Sunday, the 5th April, the three \"Peking\" carts which had been hired to take us as far as Kweihuacheng were dispatched to Nankow under the charge of the travelling servants. The carts contained all the stores and equipment for the journey with the exception of personal luggage. A clear day was thus obtained to look round and see that nothing had been left undone.\n\nThe carts were obtained from the man who was employed in 1900 to lead the late Emperor's cart on his flight. The man was subsequently decorated. He is now an innkeeper on a large scale, and besides keeping one in Peking owns another in Kweihuacheng, &c. This is the reason why the carts could be hired comparatively cheap (said my boy), the price paid for each being 33 dollars a-day (7s.). This was for two good mules, the carter finding himself and the animals in everything. Had we only been going as far as Kalgan--where this man has no inn--we should have had to pay for fourteen days (seven days there and as many back), or at least we should have been asked to pay.\n\nI found out subsequently, however, that the proper price for carts between Peking and Kweihuacheng is not more than 20 dollars, especially when the frost is in the ground and the road consequently good. It depends, of course, to a certain extent on the season of the year, on which depend in their turn the price of fodder and the possibility of securing trade for the returning carts. Of the 50 dollars per cart which we paid, each carter got 28 dollars, the remainder being pocketed by the Peking owner, with a handsome commission for the \"honest\" servant. The carters had petitioned to be allowed to spend one night en route on the plain at their homes at Kuanshib, but I ordered them to proceed direct to Nankow. This order, however, did not prevent them carrying out their own inclinations.\n\nI myself left at 1 P.M. on the 6th April, among the many kind friends who assembled at the Legation main gate to see me off being my faithful Lama teacher, who presented a silk scarf, the customary Mongol offering, which anticipates and requires a present in return. Of the Peking-Kalgan Railway it will suffice to say that I found great activity being displayed throughout the line. Work had been begun at the Kalgan end a week before my arrival, and it was confidently asserted that the whole line would be ready for use in 1910. A wild rumour had reached Peking that the extension of the line from Kalgan to Kweihuacheng had been already begun, but I found this to be entirely false; it possibly arose from the commencement of work at the Kalgan end of the line, or to the efforts of the Chinese at Kalgan to establish a motor-car service to Urga.\n\nApril 7.--My Peking servants let off the fire crackers which had been forbidden them in the Legation with great vehemence, and secured for me a safe journey free from the hill devils up the pass. Sending the carts on ahead we ascended the pass on donkeys. Passing the ancient Fort of Chüyungkwan we reached the inner Great Wall at 1 P.M., only to find that the carts had mistaken their instructions, and taken lunch on to Chatao, a hamlet 14 miles down the other side of the mountains. This, however, was retrieved, and at 3 P.M. the final good-byes were said in the most fitting place, the archway spanning the great north road with a view down to the plain of Peking on the south side, while to the north the imaginative eye could look ahead over the valleys and mountain ranges to the Mongolian plateau. A remarkable feature of the valley leading up to the wall is the dearth of animal or bird life. There was, however, a steady flow of traffic, and the dust raised by this was terrible. Descending to Chatao the carts were in motion by 8:30 P.M., and we reached the valley of the Yangho, a tributary of the Hunho, over a rock-strewn road many inches deep in dust, and in no whit improved since I was last on it in 1906. We were in Hwailaihsien by 8:45 P.M., and put up at the same inn I had stayed at before. Our arrival in the inn was hardly hospitable, as we had to fight our way in, the gateway being blocked by heavy carts, from whom the gate-keeper was extracting a large squeeze, which he was unwilling to lose by letting them in to allow us to pass. We gained the day, however, and the carts owed us a debt of gratitude.\n\nApril 8.--We left Hwailai in a north-west direction. A cold south-east wind blew steadily all day, raising such volumes of dust that it was difficult to see the caravans even when close by. On our left in the distance there was deep snow on the tops of the Shaholing and Hsiao Wutaishan. There was a great deal of traffic on the road, camels bringing down bricks of salt or dried beans, donkeys carrying jars of ...",
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        "title": "CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909",
        "content_text": "# 135\n\nasking for repayment. The King is said to have borrowed 10,000 taels from the late M. Pokotilow six years ago on the occasion of His Majesty's last visit to Peking. M. Pokotilow was then head of the Russo-Chinese Bank. It is said that the Russians are pressing for repayment of this. In a State like Alashan, there is little secrecy, everyone knowing his neighbour's affairs, and these rumours about the King's indebtedness are probably true. The people of Alashan are a pastoral people, with little silver, and they have been taxed as high as they can bear; house rents have also risen—so much so that the Chinese are contemplating a protest at Peking, so that neither of these sources of income can be touched again. Hence, I think, springs the subserviency of the King to the Russians, from whom he hopes to borrow more money. For this, they are doubtless looking for a suitable security, and this security is probably the right to work minerals in the Alashan Mountains.\n\n## The Kozloff Expedition\n\nIt is in the Buriat's house that Colonel Kozloff has taken up his abode, and over which the Russian flag flies. Colonel Kozloff, who is travelling for the Russian \"Academics,\" is accompanied by a botanist and a geologist, as well as by a purely Russian escort, consisting of five Cossacks and five Buriats, the whole under a Russian corporal with the appearance of a General, so magnificent is he. The expedition arrived some three weeks ago and is to stay some three weeks or so longer. I did not see the botanist or geologist who had gone with most of the escort into the Alashan Mountains for three weeks. The route of the expedition has been via Uliassutal and Urga to Dinyuaning. It will proceed southwards to Lanchow and Kokoncor, and will be absent a year or fifteen months. The object of the expedition is to collect specimens of the flowers and birds of the Alashan Range, and to examine the mountains from a geological point of view. Another object is astronomical. Cases of snakes in spirits and stuffed birds have already been sent to Russia, and others are in course of preparation. A discussion on the correct method of stuffing birds led to the production of some ready for transmission. The expedition is well fitted out with barometers and barographs, guns, rifles, and photographic apparatus. The latter is for plates, not films, and these Colonel Kozloff develops himself. I understood the Colonel to say that he did not shoot or stuff the various animals himself, and he appears to confine himself to the more scientific portion of the expedition, the care of the barometers, and to work with a fine telescope he has with him. For this latter work, he has fitted up a small shed on a stand 12 feet high in the courtyard of the Buriat's house. The Alashan Range is reported by all previous travellers to be extremely rich in all minerals, except iron, and coal is said to be exceptionally good. This is very little worked, and that only in a very crude way.\n\nColonel Kozloff speaks a little Mongol and a little Chinese, but no European language except Russian, except for a few words of very broken French. In appearance, he is tall, dirty, and untidy. He dresses in uniform every day. He has distinctly the appearance of a savant, and while I have no doubt whatever that the objects of his expedition are as defined by him, my impression is that he is being utilized also for some political purpose at Dinyuaning, and he is certainly strengthening the Russian prestige with the Prince there, and tightening the hold which the Russians seem to have already acquired over that vassal of China. Whether he is exerting pressure to obtain repayment of the sum of money alleged to have been lent by M. Pokotilow, or whether he is obtaining written promises of Concessions for mines in the Alashan or for a railway from Urga southwards, I cannot say, but both these are possibilities which it would be idle to ignore. The length of time the mission has stayed in Alashan and the daily visits of the Buriat to the King, have aroused considerable suspicion locally, and to these may be added the deferment of the closing of the Buriat's store, which has proved admittedly a financial failure, from season to season. As regards the visit of the expedition to Kokonoor, which is undoubtedly in Thibet, I twice casually mentioned that it was now défendu for us to visit Thibet, otherwise I should have gone there myself. Colonel Kozloff, however, did not understand my words. I have no doubt that he intends to carry out that part of his programme, and he is such a genuine enthusiast respecting travelling in, and exploration of, these regions, that it is possible he may be tempted to travel even farther into East Thibet, and the escort of Russian soldiers would do away with any necessity for the Colonel to ask for one from the Chinese authorities. The Colonel is therefore entirely his own master, and is not likely to be interfered with by any of the Chinese local authorities.\n\nI have forgotten to add that all the missionaries (an unsuspecting race of people) were surprised at my innocence in believing in the alleged objects of the expedition. They were themselves convinced that there was a question of Concessions for mines either in the mountains or in the Gobi, which is stated to be rich in minerals and precious stones. The Roman Catholics were especially apprehensive, and were of opinion that Russia, baulked in Manchuria and China, was busier than ever weaving her web over Mongolia.—Ninghsia, 2nd June, 1908.\n\n## 41\n\nThe following extract from my diary, dated Kweihuacheng, the 27th June, is of interest:—\n\n\"A couple of minutes after leaving the inn (for the journey across Gobi) we met a European entering the town. He was a young English-speaking German, the representative in Peking of the Tien-tsin German engineering and mining firm of ... and Schroeder. He travels a good deal in the interior, and has been away from Peking since March. At Singanfu, he was sent for to Lanchow in connection with the bridge over the Yellow River which his firm are constructing, and in which an Englishman (Tackey) is consulting engineer. At Lanchow, he received an urgent message from the King of Alashan begging him to visit Fumafu. The King sent his own camels and tent down to Ninghsia for the engineer's convenience and subsequently sent him back to the river at Schischnisze in the same manner. From Schischnisze, he had come to Bautu by boat. He was hastening back to Peking, and his whole attitude confirmed my suspicions that there was some mining business in the air in Alashan. Colonel Kozloff and party were still there, and were not expected to leave for the south for some time. My own impression from what I saw and heard throughout Mongolia is that the King of Alashan is in debt to some Russian Agents, possibly the Russo-Chinese Bank at Urga, who are pressing for payment and are content to take a mining Concession temporarily at any rate.\"\n\nAs regards the visit of the Kozloff expedition to Kokonoor, it must be added that while all English and, indeed, many other maps mark the district of Kokonoor as being in Thibet, it is not considered so by the Russian Government, nor indeed, I believe, by the Chinese Government. It would be interesting to know the limits of this district, especially towards the south, for the name is sprawled over a very large area on the map, and it would be equally interesting to know how many of the other States on the fringe of Thibet and which figure in English maps under the name of Thibet are considered by the Russians to be Chinese and not Thibetese Provinces.\n\n# 65\n\nCheguchak, October 1.—At dinner at the Russian Consulate, we had an animated conversation on the subject of Kozloff and Kokonoor. The latter was said to be a Chinese province, so I asked what its capital was. The reply was \"Kukukhoto.\" I objected that this was merely the Mongol name for Kweihuacheng, a town in North Shansi, and this was eventually agreed to, but no one could say what the capital of Kokonoor in that case was.—London, December 1908.\n\n## Fumafu to Ninghsiafu\n\nMay 30.—We left for the south by the slightly longer but easier route for Ninghsiafu. We kept south parallel to the Alashan Mountains, but slightly above the level of the plain on the slopes of the foothills. The road was broad and good, stony but not sandy; the first few miles were slightly undulating, after which it became level. After leaving the Oasis of Fumafu, the country is bleak and desolate with no trees except at the rare farms sighted or passed. There was no vegetation except some occasional rough grass. It was a dreary road, with to the left the bleak low foothills leading up to and partly concealing the fine mountain chain, to the right a gentle stony slope down to the plains and hot sands beyond. The breeze blew little whirlpools of sand which drifted like geysers about the plain in a detached manner. We reached Yoba, our halting place for the night at mile 20, passing at mile 19 the residence of a brother of the Alashan King.\n\nYoba is a solitary house; inn accommodation is good, but supplies are both dear and scarce. The inn is kept by Chinese, and not by Mongols.\n\nMay 31.—We started in a south-eastern direction, the road being excellent, but dreary in the extreme, leading as before over a bleak desolate uncultivated and almost uninhabited country. The only traffic we met were carts bringing pigs for sale at Fumafu, and others taking wood to Ninghsia. The inn at Yoba has plenty of work, as all traffic either way stops there.\n\nAt Cheng yo schui (after 10 miles), where there is a good inn, we turned eastwards to penetrate and break through the mountains. The road continues excellent, but...",
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        "content_text": "# 104\n\nNo. 3. Their rifles are stacked in their huts. The 600 Mongols live in yurts scattered among the hillocks. They are not allowed to keep their rifles, but have to fetch them before parade from the yamên, whither they return them afterwards. I understood that no barracks are to be built here, but the establishment of the colony to the south is first awaited. The men come from Kansu and Hsinkiang; the Mongols are those of Ulianghai; they are said to be extremely slow and densely stupid. In winter, there is parade twice a-day; in summer, the Captains take parties of five or six at a time into the mountains for a few days to learn the country, tracks, watercourses, &c.\n\nPay is at the rate of 7 taels (21s.) a-month for each man. Of this sum 1t. 80c. is deducted for flour, and as much for clothes, firing, &c., so that each man gets 4t. 60c. (14s.) clear. There is a military doctor, who treats men in their own homes; a military hospital is to be built later in the new colony.\n\nI heard that the soldiers frequently deserted, not being able to stand the loneliness of the life, the lack of women, &c., but a Captain (not unnaturally) denied this.\n\nI called on the Captain of No. 1 company, a Tien-tsin man called Dor. He had been at some military school at Tien-tsin and is to have the work of putting the six new German guns together. These, he said, had arrived, and the cases were stored in the yamên. Mr. Dor was of the aggressive type of Chinaman, with a great deal of self-confidence; he expressed himself as perfectly able to piece the guns together. I gathered that at present there were not enough uniforms for the men.\n\nThe present uniform is a neat black costume, with black Chinese shoes as footgear and a black handkerchief wound round the head. The Captain had an illustrated book of kit, and, I understood, was going to select a suitable uniform. He said that, as regards drill and marching, German and Japanese ways had been tried, and that now the Chinese were bent on having a Chinese way of doing these things. The Captain's room was littered with cheap Japanese photos and mirrors and useless luxuries.\n\nAt the south-west corner of the settlement and at the point nearest to the stream (half a mile away from it), a kind of fort is being constructed - a square with a side of 85 yards, walls 7 feet high, entirely of mud. Round this place is a dry ditch, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep, from which the material for the walls has been dug. There is a large single gateway facing north and another on the east side, but I believe the latter to be only temporary. Through the latter flows a tiny brook, leaving the inclosure again on the west side; this has evidently been diverted from the small canal which feeds the settlement from the river. There are only two buildings in the inclosure; both resemble stalls. Workmen were busy on these. I was told that a Major lived, or was to live, in the inclosure, but I did not see or know where.\n\nIn the afternoon, I dined with the Amban and spent four hours in his company. His Excellency was kind enough to allow me to photograph him before dinner in his courtyard. He was most courteous and friendly. During the meal, we discussed the religions of the world from their point of view of welding a people; the possibility of a Parliament in China; Sun Wen, Kangyuwel, and their hopes and ambitions; and women's suffrage, among a number of more local topics. His Excellency was a most intelligent and interesting talker.\n\nI asked him why he had not built his first colony half a mile away and down by the river side, but His Excellency seems to have preferred to use the temple buildings which were still standing, in spite of the lack of water.\n\nSeptember 12.--Two Hassacks, condemned to wear the cangue for a month for quarrelling with a Mongol and breaking his face open, were in the street this morning. They were free to walk about as they pleased between the various orderly-rooms and were lounging about the streets a little sulky.\n\nA number of sheep were brought into the market to-day; they are of the fat-tailed variety - the first we have seen of their kind. A pair of chamois horns were brought me during the day; there are said to be a few chamois about here.\n\nThe soldiers are kept busy at present bringing in firewood from the hills for the winter; by next month, the settlement will be 8 or 10 feet deep in snow. The rest of the guns arrived from Kobdo to-day.\n\nThe Captain (Dor) begged me to photograph some of his men; they are small and of poor physique. The Captain is the author of a large Chinese map of the neighbourhood which hangs in the yamên; he has compiled it from Russian sources. The soldiers are not punished by beatings nor by the cangue, but have to stand with arms for several hours for small offences, do coolie work for so long for more serious offences, and are dismissed for worse.\n\nIn the evening, Captain Dor came to call on me. He had an extremely good idea of the policy of his Government as regards these dependencies, but wanted to go much farther than they. He told me there was one official in Peking in especial who was urging the policy of dividing Mongolia into provinces, to be governed entirely by Chinese officials. I observed that if the Chinese Government did so, or did what he wanted them to do - i.e., bring criminals in large batches to settle here, or open schools and force the Hassacks and Mongols to learn Chinese too quickly - there must inevitably be trouble. He replied that that was exactly what the Amban had said: \"We must go slow, for if there is trouble on the frontier, the Russians will send troops over to quell it, and we shall never get them out again.\"\n\nSo it seems that the Amban, with all his vigorous policy, has thoroughly grasped the possibilities. Captain Dor spoke of the possibility of a railway to Zaisan, which would make this Colony grow. I did not comment on this except to say that I should like to see a railway to Chuguchak and Ili and another from Kweihuacheng to Ili; and I would here again urge that the more trade grows between these northern Colonies and Russia, while the Chinese Government, content to hear of an apparent prosperity, neglects to connect them with the mother country and to divert the trade towards herself, the faster they are playing into the hands of Russia.\n\nCaptain Dor seemed very depressed, and my impression was that this was due to the German guns.\n\nHe begged me to take a letter on his behalf to Berlin, addressed to a Secretary in the Chinese Legation there, and I felt that this was in connection with the guns; either all the pieces had not arrived or some instructions for putting them together had not been sent. The matter was urgent.\n\nCaptain Dor has done much work in the new Colony. It is he who has conducted the small canal from the river; he has also built some small bridges and superintended the construction of the houses. He told me there was plenty of coal and gold in the mountains, and that he knew where to lay his hands on the former. He said that the objects of the Colony were--\n\n(a) To establish a fixed Government where chaos has hitherto reigned supreme;\n(b) To tame and civilize the Elassacks and Mongols; and\n(c) To exploit the mineral wealth of the Altaishan.\n\nHe said the expenses of the Colony were enormous and only partly met by some revenues of some province which were earmarked for the purpose.\n\nSeptember 13.--We had violent rain all night, and this continued most of the day. The snow lay deep on the low hills all round.\n\nMy efforts to obtain transport had resulted in an offer of eight camels for, firstly, 150 taels, then 200 taels, and finally 210 taels. This worked out at the rate of 26 taels a-piece for a fortnight, as against 18 taels a-piece for two months for the journey through the Ordos; this was an attempt at squeeze which I could neither afford nor resist, so I had appealed to the yamên to procure some. I went round in the morning to hear what had been done and found that the young \"foreign affairs\" official had got from the Hassacks six camels at 8 taels a-piece and three ponies at 4 taels a-piece, to go as far as the capital of the King of the Turgut Mongols, half way to Chuguchak. The Amban would give me a letter to the King inviting His Highness to supply me with fresh camels.\n\nThe young official's room was full of prepared ginseng; there were huge balls of this lying about, which he said he was sending away as presents. My impression was that he did quite a little trade in it, and doubtless a very honest and innocent one.\n\nHe accompanied me home and spent the morning with me. I was very glad of his company on such a terribly wet morning. He said that the missing Russian subject was a Hassack en route from Kobdo to Chuguchak by the south road; that in any case, the Russian official at Uliassutai had no right to take up the matter, for he was not even a Consul at Uliassutai, and in no case had any right to come here. Also that in no case did the disappearance concern Altaishan, for the man had never been here.\n\nRussian goods pay no tax on entering Altaishan; he doubted whether they paid any at the frontier station between Zaisan and Altaishan.\n\nThe only means of sending letters from Sharasumé is to confide them to a silk mercer's shop, who will forward them to Peking by his next caravan. A letter by this route will probably not reach Peking for eighty days.\n\nSeptember 14.--The Hassack camels arrived, and we made arrangements for leaving to-morrow. It is especially difficult to get transport at this time of the year because the nomads are moving their tents to winter quarters and object to taking long journeys during this process. I called on the Governor in the late afternoon to say good-bye and...\n\n# 105\n\n... \n\n# 167 \n\n1 \n[2155 6-1] \n2 E",
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        "content_text": "# Arrangement for the Joint Working of the Kirin-Changchun Railway\n\narrangement for the joint working of the Kirin-Changchun Railway were not sufficient to ensure the loss of Kirin every demand of the Japanese has now been conceded and it is impossible to foresee what the consequences will be. As regards their demand for the opening of five places to trade, some of these places as, for instance, Liu Tao Kou and Kuang Chi Yu, although important positions are still situated within the disputed territory and the demand that they should be opened to trade might perhaps be acceded to, but Pai Ts'ao Kou, which is rich in minerals, is a most important place, and is almost 100 li north of Yen-chi and there are few Coreans there.\n\nTou Tao Kou and Chi Pi Kou are important places on the route to Fongtien and are about 90 li from Yen-chi. All these places have nothing whatever to do with the boundary, and serious disadvantages will follow if they have really been opened to trade. As regards the question of judicial courts in Yen-chi, we have never hitherto, in the course of our difficulties with the Japanese, admitted in any way their right to judicial authority, and it is impossible to understand why we have now agreed to the establishment of Mixed Courts. In agreeing to the appointment of consuls we merely admit consular jurisdiction, but by consenting to the establishment of Mixed Courts we openly recognise Yen-chi to be leased territory, and this is entirely different from the opening of places of trade. Tien Pao-shan, which is famous for its silver mines, is about 50 li north of Yen-chi and has nothing to do with the boundary question. Since I have arrived in Fengtien I have done my best to preserve these mines for China, and to oppose the efforts of the Japanese, and in the case of other natural resources such as mines and forests I have during the past two years succeeded in the face of enormous difficulties in resisting the Japanese claims, pending the settlement of the boundary question. Now, however, the question of the boundary has been decided, the rights which I have striven to protect are at once surrendered. It is enough to cause one to despair.\n\nEven if it be argued that the above concessions have some concern with Yen-chi, the construction of a line to Ying-k'ou, which can be extended west of the Liao River, and our undertaking that no parallel line shall be built west of the Liao mean that we have definitely precluded ourselves from any further development of Manchuria. When we allowed Russia to build the Chinese Eastern Railway, we lost the opportunity of doing anything for Manchuria as a whole, and although, after the reorganisation of the three provinces, we endeavoured to extend railway communications, it was beyond our power to help the regions to the north-east. For this reason the construction of the Taonan-Fakumen and Chinchow-Tsitsihar Railways was planned, with a view to protecting the Mongolian frontiers and uniting the three provinces of Manchuria, but now these rights have been abandoned, and not merely have our rights in Manchuria been thrown away, but it is to be feared that it will even be impossible for us to undertake any railway construction in Inner or Outer Mongolia.\n\nThe consideration of all these points cannot but excite the deepest regret, and I would point out, with regard to these negotiations, that it is not a case of a conquered country suing for peace and unable to offer any resistance to the victor's demands. The first intention of the Japanese was merely to take advantage of the unsettled position of the Corean boundary question, in order to obtain some special advantages upon our frontiers, but, in face of the conclusive evidence in our favour, and in spite of all their specious arguments, they could only succeed in making some confusion by claiming that the Pu-erh-ba-t'ung and Hai-lan Rivers were parts of the Tiumen, the piece of land in dispute only measuring some 100 li from north to south, and it would really be as well to surrender this land to them altogether if our rights over all the country north of Yen-chi could thereby be preserved unimpaired.\n\nThese boundary negotiations have now been proceeding for nearly two years, and have cost the State almost 1,000,000 taels, and the only result is that, in return for a nominal recovery of our territory we have opened all the important places north of Yen-chi, have lost all our rights there so that it will be impossible for us to keep anything for ourselves in the southern part of Kirin, and have agreed to borrow money from them for the construction of the Kirin-Huining Railway, whereby the power of the South Manchurian Railway will be extended throughout the two provinces of Fengtien and Kirin. The Japanese have not only supreme authority in Corea, their power is now extended as far as the capital of Kirin. We have also precluded ourselves from constructing any parallel line west of the Liao and have thereby put a stop to the gradual development of communications in Manchuria. In fact, on account of a dispute about the boundaries of one piece of land, we have lost all our rights in Manchuria, and it would have been incomparably better to surrender the land to them at once without any attempt at negotiation.\n\nFurthermore, the Russian military forces in the Far East have been enormously increased in recent years, munitions of war have been constantly sent out by the Siberian Railway, and they are eagerly watching for an opportunity of avenging their defeat. When they see how Japan has been able, merely through a dispute about boundaries, to secure these great concessions their resentment will naturally be extreme. Other countries too, seeing how easy it is to get the better of us, will put forward claims to equal privileges, and when I consider what difficult international questions and what terrible wars are impending I cannot but feel the utmost apprehension. I feel, however, that although the Wai-wu Pu have complete authority in international questions it is still the duty of the provincial authorities to defend their country, and as your Excellency's telegram to Na-tung proved of no avail I addressed a long telegram to the Wai-wu Pu, but the fact that I have received no reply is sufficient evidence that the Board's view is unfavourable. If I delay any longer the agreement will be signed, and then not only will our remonstrances be unavailing, but even the Imperial Power will be unable to help us. After long consideration the only course that appears open to me is to entreat your Excellency to memorialise the Throne by telegraph, setting forth all the aspects of the situation and asking that the Wai-wu Pu be instructed to lose no time in arranging some other solution which will recover some small portion of our rights.\n\nEven if the current rumours are false, my responsibility remains the same, and in the present critical position of affairs I am quite prepared to run the risk of censure, but I am confident that your Excellency, whose patriotism is known to all, will not regard my representations as mere blind ravings. Furthermore, in view of the pressing importance of the matter, this telegram has been prepared in consultation with the Commissioners and Taotais, including Shih Taotai, from Harbin, who is at present here. They were unanimous in holding that the situation admitted of no delay, and unite with me in requesting your Excellency to submit a memorial by telegraph in order to save our country.\n\n## Inclosure 2 in No. 1\n\n### Newspaper Extract\n\n#### THE MANCHURIAN CONVENTION: EXPLANATION OF THE MURDEN \"SECRET\" AGREEMENT\n\n**Official Communiqué**\n\nSince the consummation of the recent negotiations and the publication (by the \"Peking and Tien-tsin Times\") of the two agreements between China and Japan, relating to Chientao and some of the Manchurian questions, it seems as if some quarters have been exercised by some misapprehension and misgivings. There seems to be involved misunderstandings on two points in regard to the import of article 4 of the Manchurian agreement. The first is that the clause reading \"in conformity with the general principles agreed to by the governor-general of the three eastern provinces and the governor of the province of Mukden with the Japanese consul-general in the 40th year of Meiji (1907), &c.\" is looked upon as referring to a secret agreement of some sort which had been entered into between the authorities of the two countries on some prior occasion. The second is that the above article gives to Japan exclusive rights of exploiting the mining properties along the Antung-Mukden Railway and the main line of the South Manchurian Railway, which is incompatible with the principle of the \"open door and equal opportunities\"; while some seem to see in it a violation of the treaty rights of other Powers. If only for the sake of laying correct information before the public a reasonable statement seems to be called for at this moment.\n\nIn the first place the negotiations between the Chinese authorities and the Japanese consul-general at Mukden in 1907 were merely a necessary and natural sequel to the Peking protocol of December 1905. As Japan succeeded, by the treaty",
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        "id": 423635,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909",
        "page_number": 239,
        "title": "CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909",
        "content_text": "238 \n\n30 \n\nThis year had shown a marked improvement in the attitude of the Viceroys and governors, who, with three or four exceptions already referred to, had loyally seconded the efforts of the Central Government, even going further in their measures than their instructions prescribed. What can be effected by a strong and determined governor, who can give definite orders and will not shrink from the employment of any measures, however stern, which may be necessary to secure the proper enforcement of his orders, has been seen in Shansi and Yunnan. Unfortunately, not all governors, much less all local officials, show the necessary determination, but just as the Viceroys and governors have come to realise that the Central Government is in earnest, so the local officials soon realise that the Provincial Government is in earnest and act accordingly. In certain provinces, it is hard for the governor to make his influence felt throughout all the province, and judging from the accounts of what has been effected up till now, the vigour of the suppression varies, as a rule, in proportion to the distance from the provincial capitals, though, of course, even in the remotest districts, an official who is in earnest can effect much. The venality and disloyalty of the underlings has greatly increased the difficulties with which the officials have had to contend, but fear of certain punishment following on detection has proved a powerful deterrent, and among this class also, there has been a great improvement.\n\nThe most practical test, perhaps, as to whether a district is likely to get rid of the evil is to ascertain whether the magistrate and other officials are smokers. Where they are not and are possessed of a fair amount of energy and honesty, the licensing and other regulations are, in most cases, rapidly and easily enforced; but where the officials themselves smoke, the regulations merely provide them with a new and profitable source of illicit income.\n\nThe Central Government has therefore shown great wisdom in paying especial attention to the observance of the rule forbidding officials to smoke, simultaneously with the issue of orders in so many provinces for the total suppression of cultivation.\n\nI have left to the end the question of the improvement in public opinion in regard to opium smoking. Many persons hold that the best method of curing the habit, as distinct from stopping the supply, is by the education of public opinion, by example, and otherwise; this view was clearly set forth in article 9 of the original regulations. There has been a marked improvement in this respect throughout the Empire. The rise in the price of opium and the fear of punishment have certainly been responsible for by far the larger share in the reduction of the number of smokers, especially among the poorer classes, but the marked change in public opinion has also had a beneficial effect in this respect. In old days, it was considered good form for a young man to smoke opium; now the reverse is the case, and he no longer feels himself bound to indulge in his opium after dinner. Smoking is banished from public places, and though dens exist, they exist in defiance of the law like secret gambling hells in London. One may go so far as to say that there is a certain moral and social stigma attaching to the habit. Opium smokers, who are, of course, still very numerous, no longer confess to their failing, but indulge their craving surreptitiously; this in itself is a sign of the improvement in public opinion. Naturally, the smokers themselves regard the anti-opium movement with hostility, or, at best, with apathy, but there is a growing body of public opinion which is prepared to welcome the adoption of any measures which may hasten the final extinction of a vice which many have come to regard as a national curse and disgrace.\n\nTo sum up, I consider that distinct progress has been made during the period under review towards the attainment of the objects China set herself in 1906. The progress is certainly most marked in regard to the suppression of cultivation in those provinces where it was definitely prohibited, and we are justified in looking forward to similar results in the further provinces in which the growth of the poppy has now been forbidden. It is much more difficult to measure the progress made in regard to the prevention and cure of smoking, but in this domain also, there has been improvement in most provinces, especially in the capitals and larger towns. The enforcement of total prohibition of cultivation will, even in the absence of any survey or reliable statistics, make it possible to ascertain, with a sufficient degree of accuracy, whether the reduction achieved in the internal production and consumption by the end of 1910 corresponds to the reduction in the export of opium from India to China, and whether His Majesty's Government is therefore justified in continuing the annual reductions until the trade in opium from India to China is extinguished.\n\nI cannot help feeling that we shall find that China has more than fulfilled her share of the bargain; but in order to ascertain this in a convincing and satisfactory manner, it will be necessary to see independent evidence that the orders prohibiting the growth of poppy have been properly executed in the various provinces, especially in those provinces such as Szechuan, Kweichow, Shensi, and Kansu, where the largest amount of opium is still produced. I do not know whether the Indian Government intends to take any special steps before the expiration of the three years to ascertain how far the Chinese Government has fulfilled its promise; but having in mind the very clear and definite information obtained from the journeys of Messrs. Brenan and Rose in Shansi and Yunnan, I would suggest that one or two consular officers, with a knowledge of the language and some previous experience of the question, should be instructed to make extensive tours in the principal opium-producing provinces, especially in Szechuan, at the proper season in the course of the year 1910, so as to ascertain by personal inspection to what extent the orders prohibiting the cultivation of opium have been carried out.\n\nW. G. Max Müller.\n\nPeking, October 16, 1909.\n\n## Inclosure 2 in No. 1.\n\n### The Cultivation and Consumption of Opium in Shansi.\n\nAs recently as a year ago, the province of Shansi was noted for its output of opium. The absence of any trustworthy statistics on the subject renders even an approximate computation of the quantity produced extremely difficult, but as the Board of Revenue's return states the amount for 1906 to be 9,666 piculs, it is safe to suppose that the annual production was considerably in excess of that figure; whilst a moderate estimate gives the area formerly devoted to the cultivation of the poppy as at least two-thirds of all the watered land in the province. In some parts, notably the Chiaocheng and Wenshui districts to the south-west of Taiyuanfu, and the Fenho Valley to the south, the proportion was much higher, and practically all the fields in these regions were sown with poppy for the winter crop. The plant was also to be found in large quantities anywhere where rivers, mountain streams, or wells permitted of proper irrigation, and wheat was only grown in the higher and dryer land where the more valuable crop would not thrive.\n\nUntil the autumn of 1908, there had been no serious attempt on the part of the provincial authorities to deal with the opium question. Proclamations had, it is true, been issued in obedience to the edict of 1906, ordering a decrease in the amount of land under cultivation, and had resulted, to a certain extent, in the substitution of wheat for opium in 1907, but it was seen that the officials did not intend to enforce the prohibitions, and in 1908, the crop, if not as large as before, was still considerable; in fact, in some districts, it is reported that the area under cultivation had even increased. In the same year, however, the authorities at Taiyuanfu, either on their own initiative or in consequence of pressure exercised from Peking, came to the conclusion that an attempt must be made to deal with the question in an energetic manner and decided, as a first step, to prohibit the cultivation of opium forthwith throughout the province. The sale of the drug and the smoking of it were to be considered later, but it was felt that these questions would be easier of solution once the production had been stopped. This was in itself, of course, no light task, as it meant depriving the agricultural classes of almost half their income at one blow. It is estimated that a field under opium, after deducting the various extra taxes levied on account of the drug, still brings in more than twice as much to the cultivator as it would if sown with wheat, barley, or other crops.\n\nProclamations were issued in the autumn of last year forbidding the people to sow the plant and threatening them with severe penalties for disobedience. These seem to have been taken more seriously than the official pronouncements of former years, though many of the natives continued in the hope that the prohibition would be no more strictly enforced than before, and there were not wanting foreigners of experience in the province who expressed their disbelief in the desire or ability of the authorities to force such an unpalatable measure on the people, apart from the difficulties connected with the inevitable loss of revenue accruing from the trade. The Government has, however, been undoubtedly successful in suppressing the cultivation of opium in Shansi this year, as I venture to think will be shown by this report, although it does not necessarily follow that the poppy has been banished from ... \n\n31",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-366 - Governor Sir Lugard Acting Governor May - 1910 [4-5]",
        "page_number": 297,
        "title": "CO129-366 - Governor Sir Lugard Acting Governor May - 1910 [4-5]",
        "content_text": "# Enclosure 10.\n\n294\n\nthe Railway, and on goods under transit pass to the place of destination named in the Pass.\n\n12.\n\nArticle 13 needs no comment: but I attach great importance to Article 14, which secures that the Commissioner of Kowloon Customs shall be British.\n\n13.\n\nIn conclusion I may state that I do not think that any considerable additional financial burden will be thrown upon this Colony in the event of full effect being given to this draft Convention: some slight increase in staff may be necessary for the better control of the junk traffic and a re-adjustment of the fees paid by junks for their Licences and for entering and clearing may be rendered necessary owing to the abolition, under Article 1, of the special permits for which junks at present pay a special fee. I incline to the opinion, however, that if the principles embodied in this Convention are accepted, this Colony will receive concessions from China of greater value than are those which it makes to China in return, and I therefore trust that Your Lordship will authorize me by telegram to inform Mr. Harris that the proposals embodied in the draft Convention have the approval of His Majesty's Government, and that he is at liberty to lay them before the Inspector-General of Imperial Maritime Customs. I may add that, from my conversations with Mr. Harris, as well as from the attached final letter, I infer that it is probable that the draft Convention in its present form would be approved of by the Chinese Central Government at Peking as well as by the Authorities of the Liang Kuang Provinces. I hope that the Central Government will authorize the local Commissioner of Customs to negotiate the proposed Convention with this Government in the same manner in which His Excellency Wei Han has been authorized to negotiate locally the Railway Working Agreement: and I would",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910",
        "page_number": 150,
        "title": "CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910",
        "content_text": "10\n\nthe schools. The ceremony lasted till the afternoon. Admittance was by tickets, of which only 200 or 300 were issued.\n\nSHANSI.\n\nOpening; English Missionaries take part in Ceremony. The provincial assembly was opened at Tai-yuan-fu on the 14th October, with considerable ceremony, in a special building, the erection of which was still uncompleted. The foreigners, mostly English missionaries and professors resident in Tai-yuan-fu, were invited to be present, and were formally introduced to the eighty-six members, who are favourably commented upon as men of education and standing. The president, Liang Shanchi, a Han-lin graduate, has a high reputation in Shansi, and his tendencies may be judged from the fact that he has sent his son to study engineering in the Birmingham University.\n\nSpeeches of Governor and Treasurer.-After the assembly was declared open by the governor in a formal address which was read for him, the provincial treasurer (who is now the governor as a result of the moves caused by Tuan-fang's downfall) made a carefully prepared speech, the object of which appeared to be to impress upon the members the limited nature of their powers. Congratulatory speeches were then made by Dr. Edwards, an English missionary, and a Japanese professor, and these were followed by a tactful address from the president inviting attention to the importance of the occasion in the political history of Shansi and China, thanking the Throne for the gift of popular representation, and specially recognising the debt A dinner of due to England \"the friend of China and the mother of Parliaments.\" forty covers closed the proceedings.\n\nDebates; Opium Question; Conflict of Opinion between Provincial and Central Governments.-The debates of the Shansi assembly are said to be conducted well and intelligently. One attended by some foreigners towards the end of October was on the opium question, in regard to which a difference of opinion had arisen between the province and the central Government. The thorough enforcement of the opium prohibition in Shansi by the provincial Government had caused a serious falling off in the revenue derived from opium, and the local bureau affected brought influence to bear upon the Board of Finance in Peking to overrule the provincial legislation against the importation of opium from other provinces. This, it seems, the Board of Finance attempted to do, and the province naturally hold that if they are forbidden to cultivate, it is unreasonable to ask them to keep an open market for opium from other provinces. The assembly and the provincial Government are at one in opposing the action of the Board of Finance.\n\nSHENSI\n\nPreliminary Steps; First and Second Elections, and Opening Ceremony.-A memorial from the governor appeared in the \"Official Gazette\" of the 5th November, reporting on the opening of the Shensi provincial assembly in Hsi-an-fu. According to this an organisation office was opened in November 1908 under the direction of the provincial treasurer, lists of electors were drawn up by May 1909, the first election of delegates took place in July, and the second election of the members, sixty-three for the province and three for the Manchu garrison of Hsi-an, was completed in August. In September the members collected in Hsi-an, and the assembly was duly opened on the 14th October. The president is a graduate who was formerly a district magistrate in Chihli, and the two vice-presidents are also graduates.\n\nGovernor's Speech.-The governor reports that he opened the proceedings in person, supported by the Tartar general of Hsi-an, and the provincial officials, and read the Imperial decree of the 13th October, which had just arrived by telegraph. He concludes by stating that he impressed upon the members the necessity of strictly confining themselves within the limits of the powers confided to them under the rules.\n\nKANSU.\n\nPreliminaries; Viceroy advocated Delay in opening Assembly; Removal of Viceroy.- According to a memorial of Sheng-yün, Viceroy of Shensi and Kansu, which was published in the \"Official Gazette\" of the 16th April, 1909, the preliminaries were modelled on what was being done in Nanking and Wuch'ang. He explained that the establishment of the organisation office was delayed by the necessity of sending officers to the Yang-tsze to make enquiries, and it was not till the 13th December, 1908, that this office was formed and the preparations for the elections commenced.\n\n11\n\nIn the course of the preparations Sheng-yün appears to have come to the conclusion that the convocation of an assembly in Kansu in 1909 would be premature, and he applied for permission to come to Peking to give his reasons to the central Government. This permission being refused, he asked to be relieved of his post, and in a decree of the 23rd June he was censured and removed from office for dereliction of duty in regard to the preparations for popular representation.\n\nNo Information of Opening of Assembly yet received.-No information of the opening of an assembly at Lanchou has yet reached us.\n\nKIANGSU.\n\nThe following is taken from a report by Mr. Goffe, His Majesty's consul at Nanking\n\nOpening Ceremony at Nanking-The assembly was duly opened on the 14th October at 9 o'clock in the morning, when 112 deputies were present. The great majority of them belonged to the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks (gold buttons), a few to the fifth and sixth, and a very small number to the third or fourth; two or three wore no buttons, indicating that they had no official rank. The deputies were each provided with a number, and were seated at desks facing the presidential chair.\n\n\"The proceedings opened punctually at the appointed hour, and after being called to order, the deputies filed out of the hall, as their numbers were called out, to be presented to the Viceroy. After a short interval they returned, and the Viceroy and the governor of Soochow, accompanied by most of the high provincial officials, took their seats on the dais, to the left and right of the president respectively. The president rang his bell, and three speeches, suitable to the occasion, drafted respectively by the Viceroy, the governor and the president, were read by the secretaries. The assembly then adjourned till the 18th October, when the regular session began.\n\nForeign Consuls Invited.-\"The foreign consuls were invited to be present at the ceremony, and were afterwards presented to the president; they are also allowed to attend the sittings and listen to the debates.\n\nProceedings; Debates.\" The proceedings, which were conducted in an orderly and impressive manner, were held in the Manchu guildhall, which will be utilised for the meetings of the deputies until the assembly house, which is now in course of erection, is ready for use. It is hoped to eventually make mandarin the language of the assembly; but, for the present, the deputies are allowed to speak in any dialect they please. Any deputy, however, who wishes to bring any proposal before the assembly must first deposit with the officials, in writing, a résumé of its leading features; this document will then be printed and circulated amongst the deputies before the subject comes up for discussion.\n\nDebates Reported in the Press. The assembly meets every day at 1 P.M., and the sitting is continued until 5 or 6 o'clock; the press is allowed to report the proceedings, and a summary of the debates is appearing in a Nanking daily newspaper which has been published since the 20th of October.\n\nThe following subjects have been submitted by the Viceroy and governor respectively for the deliberation of the assembly:-\n\nBy the Viceroy---\n\nProgramme of Government Business Control and limitation of the coinage of copper 10-cash pieces and the extended use of silver coins to replace them.\n\n\"Census: The most effective method of taking it.\n\nDredging of the Huai River and the repair of its banks.\n\n\"Extension of the Nanking City Railway to Wuhu: In this connection the Viceroy states that the City railway has proved a most profitable undertaking, and that there are good prospects of an extension to Wuhu, a distance of some 200 li, which would pass through T'ai Ping-fu and many busy marts, proving equally remunerative. He regrets that the authorities have no funds at their disposal to undertake this work, and he recommends it to the earnest consideration of the merchants and gentry. The Viceroy states that the foreign manager of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway has claimed the right to build this line, as the railway agreement gives the company the option of constructing all railways within 100 li of the Shanghae line. But he dismisses this claim as inadmissible on the ground that the line in question is 200 li in length, and does not come within the sphere of the company's agreement.\n\n148\n\nPage 150\nPage 151",
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        "document_key": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910",
        "page_number": 473,
        "title": "CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910",
        "content_text": "Ya.. \n\n2 \n\nand Franco-Russian alliances. Suggestions were made as to the advisability of allowing America to acquire such vested interests in the three Manchurian provinces as would make it essential for her to keep them in the Chinese dominions at any cost. It seems hardly necessary to comment on the idea that the United States and Germany are going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for China without ample compensation, but in China's present mood she is inclined to form exaggerated estimates.\n\nThe climax of exaggeration and folly was reached in the recent reception of the business men from the Western States, who were accorded almost Royal honours not only by Chinese commercial classes, but by the Chinese Government, and whose doings and sayings have been recorded with a minuteness of detail and with such appreciative comments as can hardly be rivalled during the approaching visit of the German Crown Prince.\n\nThe ostensible object of the tour was the promotion of trade relations between the two countries, and as in the case of the Japanese business men, who made a similar tour last June, it may be welcomed as another step in familiarising China with the outside world. It seems, however, a pity that these shrewd men of business should be compelled to devote so much of their time to being dined and wined. If they were left more leisure to utilise the opportunities furnished by their tour they would carry home with them a valuable budget of commercial intelligence, instead of an exaggerated impression of Chinese hospitality and good-will towards foreigners in general and Americans in particular. As it is, they gain superficial and false ideas of China's progress in the path of civilisation and reform, and, worse still, they also instil these ideas into the minds of the Chinese themselves, who certainly are already not wanting in self-sufficiency and conceit. I fully agree with Mr. Fox that to pour indiscriminate panegyrics on all the efforts of the Chinese to fall into line with modern civilisation, as, for instance, to say publicly that the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway is as efficient as any line on the American continent, must, with a nation like the Chinese, be productive of far more harm than good.\n\nI further agree with Mr. Fox in his remark that this visit is not likely to produce any tangible result in the direction of increased trade between China and the United States, and the speaker who described it as \"the beginning of novel business relations between the two countries and a great factor in their political relations\" was guilty of postprandial exuberance of speech.\n\nIf I have written at such length on the subject of these American visits to China and of the warmth of the reception accorded to the visitors, it is because I feel that this strong pro-American sentiment in China is a factor in Far Eastern politics with which it is necessary to reckon. There has been a great deal of inspired newspaper talk and exaggerated after-dinner speaking, but there is a real feeling at the bottom of it all, and the demonstrations of good-will and friendship in the case of the American business men are not due to Government direction, but to individual good feeling. The mere gratitude of the Chinese nation for past favours received is a broken reed to lean on, and even this year there has been talk in Canton of a boycott of American goods on account of the ill-treatment of some Chinese in California. There is something more than gratitude for returned indemnities and other alleged benefits to account for the undeniable sincerity of these pro-American demonstrations, and that is, as Mr. Fox says, the recognition of the possibilities afforded by the disinterested friendship of one of the great nations of the world. There is at the present moment in China a widespread feeling that all the Powers, excepting the United States and perhaps also Germany, are directly or indirectly bonded together against her, and that the United States are China's only friend and bulwark against foreign aggression. I do not go so far as to say that responsible Chinese statesmen look to America for active support, but they probably feel, rightly or wrongly, that in a few years the opening of the Panamá Canal will place in the hands of the United States the hegemony of the Pacific Ocean, and that, therefore, friendship with the United States should form the basis of China's foreign policy.\n\nIn estimating the strength and probable duration of such friendship, at all events from the side of China, we must not leave out of our calculations the strong pro-American influence of the already large and steadily increasing number of Chinese who have received their education in America. So great a patriot as Cecil Rhodes in founding the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford for students from the colonies, the United States of America, and Germany, gave concrete expression to his opinion that \"educational relationships form the strongest tie\" and a sure basis for a good understanding between nations.\n\n3\n\nThe dominating feature of the American attitude in the Far East is the instinctive friendliness felt for and shown to China, not always, as we saw last winter, in a manner most judicious or most likely to conduce to the real interests of China herself. There can be no doubt that the support of American diplomacy tends to encourage China to adopt an attitude of stubborn opposition towards the advice and requests of other nations, and it is natural that diplomatists in Peking should regard with some suspicion what we, rightly or wrongly, consider as the too complaisant attitude of the American Legation towards the Chinese Government. I have before now commented on the lack of success, from the Chinese point of view, that attended the first incursion of the United States financiers supported by their Government into Far Eastern affairs. The results achieved hitherto, leaving out of consideration the loan for 10,000,000l. at present being negotiated, have been the indefinite postponement of the construction of the Hankow-Canton and Szechuan Railways and the agreement between Russia and Japan in Manchuria.\n\nIt is difficult at this distance to judge how far the fierce campaign in the American press directed from Peking by the \"New York Herald\" correspondent, Mr. Ohl, according to which Great Britain was represented as sacrificing America's friendship, China's interests and her own position in the Far East to her infatuation for her Japanese ally, in connection with the Chinchow-Aigun Railway scheme, either represented or affected public opinion in the United States. The financial group concerned, or rather their representative out here, Mr. Straight, made use of Mr. Ohl to continually attack our policy, and as Mr. Ohl was in close touch with the \"Peking Daily News\" and the Press Bureau at the Wai-wu Pu, hardly a day passed without violent diatribes being published in the Peking press in regard to our alleged unfriendly policy towards China and our disloyalty to the United States. Mr. Ohl summoned other yellow journalists to his aid, including a Mr. Millard, who published an article in the July number of the \"Forum\" on the subject of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway. The article in itself does not merit much attention, but it is noteworthy as containing the text of all the notes addressed by the various foreign legations in Peking to the Wai-wu Pu in regard to the railway scheme in question, these notes, I understand, having been communicated by some high official in the Wai-wu Pu, said to be his Excellency Liang Tun-yen, to Mr. Millard for publication. The style of Mr. Millard's reasoning can be gathered from the following sentence: \"I unhesitatingly declare my opinion that the issue raised in the matter of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway, broadly viewed, is one on which any self-respecting nation, if forced by antagonistic diplomacy into a position where it is squarely put, ought to go to war about.\"\n\nFortunately, there are other interests of greater importance than the construction of a railway of 800 miles in Manchuria, professedly a purely commercial venture, that determine the relations between Great Britain and the United States of America; and it certainly looks at present as if the furious press campaign got up in the interests of a financial group had missed fire.\n\nIt may be hoped that the visit of the delegates of the chambers of commerce may show them that there are other spheres in China besides Manchuria where American financiers can invest their capital with equal advantage to themselves, provided they are really desirous of assisting China in this manner, and do not merely aim at bringing forward political issues which place China in a difficult position vis-à-vis other Powers, where she cannot help herself, and where she cannot, in spite of the fulminations of the yellow press, look for material and effective help from her American friends.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER.\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nMemorandum by Mr. Fox on Delegation of Pacific Coast Business Men to China.\n\nTHE delegation of American business men now visiting China, whose departure from San Francisco was reported in Acting Consul-General Moore's despatch to the Foreign Office of the 23rd August last, arrived in Shanghai on the 16th September, and after visiting Soochow, Hangchow, Nanking, and Hankow reached Peking by rail on the 6th instant. From here they go to Tien-tsin; thence to Chefoo, Tsingtau, Amoy, Hong Kong, and Canton.\n\nThe party who style themselves",
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        "content_text": "2\n\nand Franco-Russian alliances. Suggestions were made as to the advisability of allowing America to acquire such vested interests in the three Manchurian provinces as would make it essential for her to keep them in the Chinese dominions at any cost. It seems hardly necessary to comment on the idea that the United States and Germany are going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for China without ample compensation, but in China's present mood she is inclined to form exaggerated estimates.\n\nThe climax of exaggeration and folly was reached in the recent reception of the business men from the Western States, who were accorded almost Royal honours not only by Chinese commercial classes, but by the Chinese Government, and whose doings and sayings have been recorded with a minuteness of detail and with such appreciative comments as can hardly be rivalled during the approaching visit of the German Crown Prince.\n\nThe ostensible object of the tour was the promotion of trade relations between the two countries, and as in the case of the Japanese business men, who made a similar tour last June, it may be welcomed as another step in familiarising China with the outside world. It seems, however, a pity that these shrewd men of business should be compelled to devote so much of their time to being dined and wined. If they were left more leisure to utilise the opportunities furnished by their tour they would carry home with them a valuable budget of commercial intelligence, instead of an exaggerated impression of Chinese hospitality and good-will towards foreigners in general and Americans in particular. As it is, they gain superficial and false ideas of China's progress in the path of civilisation and reform, and, worse still, they also instil these ideas into the minds of the Chinese themselves, who certainly are already not fully agree with Mr. Fox that to pour wanting in self-sufficiency and conceit. indiscriminate panegyrics on all the efforts of the Chinese to fall into line with modern civilisation, as, for instance, to say publicly that the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway is as efficient as any line on the American continent, must, with a nation like the Chinese, be productive of far more harm than good.\n\nI further agree with Mr. Fox in his remark that this visit is not likely to produce any tangible result in the direction of increased trade between China and the United States, and the speaker who described it as \"the beginning of novel business relations between the two countries and a great factor in their political relations\" was guilty of postprandial exuberance of speech.\n\nIf I have written at such length on the subject of these American visits to China and of the warmth of the reception accorded to the visitors, it is because I feel that this strong pro-American sentiment in China is a factor in Far Eastern politics with which it is necessary to reckon. There has been a great deal of inspired newspaper talk and exaggerated after-dinner speaking, but there is a real feeling at the bottom of it all, and the demonstrations of good-will and friendship in the case of the American business men are not due to Government direction, but to individual good feeling. The mere gratitude of the Chinese nation for past favours received is a broken reed to lean on, and even this year there has been talk in Canton of a boycott of American goods on account of the ill-treatment of some Chinese in California. There is something more than gratitude for returned indemnities and other alleged benefits to account for the undeniable sincerity of these pro-American demonstrations, and that is, as Mr. Fox says, the recognition of the possibilities afforded by the disinterested friendship of one of the great nations of the world.\n\nThere is at the present moment in China a widespread feeling that all the Powers, excepting the United States and perhaps also Germany, are directly or indirectly banded together against her, and that the United States are China's only friend and bulwark against foreign aggression. I do not go so far as to say that responsible Chinese statesmen look to America for active support, but they probably feel, rightly or wrongly, that in a few years the opening of the Panamá Canal will place in the hands of the United States the hegemony of the Pacific Ocean, and that, therefore, friendship with the United States should form the basis of China's foreign policy.\n\nIn estimating the strength and probable duration of such friendship, at all events from the side of China, we must not leave out of our calculations the strong pro-American influence of the already large and steadily increasing number of Chinese who have received their education in America. So great a patriot as Cecil Rhodes in founding the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford for students from the colonies, the United States of America, and Germany, gave concrete expression to his opinion that \"educational relationships form the strongest tie\" and a sure basis for a good understanding between nations.\n\n3\n\nThe dominating feature of the American attitude in the Far East is the instinctive friendliness felt for and shown to China, not always, as we saw last winter, in a manner most judicious or most likely to conduce to the real interests of China herself. There can be no doubt that the support of American diplomacy tends to encourage China to adopt an attitude of stubborn opposition towards the advice and requests of other nations, and it is natural that diplomatists in Peking should regard with some suspicion what we, rightly or wrongly, consider as the too complaisant attitude of the American Legation towards the Chinese Government. I have before now commented on the lack of success, from the Chinese point of view, that attended the first incursion of the United States financiers supported by their Government into Far Eastern affairs. The results achieved hitherto, leaving out of consideration the loan for 10,000,000l. at present being negotiated, have been the indefinite postponement of the construction of the Hankow-Canton and Szechuan Railways and the agreement between Russia and Japan in Manchuria.\n\nIt is difficult at this distance to judge how far the fierce campaign in the American press directed from Peking by the \"New York Herald\" correspondent, Mr. Ohl, according to which Great Britain was represented as sacrificing America's friendship, China's interests and her own position in the Far East to her infatuation for her Japanese ally, in connection with the Chinchow-Aigun Railway scheme, either represented or affected public opinion in the United States. The financial group concerned, or rather their representative out here, Mr. Straight, made use of Mr. Ohl in Peking to continually attack our policy, and as Mr. Ohl was in close touch with the \"Daily News\" and the Press Bureau at the Wai-wu Pu, hardly a day passed without violent diatribes being published in the Peking press in regard to our alleged unfriendly policy towards China and our disloyalty to the United States. Mr. Ohl summoned other yellow journalists to his aid, including a Mr. Millard, who published an article in the July number of the \"Forum\" on the subject of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway. The article in itself does not merit much attention, but it is noteworthy as containing the text of all the notes addressed by the various foreign legations in Peking to the Wai-wu Pu in regard to the railway scheme in question, these notes, I understand, having been communicated by some high official in the Wai-wu Pu, said to be his Excellency Liang Tun-yen, to Mr. Millard for publication. The style of Mr. Millard's reasoning can be gathered from the following sentence: \"Unhesitatingly declare my opinion that the issue raised in the matter of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway, broadly viewed, is one on which any self-respecting nation, if forced by antagonistic diplomacy into a position where it is squarely put, ought to go to war about.\"\n\nFortunately, there are other interests of greater importance than the construction of a railway of 800 miles in Manchuria, professedly a purely commercial venture, that determine the relations between Great Britain and the United States of America; and it certainly looks at present as if the furious press campaign got up in the interests of a financial group had missed fire.\n\nIt may be hoped that the visit of the delegates of the chambers of commerce may show them that there are other spheres in China besides Manchuria where American financiers can invest their capital with equal advantage to themselves, provided they are really desirous of assisting China in this manner, and do not merely aim at bringing forward political issues which place China in a difficult position vis-à-vis other Powers, where she cannot help herself, and where she cannot, in spite of the fulminations of the yellow press, look for material and effective help from her American friends.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nW. G. Max Müller.\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nMemorandum by Mr. Fox on Delegation of Pacific Coast Business Men to China.\n\nThe delegation of American business men now visiting China, whose departure from San Francisco was reported in Acting Consul-General Moore's despatch to the Foreign Office of the 23rd August last, arrived in Shanghai on the 16th September, and after visiting Soochow, Hangchow, Nanking, and Hankow reached Peking by rail on the 6th instant. From here they go to Tien-tsin; thence to Chefoo, Tsingtau, Amoy, Hong Kong, and Canton.\n\nThe party who style themselves \"Honourable Commissioners of American\n\n[2982 -2]\n\nB 2\n\n475",
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        "content_text": "478\n\n! \n\nand Franco-Russian alliances. Suggestions were made as to the advisability of allowing America to acquire such vested interests in the three Manchurian provinces as would make it essential for her to keep them in the Chinese dominions at any cost. It seems hardly necessary to comment on the idea that the United States and Germany are going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for China without ample compensation, but in China's present mood she is inclined to form exaggerated estimates.\n\nThe climax of exaggeration and folly was reached in the recent reception of the business men from the Western States, who were accorded almost Royal honours not only by Chinese commercial classes, but by the Chinese Government, and whose doings and sayings have been recorded with a minuteness of detail and with such appreciative comments as can hardly be rivalled during the approaching visit of the German Crown Prince.\n\nThe ostensible object of the tour was the promotion of trade relations between the two countries, and as in the case of the Japanese business men, who made a similar tour last June, it may be welcomed as another step in familiarising China with the outside world. It seems, however, a pity that these shrewd men of business should be compelled to devote so much of their time to being dined and wined. If they were left more leisure to utilise the opportunities furnished by their tour they would carry home with them a valuable budget of commercial intelligence, instead of an exaggerated impression of Chinese hospitality and good-will towards foreigners in general and Americans in particular. As it is, they gain superficial and false ideas of China's progress in the path of civilisation and reform, and, worse still, they also instil these ideas into the minds of the Chinese themselves, who certainly are already not wanting in self-sufficiency and conceit. I fully agree with Mr. Fox that to pour indiscriminate panegyrics on all the efforts of the Chinese to fall into line with modern civilisation, as, for instance, to say publicly that the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway is as efficient as any line on the American continent, must, with a nation like the Chinese, be productive of far more harm than good.\n\nI further agree with Mr. Fox in his remark that this visit is not likely to produce any tangible result in the direction of increased trade between China and the United States, and the speaker who described it as \"the beginning of novel business relations between the two countries and a great factor in their political relations\" was guilty of postprandial exuberance of speech.\n\nIf I have written at such length on the subject of these American visits to China and of the warmth of the reception accorded to the visitors, it is because I feel that this strong pro-American sentiment in China is a factor in Far Eastern politics with which it is necessary to reckon. There has been a great deal of inspired newspaper talk and exaggerated after-dinner speaking, but there is a real feeling at the bottom of it all, and the demonstrations of good-will and friendship in the case of the American business men are not due to Government direction, but to individual good feeling. The mere gratitude of the Chinese nation for past favours received is a broken reed to lean on, and even this year there has been talk in Canton of a boycott of American goods on account of the ill-treatment of some Chinese in California. There is something more than gratitude for returned indemnities and other alleged benefits to account for the undeniable sincerity of these pro-American demonstrations, and that is, as Mr. Fox says, the recognition of the possibilities afforded by the disinterested friendship of one of the great nations of the world. There is at the present moment in China a widespread feeling that all the Powers, excepting the United States and perhaps also Germany, are directly or indirectly bonded together against her, and that the United States are China's only friend and bulwark against foreign aggression. I do not go so far as to say that responsible Chinese statesmen look to America for active support, but they probably feel, rightly or wrongly, that in a few years the opening of the Panamá Canal will place in the hands of the United States the hegemony of the Pacific Ocean, and that, therefore, friendship with the United States should form the basis of China's foreign policy.\n\nIn estimating the strength and probable duration of such friendship, at all events from the side of China, we must not leave out of our calculations the strong pro-American influence of the already large and steadily increasing number of Chinese who have received their education in America. So great a patriot as Cecil Rhodes in founding the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford for students from the colonies, the United States of America, and Germany, gave concrete expression to his opinion that \"educational relationships form the strongest tie\" and a sure basis for a good understanding between nations.\n\n3\n\nThe dominating feature of the American attitude in the Far East is the instinctive friendliness felt for and shown to China, not always, as we saw last winter, in a manner most judicious or most likely to conduce to the real interests of China herself. There can be no doubt that the support of American diplomacy tends to encourage China to adopt an attitude of stubborn opposition towards the advice and requests of other nations, and it is natural that diplomatists in Peking should regard with some suspicion what we, rightly or wrongly, consider as the too complaisant attitude of the American Legation towards the Chinese Government. I have before now commented on the lack of success, from the Chinese point of view, that attended the first incursion of the United States financiers supported by their Government into Far Eastern affairs. The results achieved hitherto, leaving out of consideration the loan for 10,000,000l. at present being negotiated, have been the indefinite postponement of the construction of the Hankow-Canton and Szechuan Railways and the agreement between Russia and Japan in Manchuria.\n\nIt is difficult at this distance to judge how far the fierce campaign in the American press directed from Peking by the \"New York Herald\" correspondent, Mr. Ohl, according to which Great Britain was represented as sacrificing America's friendship, China's interests and her own position in the Far East to her infatuation for her Japanese ally, in connection with the Chinchow-Aigun Railway scheme, either represented or affected public opinion in the United States. The financial group concerned, or rather their representative out here, Mr. Straight, made use of Mr. Ohl to continually attack our policy, and as Mr. Ohl was in close touch with the \"Peking Daily News\" and the Press Bureau at the Wai-wu Pu, hardly a day passed without violent diatribes being published in the Peking press in regard to our alleged unfriendly policy towards China and our disloyalty to the United States. Mr. Ohl summoned other yellow journalists to his aid, including a Mr. Millard, who published an article in the July number of the \"Forum\" on the subject of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway. The article in itself does not merit much attention, but it is noteworthy as containing the text of all the notes addressed by the various foreign legations in Peking to the Wai-wu Pu in regard to the railway scheme in question, these notes, I understand, having been communicated by some high official in the Wai-wo Pu, said to be his Excellency Liang Tun-yen, to Mr. Millard for publication. The style of Mr. Millard's reasoning can be gathered from the following sentence: \"I unhesitatingly declare my opinion that the issue raised in the matter of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway, broadly viewed, is one on which any self-respecting nation, if forced by antagonistic diplomacy into a position where it is squarely put, ought to go to war about.\"\n\nFortunately, there are other interests of greater importance than the construction of a railway of 800 miles in Manchuria, professedly a purely commercial venture, that determine the relations between Great Britain and the United States of America; and it certainly looks at present as if the furious press campaign got up in the interests of a financial group had missed fire.\n\nIt may be hoped that the visit of the delegates of the chambers of commerce may show them that there are other spheres in China besides Manchuria where American financiers can invest their capital with equal advantage to themselves, provided they are really desirous of assisting China in this manner, and do not merely aim at bringing forward political issues which place China in a difficult position vis-à-vis other Powers, where she cannot help herself, and where she cannot, in spite of the fulminations of the yellow press, look for material and effective help from her American friends.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER.\n\nMemorandum by Mr. Fox on Delegation of Pacific Coast Business Men to China,\n\nTHE delegation of American business men now visiting China, whose departure from San Francisco was reported in Acting Consul-General Moore's despatch to the Foreign Office of the 23rd August last, arrived in Shanghai on the 16th September, and after visiting Soochow, Hangchow, Nanking, and Hankow reached Peking by rail on the 6th instant, From here they go to Tien-tsin; thence to Chefoo, Tsingtau, Amoy, Hong Kong, and Canton.\n\nThe party who style themselves\n\n[2982 --2]\n\n\"Honourable Commissioners of American\n\nB 2",
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        "content_text": "2\n\nand Franco-Russian alliances. Suggestions were made as to the advisability of allowing America to acquire such vested interests in the three Manchurian provinces as would make it essential for her to keep them in the Chinese dominions at any cost. It seems hardly necessary to comment on the idea that the United States and Germany are going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for China without ample compensation, but in China's present mood she is inclined to form exaggerated estimates.\n\nThe climax of exaggeration and folly was reached in the recent reception of the business men from the Western States, who were accorded almost Royal honours not only by Chinese commercial classes, but by the Chinese Government, and whose doings and sayings have been recorded with a minuteness of detail and with such appreciative comments as can hardly be rivalled during the approaching visit of the German Crown Prince.\n\nThe ostensible object of the tour was the promotion of trade relations between the two countries, and as in the case of the Japanese business men, who made a similar tour last June, it may be welcomed as another step in familiarising China with the outside world. It seems, however, a pity that these shrewd men of business should be compelled to devote so much of their time to being dined and wined. If they were left more leisure to utilise the opportunities furnished by their tour they would carry home with them a valuable budget of commercial intelligence, instead of an exaggerated impression of Chinese hospitality and good-will towards foreigners in general and Americans in particular. As it is, they gain superficial and false ideas of China's progress in the path of civilisation and reform, and, worse still, they also instil these ideas into the minds of the Chinese themselves, who certainly are already not wanting in self-sufficiency and conceit. I fully agree with Mr. Fox that to pour indiscriminate panegyrics on all the efforts of the Chinese to fall into line with modern civilisation, as, for instance, to say publicly that the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway is as efficient as any line on the American continent, must, with a nation like the Chinese, be productive of far more harm than good.\n\nI further agree with Mr. Fox in his remark that this visit is not likely to produce any tangible result in the direction of increased trade between China and the United States, and the speaker who described it as \"the beginning of novel business relations between the two countries and a great factor in their political relations\" was guilty of postprandial exuberance of speech.\n\nIf I have written at such length on the subject of these American visits to China and of the warmth of the reception accorded to the visitors, it is because I feel that this strong pro-American sentiment in China is a factor in Far Eastern politics with which it is necessary to reckon. There has been a great deal of inspired newspaper talk and exaggerated after-dinner speaking, but there is a real feeling at the bottom of it all, and the demonstrations of good-will and friendship in the case of the American business men are not due to Government direction, but to individual good feeling. The mere gratitude of the Chinese nation for past favours received is a broken reed to lean on, and even this year there has been talk in Canton of a boycott of American goods on account of the ill-treatment of some Chinese in California. There is something more than gratitude for returned indemnities and other alleged benefits to account for the undeniable sincerity of these pro-American demonstrations, and that is, as Mr. Fox says, the recognition of the possibilities afforded by the disinterested friendship of one of the great nations of the world. There is at the present moment in China a widespread feeling that all the Powers, excepting the United States and perhaps also Germany, are directly or indirectly bonded together against her, and that the United States are China's only friend and bulwark against foreign aggression. I do not go so far as to say that responsible Chinese statesmen look to America for active support, but they probably feel, rightly or wrongly, that in a few years the opening of the Panamá Canal will place in the hands of the United States the hegemony of the Pacific Ocean, and that, therefore, friendship with the United States should form the basis of China's foreign policy.\n\nIn estimating the strength and probable duration of such friendship, at all events from the side of China, we must not leave out of our calculations the strong pro-American influence of the already large and steadily increasing number of Chinese who have received their education in America. So great a patriot as Cecil Rhodes in founding the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford for students from the colonies, the United States of America, and Germany, gave concrete expression to his opinion that \"educational relationships form the strongest tie\" and a sure basis for a good understanding between nations.\n\n3\n\nThe dominating feature of the American attitude in the Far East is the instinctive friendliness felt for and shown to China, not always, as we saw last winter, in a manner most judicious or most likely to conduce to the real interests of China herself. There can be no doubt that the support of American diplomacy tends to encourage China to adopt an attitude of stubborn opposition towards the advice and requests of other nations, and it is natural that diplomatists in Peking should regard with some suspicion what we, rightly or wrongly, consider as the too complaisant attitude of the American Legation towards the Chinese Government. I have before now commented on the lack of success, from the Chinese point of view, that attended the first incursion of the United States financiers supported by their Government into Far Eastern affairs. The results achieved hitherto, leaving out of consideration the loan for 10,000,000l. at present being negotiated, have been the indefinite postponement of the construction of the Hankow-Canton and Szechuan Railways and the agreement between Russia and Japan in Manchuria.\n\nIt is difficult at this distance to judge how far the fierce campaign in the American press directed from Peking by the \"New York Herald\" correspondent, Mr. Ohl, according to which Great Britain was represented as sacrificing America's friendship, China's interests and her own position in the Far East to her infatuation for her Japanese ally, in connection with the Chinchow-Aigun Railway scheme, either represented or affected public opinion in the United States. The financial group concerned, or rather their representative out here, Mr. Straight, made use of Mr. Ohl to continually attack our policy, and as Mr. Ohl was in close touch with the \"Peking Daily News\" and the Press Bureau at the Wai-wu Pu, hardly a day passed without violent diatribes being published in the Peking press in regard to our alleged unfriendly policy towards China and our disloyalty to the United States. Mr. Ohl summoned other yellow journalists to his aid, including a Mr. Millard, who published an article in the July number of the \"Forum\" on the subject of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway. The article in itself does not merit much attention, but it is noteworthy as containing the text of all the notes addressed by the various foreign legations in Peking to the Wai-wu Pu in regard to the railway scheme in question, these notes, I understand, having been communicated by some high official in the Wai-wu Pu, said to be his Excellency Liang Tun-yen, to Mr. Millard for publication. The style of Mr. Millard's reasoning can be gathered from the following sentence: \"I unhesitatingly declare my opinion that the issue raised in the matter of the Chinchow-Aigun Railway, broadly viewed, is one on which any self-respecting nation, if forced by antagonistic diplomacy into a position where it is squarely put, ought to go to war about.\"\n\nFortunately, there are other interests of greater importance than the construction of a railway of 800 miles in Manchuria, professedly a purely commercial venture, that determine the relations between Great Britain and the United States of America; and it certainly looks at present as if the furious press campaign got up in the interests of a financial group had missed fire.\n\nIt may be hoped that the visit of the delegates of the chambers of commerce may show them that there are other spheres in China besides Manchuria where American financiers can invest their capital with equal advantage to themselves, provided they are really desirous of assisting China in this manner, and do not merely aim at bringing forward political issues which place China in a difficult position vis-à-vis other Powers, where she cannot help herself, and where she cannot, in spite of the fulminations of the yellow press, look for material and effective help from her American friends.\n\nI have, &c.\n\nEnclosure 1 in No. 1.\n\nW. G. MAX MÜLLER,\n\nMemorandum by Mr. Fox on Delegation of Pacific Coast Business Men to China.\n\nTHE delegation of American business men now visiting China, whose departure from San Francisco was reported in Acting Consul-General Moore's despatch to the Foreign Office of the 23rd August last, arrived in Shanghai on the 16th September, and after visiting Soochow, Hangchow, Nanking, and Hankow reached Peking by rail on the 6th instant. From here they go to Tien-tsin; thence to Chefoo, Tsingtau, Amoy, Hong Kong, and Canton.\n\nThe party who style themselves\n\n[2982 r--2]\n\n\"Honourable Commissioners of American\n\nB 2\n\n490",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910.txt",
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    {
        "id": 433297,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-380 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [9-10]",
        "page_number": 282,
        "title": "CO129-380 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [9-10]",
        "content_text": "## GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HONGKONG, 12th. October, 1911.\n\nSir,\n\nI have the honour to inform you that the Canton-Kowloon Railway was opened for through traffic on the 4th. instant. I enclose a newspaper account of the opening ceremony which took place in Chinese Territory at Sham Chun. The hosts were the Authorities of the Imperial Chinese Section; and, as His Excellency the Governor-General of the Liang Kuang Provinces was unable to attend personally, I did not think it proper to be present myself in person, but deputed the Colonial Secretary to take my place. However, on the evening of the day on which the Railway was opened, I entertained the representatives of the Governor-General as well as the Engineers of both Sections of the Railway at dinner in Hong-kong and I enclose a report of the remarks which I then took occasion to make.\n\nI have the honour to be,\nSir,\nYour most obedient,\nhumble servant,\n\nGovernor, &c., &c., &c.\n\nThe Right Honourable\nLEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,\n&c., &c., &c.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-380 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1911 [9-10].txt",
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    {
        "id": 434303,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911",
        "page_number": 304,
        "title": "CO129-382 - Public Offices - 1911",
        "content_text": "## 2\n\nWith the British Government admits that China is unable to enforce in the provinces of the Empire her treaty obligations--an admission which would justify a foreign Power in herself taking steps to enforce them. The disingenuousness of his Excellency Na Tung's remark has, I believe, been exposed by a statement made later by the Wai-wu Pu in support of a proposition of their own to the effect that if the British Government would agree to it, there would be no difficulty in satisfactorily settling the Canton difficulty.\n\n## 1\n\nI submit that the way in which the Kwangtung Government has flouted alike the protests of His Majesty's Government and the orders from Peking has had a very bad and serious effect on the prestige of Great Britain in South China. Kwangtung is the only province in which this tax has been made effective, and that except on one occasion, when the French consul was away from Canton, no attempt was made to levy it on opium sold in Canton by the French house of Messrs. Sales and Co.\n\n2. The next point to which I would invite your attention is the attitude in this matter taken up by Consul-General Jamieson at Canton. Sir Edward Grey, in his despatch of the 19th September, 1910 (enclosed in yours of the 27th September, 1910), has already taken cognisance of the accusation made against him that he approved the regulations when submitted to him by the provincial Government without reference to His Majesty's Legation or to the Government of Hong Kong. But, apart from this issue, there remains the fact that the consul-general has throughout adopted views which are apparently directly antagonistic to those of his predecessors, Messrs. Scott, Mansfield, and Fox, and in opposition alike to the view taken by His Majesty's Government, the British Minister, and the Government of Hong Kong. In brief, the latter have consistently held the view, and imposed it upon the Chinese Government, that under the additional article of the Chefoo Convention no tax whatever in excess of 11 taels per chest could be levied on foreign opium in a treaty port, and that foreign opium, if covered by a transit certificate, was free from any additional tax while in transit beyond the treaty ports into the interior of China until the packages made up in bond at the treaty port were opened at the place of consumption in the interior. (Sir John Jordan's despatches of the 14th December, 1908, and 2nd January, 1909.) It follows that the Canton Government had no right whatever to interfere with raw opium destined for the interior until it reaches its place of consumption, provided it has paid its dues (110 taels). They cannot take delivery and order it to be boiled, or assume that Canton is its place of consumption. In point of fact, the Viceroy, in his telegram to Peking, states that 300 chests of it per annum goes to Kwangsi (Messrs. Sassoon can prove that the figure is 1,000). The quantity is immaterial to the argument. They illegally detain and tax the amount (whatever it is) destined for Kwangsi, and are equally ultra vires in imposing an annual restriction on the quantity. In the case of foreign-prepared opium (e.g., imported as prepared opium), it has on more than one occasion been settled by the British consul-general and the Viceroy at Canton that taxes on it can only be imposed with the sanction of the Wai-wu Pu and the consent of His Majesty's Minister at Peking (Mr. Fox, 25th August, 1909), and that any restriction by way of monopoly or impediment to free purchase, direct or indirect, in a treaty port is an infraction of the treaty.\n\nIt has been pointed out that merchants, who for half-a-century or more had been engaged in a legitimate trade, safeguarded by special treaty stipulations, were now in the position of seeing their entire trade wiped out within seven years, that they had legally accepted this decision in furtherance of the Imperial policy and in the moral interests of China, and that they were the more entitled to fair play and strict observance of their treaty rights during the few remaining years of their annually diminishing business. The consul-general, on the other hand, took the view that we have no grounds of protest unless taxation were differential (8th June, 1910), and that the tax being levied on the actual weight of prepared opium collected from the boiler, he could not reasonably interfere (8th June, 1910). He could not see his way to raise objection against the view that the Canton officials were at liberty to decide who may and who may not handle opium, and under what conditions (18th August, 1910). He does not propose to interfere with punishment of Chinese for transgressing the laws of their own country (24th August, 1910), and he has therefore declined to protest against seizures of opium owing to infraction by those who had charge of it of the established regulations, i.e., the very regulations to which His Majesty's Government has taken exception. When asked by the foreign secretary of the Viceroy to suggest a modus vivendi, he proposed an extension of the time allowed for boiling raw opium (18th August, 1910), a concession which had already been shown to be entirely worthless (despatches, 21st July, 1910, et seq.), and which is described by Mr. Max Müller (13th October, 1910). He sympathises with the Chinese complaint that \"the British Government, although they have promised their assistance, yet ask us to abstain from exercising supervision and control\" (6th October, 1910), and although, under instructions from Mr. Max Müller, he formally protested (25th June, 1910) against the regulations---\n \n(a) As imposing charges on raw opium in a treaty port additional to those sanctioned by the additional article of the Chefoo Convention.\n\n(b) As obliging purchasers to boil within three days.\n\n(c) Because the levy being in the hands of opium merchants partakes of a monopoly.\n\n(d) Because of the decennial arrangement with India.\n\nI infer that he considers these grounds to be of doubtful validity. He seems to me to fail to discriminate between the perfect right, and indeed obligation, which China has of increasing the price of native opium, and hampering its sale and consumption in every way in her power, and the equal obligation which lies upon her to observe the treaties regarding foreign opium, the total extinction of which was, as Sir John Jordan pointed out (Enclosure 6 to Sir John Jordan's despatch of the 24th June, 1909, Foreign Office prints), assured in a very limited period by the friendly action of Great Britain. He even went so far as to suggest that if China abolished native opium in a less time than that covered by the Indian agreement, she would have a strong claim to insist on the cessation of Indian imports at a date prior to the one agreed upon. In these circumstances, I submit that in a matter so vital to the financial interests of a very large and important section of this community, the views held by His Majesty's Government, and formally announced to and eventually concurred in by the Chinese Government at Peking, have found a somewhat equivocal exponent in His Majesty's consul-general at Canton.\n\n3. The third point which I desire to bring to your very special attention is the gravity of the financial aspect of this matter. Sir Henry May, in his despatch of the 5th September, 1910, states that the illegal action of the Viceroy had resulted in the accumulation of stocks in this colony valued at close on 4,000,000l., that already large losses had been incurred not only by the firms dealing in opium but by the banks and all the other industries affected by a commerce involving so large a capital. He added that a financial crisis had been narrowly averted, and still threatened the colony. I may remind you that this colony has for some years past been suffering from a very severe trade depression, aggravated by depreciation of house property due to plague, and by the falling value of silver. From this, it was gradually emerging towards the end of last year, when it has again been plunged into severe difficulties by the financial débâcle in connection with rubber at Shanghai--a port with which Hong Kong is very intimately connected in commerce and banking. It is, therefore, a moment at which the commercial houses are least able to bear a severe financial strain. Tension in the commercial prosperity of the colony is of course reflected in the revenue, and there is no necessity for me to remind you of the difficulties I have had to encounter in this regard since I came to the colony. Losses by exchange, by the redundancy of an alien subsidiary coinage, and by the measures taken for the suppression of opium divans have coincided with the very heavy cost of an unremunerative railway undertaking, and have involved new and heavy taxation.\n\nOn the other hand, the illegal taxes imposed on importations of opium into the Kwangtung province are admitted by the Viceroy to be for purposes of revenue only. In his telegram in reply to the orders of the Wai-wu Pu to withdraw the regulations, he states \"this is only a question of raising revenue, it has nothing to do with the anti-opium question\" (enclosure to despatch of the 13th September, 1910), and he goes on to show that he anticipates an increase in the revenue of his province from this source of some 4,400,000 dollars (400,000l., annually). He points out that a proposal to increase the import tax on foreign opium by 30 per cent. would not be nearly so lucrative, \"even,\" he says, \"though the sum (now paid) be doubled, the amount collected would still be smaller than the tax imposed on prepared opium,\" e.g., the present illegal tax. These large increases in the Viceroy's revenue are admittedly to be made at the expense of Hong Kong merchants--the discussion you will observe is based solely on the best means of doing so, and has, as the Viceroy says, nothing to do with opium suppression. I may add, that the Indian Government will by these measures be also involved in heavy loss, in addition to the sacrifices voluntarily made on the assumption that China would act with equal bona fides.\n\nPage 302",
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    {
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912",
        "page_number": 294,
        "title": "CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912",
        "content_text": "291\n\n40\n\nsteps are being taken to enhance this still farther by raising the rates of duty in most provinces. I may point out in this connection that every reduction in the area under poppy cultivation facilitates the increase of taxation and the check on consumption which this affords, since it also reduces the zones within which there is special risk of high taxation promoting recourse to illicit opium.\n\nThe chief difficulties we have to contend against in maintaining and developing our system are of course those arising from smuggling, but here we are in a much better position than we were a few years ago, for----\n\n(1.) We have materially added to the strength and efficiency of our preventive establishments.\n\n(2.) The progressive reduction of the area under poppy cultivation reduces our difficulties.\n\n(3.) The fact that in most parts of India licit opium must be the Bengal product materially assists the preventive staff. For Bengal and Malwa opium are readily distinguishable, and, except in Bombay, any Malwa opium found in British India must be illicit.\n\n(4.) We have induced the native States outside the Malwa area to abstain from the cultivation of the poppy and to model their excise systems upon ours where they do not fall in with ours altogether.\n\nSmuggling from the Malwa States is still a danger; but that risk will diminish with the reduction in cultivation consequent on the gradual extinction of the China trade, and through the fact that--apart from humanitarian considerations--the desire to compensate themselves for the loss of revenue formerly derived from production for China will induce the States concerned to raise their taxation on what is left, until this becomes more closely assimilated to ours. Steps have in fact been already taken to this end, as well as for placing the traffic between the various States, and from them into British India, under better control.\n\nIn short, our policy is to restrict consumption as far as possible by direct regulation and by taxation; and we have not the slightest intention of diverting production formerly destined for China to internal purposes. On the contrary, as I have shown, the nearer the China trade gets to extinction the easier it will be for us to place internal production and consumption under still more efficient control.\n\nOn behalf of India, therefore, I can give entire support to the resolution now before the conference, which sets forth the desirability of effective national laws and regulations to control the production and distribution of raw opium.\n\nAPPENDIX II.\n\nMemorandum by Sir William Meyer on the Control over the Manufacture, Sale, and Possession of Prepared Opium (Smoking Preparations) in British India.\n\nIn my previous communication on the subject of raw opium I confined myself to India proper, where consumption is almost entirely of opium eaten in that form. In the present paper I shall deal first with opium-smoking in India proper, and then with the opium problem in Burmah, where smoking is the prevalent method of consumption.\n\n2. As regards India proper, the considerations adduced in my previous paper, which have caused the Government of India to regard a certain amount of opium-eating as legitimate in present circumstances, do not apply to the smoking habit, which has never taken root in the country, and is strongly condemned by public opinion. The Indian Government have therefore endeavoured for a good many years past to reduce it to a minimum by repressive action. Thus, while some twenty years ago there were 600 shops for the sale of smoking preparations, the sale of such preparations was subsequently, and remains still, absolutely prohibited.\n\n\"Vigorous measures,\" to quote from the recent despatch of the Indian Government of which I made use in my previous paper, \"are enforced by the police and the excise preventive service for punishing infractions of the law, such as are occasionally attempted in large and cosmopolitan centres like Calcutta and Rangoon.\n\nPrivate manufacture of smoking preparations, again, is only allowed by the smoker himself or on his behalf from opium lawfully in his possession, and only to the extent of 1 tola ( oz.) at a time. The quantity of opium daily used by an opium-smoker is so large in comparison with that required by an opium-eater, and the inconvenience and difficulty involved in the repeated preparation of opium for smoking are so great, that these restrictions hardly fall short of legal prohibition. We have now, in consultation with Provincial Governments, carefully examined the question whether direct and unqualified prohibition of opium-smoking is possible, and whether measures can be devised in this direction which offer a real prospect of success. The result we have come to is the conclusion that the time is ripe for suppressing all public gatherings for the purpose of smoking opium, whether they are called saloons, clubs, or social assemblies, or by any other name whatever, and for prohibiting all manufacture of opium-smoking preparations save by an individual of a small quantity for his own private consumption. In other words, opium-smoking dens in every form are to be made illegal, and the Governments of provinces which have legislative councils are being instructed to introduce legislation with that object. For areas without legislative councils of their own, similar legislation will be introduced in the Imperial Council.\"\n\nHitherto, I may explain, the assemblage of persons for opium-smoking has not been illegal so long as the total quantity of opium used does not exceed the aggregate of 1 tola apiece, which each of the participants is entitled to possess, subject in some provinces to a maximum of 5 tolas, even though the collective number of smokers be more than five. Now any such public gathering will be per se illegal.\n\n3. \"We have also decided,\" the Government of India go on to say, \"that the maximum limit of private possession of opium-smoking preparations shall be reduced to a quantity to be determined for each province by its own Government with regard to local circumstances. The provincial authorities are fully in favour of this step; and the maximum which they suggest goes as low as 90 grains, and in some cases even 45 grains. The quantity at present allowed is already low, being 1 tola or 180 grains in all the Indian provinces except Madras, where it has just been reduced to 90 grains. It may safely be said that under Indian conditions a tola represents little more than one or two days' average dose for a smoker of low-grade chandu (smoking-stuff). It is a good deal short of the daily dose required by a habitual and confirmed smoker. When this is further reduced in the manner indicated above, the measure will have the practical effect of prohibition.\n\n\"We have arrived at these conclusions, after full deliberation, in preference to an attempt at the categorical prohibition of the smoking of opium by individuals. To declare the act in itself illegal would, we are convinced, have been impracticable, impolitic, and even dangerous. It would have been necessary for us, in the first instance, to ascertain and register all persons habituated to smoking, as China has endeavoured to do. This we believe would present serious difficulty unless we were to register opium-eaters as well--an impossibility under present conditions in India. But there are more imperative objections to the declaring of private opium-smoking an offence. If made effective, it would only lead to the increased use of other, and probably more deleterious, drugs. But to make it effective would mean domiciliary visits and the closest supervision over persons suspected of the practice. It would open the door to blackmail, espionage, and an amount of interference with the inner domestic life of the people which would be absolutely intolerable. As it is, the importance of dissociating the police from the fresh odium of opium detective work has constrained us to decide that the working of the new restrictive legislation shall be entrusted to excise officials rather than to the police. Nor do we believe that absolute prohibition would carry us appreciably further than the measures which we have decided to adopt. Opium-smoking is a social habit, and we cut at the root of it by prohibiting assemblages for the purpose of smoking. Moreover, we make prevention more effective, from the point of view of legal proof, than if we attempted to deal with the private and secret practices of individuals. It is easy to prove the fact of a certain number of individuals being found together; and if, as is proposed, the presence of opium-smoking pipes or other apparatus with or without opium-smoking preparations will be held to raise the presumption that the assembly intended to smoke opium, there will be no difficulty in enforcing the law. Solitary smokers find the private manufacture of smoking preparations so wasteful, tedious, and expensive, and, with the reduced limit of possession, they will have to resort to it so often that none but the most hardened individuals, who are in any case past hope, will consider it worth while to continue the habit.\"\n\n[373]\n\nM",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912",
        "page_number": 351,
        "title": "CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912",
        "content_text": "40\n\nsteps are being taken to enhance this still farther by raising the rates of duty in most provinces. I may point out in this connection that every reduction in the area under poppy cultivation facilitates the increase of taxation and the check on consumption which this affords, since it also reduces the zones within which there is special risk of high taxation promoting recourse to illicit opium.\n\nThe chief difficulties we have to contend against in maintaining and developing our system are of course those arising from smuggling, but here we are in a much better position than we were a few years ago,\n\nfor-\n\n(1) We have materially added to the strength and efficiency of our preventive establishments.\n\n(2) The progressive reduction of the area under poppy cultivation reduces our difficulties.\n\n(3) The fact that in most parts of India licit opium must be the Bengal product materially assists the preventive staff. For Bengal and Malwa opium are readily distinguishable, and, except in Bombay, any Malwa opium found in British India must be illicit.\n\n(4) We have induced the native States outside the Malwa area to abstain from the cultivation of the poppy and to model their excise systems upon ours where they do not fall in with ours altogether.\n\nSmuggling from the Malwa States is still a danger; but that risk will diminish with the reduction in cultivation consequent on the gradual extinction of the China trade, and through the fact that apart from humanitarian considerations-the desire to compensate themselves for the loss of revenue formerly derived from production for China will induce the States concerned to raise their taxation on what is left, until this becomes more closely assimilated to ours. Steps have in fact been already taken to this end, as well as for placing the traffic between the various States, and from them into British India, under better control.\n\nIn short, our policy is to restrict consumption as far as possible by direct regulation and by taxation; and we have not the slightest intention of diverting production formerly destined for China to internal purposes. On the contrary, as I have shown, the nearer the China trade gets to extinction the easier it will be for us to place internal production and consumption under still more efficient control.\n\nOn behalf of India, therefore, I can give entire support to the resolution now before the conference, which sets forth the desirability of effective national laws and regulations to control the production and distribution of raw opium.\n\nAppendix II.\n\nMemorandum by Sir William Meyer on the Control over the Manufacture, Sale, and Possession of Prepared Opium (Smoking Preparations) in British India.\n\nIN my previous communication on the subject of raw opium I confined myself to India proper, where consumption is almost entirely of opium eaten in that form. In the present paper I shall deal first with opium-smoking in India proper, and then with the opium problem in Burmah, where smoking is the prevalent method of consumption.\n\n2. As regards India proper, the considerations adduced in my previous paper, which have caused the Government of India to regard a certain amount of opium-eating as legitimate in present circumstances, do not apply to the smoking habit, which has never taken root in the country, and is strongly condemned by public opinion. The Indian Government have therefore endeavoured for a good many years past to reduce it to a minimum by repressive action. Thus, while some twenty years ago there were 600 shops for the sale of smoking preparations, the sale of such preparations was subsequently, and remains still, absolutely prohibited,\n\n41\n\nVigorous measures,\" to quote from the recent despatch of the Indian Government of which I made use in my previous paper, \"are enforced by the police and the excise preventive service for punishing infractions of the law, such as are occasionally attempted in large and cosmopolitan centres like Calcutta and Rangoon. Private manufacture of smoking preparations, again, is only allowed by the smoker himself or on his behalf from opium lawfully in his possession, and only to the extent of 1 tola (oz.) at a time. The quantity of opium daily used by an opium-smoker is so large in comparison with that required by an opium-eater, and the inconvenience and difficulty involved in the repeated preparation of opium for smoking are so great, that these restrictions hardly fall short of legal prohibition. We have now, in consultation with Provincial Governments, carefully examined the question whether direct and unqualified prohibition of opium-smoking is possible, and whether measures can be devised in this direction which offer a real prospect of success. The result we have come to the conclusion that the time is ripe for suppressing all public gatherings for the purpose of smoking opium, whether they are called saloons, clubs, or social assemblies, or by any other name whatever, and for prohibiting all manufacture of opium-smoking preparations save by an individual of a small quantity for his own private consumption. In other words, opium-smoking dens in every form are to be made illegal, and the Governments of provinces which have legislative councils are being instructed to introduce legislation with that object. For areas without legislative councils of their own similar legislation will be introduced in the Imperial Council.”\n\nHitherto, I may explain, the assemblage of persons for opium-smoking has not been illegal so long as the total quantity of opium used does not exceed the aggregate of 1 tola apiece, which each of the participants is entitled to possess, subject in some provinces to a maximum of 5 tolas, even though the collective number of smokers be more than five. Now any such public gathering will be per se illegal.\n\n\"that the\n\n3. \"We have also decided,\" the Government of India go on to say, \"maximum limit of private possession of opium-smoking preparations shall be reduced to a quantity to be determined for each province by its own Government with regard to local circumstances. The provincial authorities are fully in favour of this step; and the maximum which they suggest goes as low as 90 grains, and in some cases even 45 grains. The quantity at present allowed is already low, being 1 tola or 180 grains in all the Indian provinces except Madras, where it has just been reduced to 90 grains. It may safely be said that under Indian conditions a tola represents little more than one or two days' average dose for a smoker of low-grade chandu (smoking-stuff). It is a good deal short of the daily dose required by a habitual and confirmed smoker. When this is further reduced in the manner indicated above, the measure will have the practical effect of prohibition.\n\n\"We have arrived at these conclusions, after full deliberation, in preference to an attempt at the categorical prohibition of the smoking of opium by individuals. To declare the act in itself illegal would, we are convinced, have been impracticable, impolitic, and even dangerous. It would have been necessary for us, in the first instance, to ascertain and register all persons habituated to smoking, as China has endeavoured to do. This we believe would present serious difficulty unless we were to register opium-eaters as well-an impossibility under present conditions in India. But there are more imperative objections to the declaring of private opium-smoking an offence. If made effective, it would only lead to the increased use of other, and probably more deleterious, drugs. But to make it effective would mean domiciliary visits and the closest supervision over persons suspected of the practice. It would open the door to blackmail, espionage, and an amount of interference with the inner domestic life of the people which would be absolutely intolerable. As it is, the importance of dissociating the police from the fresh odium of opium detective work has constrained us to decide that the working of the new restrictive legislation shall be entrusted to excise officials rather than to the police. Nor do we believe that absolute prohibition would carry us appreciably further than the measures which we have decided to adopt. Opium-smoking is a social habit, and we cut at the root of it by prohibiting assemblages for the purpose of smoking. Moreover, we make prevention more effective, from the point of view of legal proof, than if we attempted to deal with the private and secret practices of individuals. It is easy to prove the fact of a certain number of individuals being found together; and if, as is proposed, the presence of opium-smoking pipes or other apparatus with or without opium-smoking preparations will be held to raise the presumption that the assembly intended to smoke opium, there will be no difficulty in enforcing the law. Solitary smokers find the private manufacture of smoking preparations so wasteful, tedious, and expensive, and, with the reduced limit of possession, they will have to resort to it so often that none but the most hardened individuals, who are in any case past hope, will consider it worth while to continue the habit.\"\n\n--2]\n\n[2458 -\n\n347",
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        "page_number": 455,
        "title": "CO129-396 - Public Offices - 1912",
        "content_text": "## 4\n\nFor the southern section, both the first and the third grade are in demand. The average consumption is 41 or 4'5 grammes (=6314 or 69:30 grains). As Indian opium-smoking preparations correspond mostly to the lower grade of Japanese production, the latter figure is the one that can best be used for comparison. \"In India proper the ordinary dose is not ascertainable, but the Royal Commission on Opium took the evidence of several habitual opium smokers in Burma. Two such witnesses declared their daily dose to be 3 tolas; one gave it as 2 tolas; and another said that he took $\\frac{1}{4}$ of a tola when he did little work, but 1 or 1$\\frac{1}{4}$ tola when at heavy work. It may safely be said that under Indian conditions a tola represents little more than one or two days' average dose for a smoker of low-grade chandu. It is a good deal short of the daily dose required by a habitual and confirmed smoker. When this is further reduced in the manner indicated above, the measure will have the practical effect of prohibition.\n\n## 8\n\nWe have arrived at these conclusions, after full deliberation, in preference to an attempt at the categorical prohibition of the smoking of opium by individuals. To declare the act in itself illegal would, we are convinced, have been impracticable, impolitic and even dangerous. It would have been necessary for us, in the first instance, to ascertain and register all persons habituated to smoking, as China has endeavoured to do. This we believe would present serious difficulty unless we were to register opium eaters as well, an impossibility under present conditions in India. There are more imperative objections to the declaring of private opium-smoking an offence. If made ineffective, it would only lead to the increased use of other, and probably more deleterious, drugs. But to make it effective would mean domiciliary visits and the closest supervision over persons suspected of the practice. It would open the door to blackmail, espionage, and an amount of interference with the inner domestic life of the people which would be absolutely intolerable. As it is, the importance of dissociating the police from the fresh odium of opium detective work has constrained us to decide that the working of the new restrictive legislation shall be entrusted to excise officials rather than to the police. Nor do we believe that absolute prohibition would carry us appreciably further than the measures which we have decided to adopt. Opium-smoking is a social habit, and we cut at the root of it by prohibiting all assemblages for the purpose of smoking. Moreover, we make prevention more effective, from the point of view of legal proof, than if we attempted to deal with the private and secret practices of individuals. It is easy to prove the fact of a certain number of individuals being found together; and if, as is proposed, the presence of opium smoking pipes or other apparatus with or without opium smoking preparations, be held to raise the presumption that the assembly intended to smoke opium, there will be no difficulty in enforcing the law. Solitary smokers find the private manufacture of smoking preparations so wasteful, tedious, and expensive, and, with the reduced limit of possession, they will have to resort to it so often, that none but the most hardened individuals, who are in any case past hope, will consider it worth while to continue the habit.\n\nIf the above proposals are accepted by your Lordship, we may claim to have made a substantial advance in our prohibitionist policy. We may also compare our position favourably with the licensing systems of the Far East, which generally provide facilities for obtaining manufactured smoking paste by means of a Government monopoly, do not limit by law the quantity that may be supplied to a licensed consumer, and frequently allow social smoking in divans or places provided for the purpose.\n\n## 9\n\nSo far we have been considering opium smoking with reference to India proper, excluding Burma. The case of Burma as regards opium regulation stands by itself. Historical considerations, ethnic characteristics, and local circumstances have had to be carefully weighed in the evolution of the present opium policy in Burma. When Upper Burma was annexed in 1886, the Government of India had had sufficient administrative experience of opium and its effects on Burmans in Lower Burma to warrant the application of a prohibitory policy as regards the indigenous population. This policy was supported by Buddhist public opinion, which was entirely against opium, and by the nominal prohibition of opium by the Burmese dynasty which preceded our rule. The prohibition under Burmese rule was not, however, very effective, and the native rulers, while punishing those who sold opium and liquor to Burmans, levied customs dues on all liquor and opium imported into Upper Burma. The British Government, having before it the proved injurious effect of opium on the Burmese race in Lower Burma, absolutely prohibited its sale to or possession by Burmans in Upper Burma except for medical purposes, and this prohibition still continues. The absolute prohibition of non-medical opium, whether for eating or smoking, to Burmans was extended to Lower Burma in 1893. In Lower Burma, however, a class of opium-smoking Burmese had grown up, and an exception had to be made in their favour. It was provided that all Burmans of 25 years or upwards who desired to continue the use of opium must register themselves, Burmans under 25 years of age not being eligible for registration. The system of registration was not entirely successful from the beginning, and the registers had to be revised from time to time, though of course no names were brought on the revised registers except those of Burmans who could prove their eligibility for registration in 1894. There were about 14,000 Burmans registered as opium consumers in 1891, and about 20,000 additional names registered in the years 1900-03, making a total of 34,000 names. The number of registered Burmans who purchased at the shops during 1907-08 was about 16,500 only, or less than one-half of the total number registered. Since 1907-08 there has been a decrease of 8 or 9 per cent in consequence of deaths or other causes, and there are now some 15,000 registered Burman consumers purchasing at the shops. These consumers were all 25 years of age or more in 1894, and are therefore above 42 years of age at the present day. The rate of decrease ought to be more rapid now, and the race of registered consumers will shortly die out. With their extinction, there will be absolute prohibition of opium to Burmans, except for medical purposes, in the whole of Burma.\n\nPage 451\n\n## 10\n\nThe case of non-Burmans in Burma is on a different footing. The principal non-Burman races concerned are the Chinese, who smoke opium, and the Indians, who mostly eat it in the form of pills. We have carefully considered whether the time has come for the absolute prohibition of the use of opium in any form except for strictly medical purposes for all races throughout Burma. We consulted the Government of Burma, which after a thorough enquiry has come to the conclusion that the proposal is impracticable at present. The present sources of the supply of opium to Burma are India, the trans-border provinces of China, and the difficult country of the semi-barbarous tribes, the Shans, Kachins and Wa, within the British sphere. The licit supply from India could be stopped at once, but our local officers report that the production of opium in Chinese territory just across the border of Burma has not yet been successfully stopped. There will also be difficulty in enforcing the prohibition of opium in the tribal country, and much discontent will inevitably be caused by the attempt. Unless these supplies are cut off, there will be the strongest stimulus given to smuggling, under which even the present protection given to Burmans will be rendered nugatory. There is considerable smuggling of opium already from India into Burma on account of the very high prices ruling in Burma relatively to India, and this will be enormously increased if the licit supply is cut off, unless the preventive staff is strengthened to an extent altogether beyond the resources of the provincial Government. Further, the only method by which a total prohibition against non-Burman races in Burma could be started with any hope of success would be by a system of registration similar to the registration of Burman opium consumers in Lower Burma. The non-Burmese population, however, consists of a large floating population of Indians and of Chinese from India and the Straits Settlements, who are not settled in Burma but come there as coolies, sepoys (Sikhs), merchants, clerks, domestic servants, or in pursuit of other callings. It would be impossible to introduce registration once for all among such a migratory population, and a proposal which ignored new-comers who are opium consumers would most certainly fail. The hill tribes of Northern Burma would have to be excepted in any case. And the danger of more deleterious drugs, such as morphia, cocaine, and derivatives of hemp, taking the place of opium is greater in Burma with its ease-loving population than in other provinces.",
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        "id": 445267,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913",
        "page_number": 341,
        "title": "CO129-405 - Public Offices - 1913",
        "content_text": "## Enclosure 2 in No. 1\n\n### Opium Importers at Shanghai to Consul-General Fraser\n\nShanghai, January 20, 1913.\n\nTHE magnitude of the difficulties in which the opium question in China has now become involved, will, we trust, be accepted as sufficient ground to justify us in addressing you at some length, and, as we sincerely hope, to some useful purpose upon those aspects of the situation which most materially affect our interests.\n\nIn the first place we have regretfully to represent that not only are all the usual markets for Indian opium outside the foreign settlements of Shanghai illegally closed to our trade, but also that the Chinese authorities who have done this in contemptuous disregard of the Anglo-Chinese Opium Agreement of May 1911, have now surrounded Shanghai with an impenetrable cordon of police, spies, and informers whose business it is to seize and confiscate every ounce of opium which our customers endeavour to send or convey into the country. The merchandise in question is, as we need scarcely inform you, always covered by proper transit passes, and the packages bear the usual Customs labels, professing to frank the opium through every part of China excepting provinces closed by treaty. Here, then, we have the anomalous and highly undesirable position that the same Government which collects duty on our goods in the morning seizes and confiscates these same goods in the afternoon, within a mile of the custom-house in which the impost has been paid. It is almost incredible that any Government should exhibit such a predatory disregard of the plain rights of merchants to whom, by the ready acceptance of revenue from them, it is reasonable to infer that it has guaranteed protection in their lawful trade; but, nevertheless, as you are no doubt aware, many glaring instances of the reprehensible procedure complained of have recently been put on record by us in the consulate-general, and many others of the same nature can be described, if necessary.\n\nIt must thus be apparent to the British Government that the markets for Indian opium in China have now been arbitrarily, illegally, and defiantly closed by the Chinese republican authorities, and up to the present moment all our protests, however earnest and respectful, in the matter, have entirely failed to induce the Chinese Government to fulfil its obligations, or, indeed, to treat them with aught but contemptuous and injurious repudiation. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the recent stoppage of import of Indian opium into China has not yet relieved us or helped our business in any way, or that we still find ourselves in the unenviable position of having huge stocks on our hands without a market or the prospect of a market in which to dispose of them. The situation has become absolutely impossible, and can no longer be borne by us. For more than a year we have endured the obstructions so outrageously presented by the Chinese Government to the legitimate course of our business, and have seen our interests perish by degrees until now, to put the case plainly, some of the merchants are faced with bankruptcy unless something really effectual be done without delay to relieve the situation.\n\nWe submit it merely as a possible way out of the difficulty, and we would ask that you be good enough to consider it without drawing any inference prejudicial to the rights which we now claim, and which the British Government has admitted that we hold in the general situation. We make the suggestion merely in the utter absence of any other, and we shall be most happy to withdraw it in favour of anything better in the way of a workable scheme that may be forthcoming.\n\nOur idea is that the Indian Government, in view of all that has transpired, and in common justice to us, might be induced to cease making sales of opium for all those markets outside of China, for the supply of which at present that Government holds a monopoly. During the year 1913, it was originally the intention of the Indian Government to sell 13,200 chests of opium for the markets in question, but since that decision was first announced, there has been a reduction in the amount of the proposed sales from the figure mentioned to 9,000 chests. We now suggest, quite tentatively as we have explained, that even this amount, 9,000 chests, be temporarily withheld from the markets outside of China, and that no further sales for those markets be made by the Indian Government until:\n\n(a) The British Government has been successful in inducing China to fulfil her treaty obligations and restore to us those outlets for our trade which she has improperly closed; or\n\n(b) Until our stocks are exhausted either in our customary markets or those which we now suggest should be opened to us outside of China.\n\nWe cannot, under existing arrangements, avail ourselves of these latter markets, because so long as the Indian Government continues to supply them, the prices ruling there must remain somewhere in the neighbourhood of 900 taels per chest, which, of course, is so low a rate that we cannot possibly compete with it. But if the Indian Government were to cease supplying those markets and allow us to supply them temporarily, not only would our position here be ameliorated, but the British Government would find itself relieved of the necessity of deciding what should be done with the opium now accumulated on our hands in the event of all efforts in the direction of treaty enforcement in China proving fruitless.\n\nWe quite realise that our suggestion would be likely to excite strong opposition in the markets affected, and that the Indian Government would also receive it most unfavourably owing to the loss of revenue that its acceptance would produce in India; but, on the other hand, it ought to be remembered that the Indian Government sold us this opium specifically for the China markets in accordance with the treaty of 1911, and cannot evade the moral and, we believe, legal obligation to protect us in lawfully disposing of the commodity, or, in the alternative, taking the opium off our hands. The British Government having so far refrained, in deference to considerations of a sentimental nature, from bringing effective pressure to bear upon China to compel her to fulfil her bargain, it is surely reasonable to ask that, acting upon considerations of simple justice, the British Government should now come to the assistance of those unfortunate British subjects who are being sacrificed to the first-named motive, and give them a chance of disposing of their goods in the only markets which it would now seem are likely to be available for some time to come. As to the objection which is sure to be advanced in the event of the acceptance of our suggestion that the price of opium in the markets affected will thereby be enormously enhanced, it is pertinent to state that prior to the conclusion of the agreement of 1911, the price of opium in those markets was more than double the figures at present ruling there; and that ultimately the burden of the increased cost of the drug must fall upon the consumer and the consumer only.\n\n[2806 bb-1]\n\nPage 340",
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        "id": 452036,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-418 - Public Offices & Others - 1914",
        "page_number": 394,
        "title": "CO129-418 - Public Offices & Others - 1914",
        "content_text": "## AFUT \n\n(C) Organized and held lectures and discussions on matters pertaining to Accountancy, and on legal and other subjects.\n\n(d) Established a Students' Society for training candidates for entry into the profession of Accountancy.\n\n(e) Established Libraries in London and the provinces for the use of members.\n\n(f) Compiled and published a Year Book of the Society.\n\n(g) Published a Quarterly Journal known as \"The Associated Accountants' Journal,”\n\n(h) Established a Benevolent Fund for the relief of necessitous members.\n\n(i) Organized and held meetings and social functions for the bringing together of the members for their mutual benefit and advantage and the interchange of ideas.\n\n(j) Generally aimed at advancing the interests of the profession of Accountant and rendering membership of the Association a guarantee of ability and integrity.\n\nThe membership of the Central Association, consisting at the present time of 930 members, has been secured by individual accession only, and not by the absorption of numerous small District and Foreign Societies, as is the case with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors.\n\n## (4) Scottish and Irish Societies\n\nAs the proposed Bill mentions and affects three Scottish Societies of Accountants and one Irish Society, a few observations are necessary as to the origin of these Societies and the profession of Accountancy in the countries named.\n\nSocieties of accountants were established in Scotland many years before any organization of the profession had taken place in England.\n\n(1) The first Society to be formed in Scotland, was the Institute of Accountants in Edinburgh, in the year 1853, with the object of uniting into one body persons practising accountancy in Edinburgh. Royal warrant for the incorporation of the Institute by Royal Charter, was given on the 23rd October, 1854.\n\n(2) The Institute of Accountants and Actuaries in Glasgow, was formed in 1853. Royal warrant for the incorporation of the Institute by Royal Charter, was given on the 15th March, 1855.\n\n(3) The Society of Accountants in Aberdeen was formed and incorporated by Royal Charter in the year 1867. In the year 1872, these three Societies entered into an Agreement, constituting a General Examination Board, and assimilated their rules relating to admission of members. This step practically effected the affiliation of the Chartered Accountants of Scotland, at the same time leaving each Society free to administer its own funds and manage its own internal affairs.\n\nAdmission can now only be obtained after a full term of service under Articles with a Scottish Chartered Accountant, and after attendance at certain University Law Classes. The examinations are three in number: Preliminary, Intermediate and Final.\n\nThe Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland is a small Society which was incorporated in the year 1888 with 31 members.\n\n## (5) Growth of the Profession\n\nThe growth of the profession during the past 100 years can be judged by a comparison of the number of accountants whose names appear in the London Directories during that period. It was pointed out by Sir Albert K. Rollit, in his speech as Chairman at the Annual Dinner of the Central Association of Accountants, in 1908, that the London Directory of 1799 contained the name of but one accountant, that of 1809, four accountants and that of 1822, seventy-three accountants.\n\nThere are ninety-nine accountants in Pigot & Co.'s London and Provincial Directory for 1826.\n107 in the London P.O. Directory for 1840.\n264 in 1850.\n310 in 1860.\n467 in 1870.\n757 in 1883.\n\nAnd in last year's issue, the names of upwards of 1,400 accountants appear.\n\nFifty years ago, there were but two Societies in existence in the United Kingdom with a membership of a little more than 100.\n\n## (6) Attempted Legislation\n\nFrom the year 1891 to the present time, twelve Bills (apart from the Bill under consideration), relating to the organization of accountants, have, mainly on the initiative of the Institute, been introduced into Parliament.\n\nThe following is a summary of the former Bills :—\n\n| TITLE | OBJECT |\n| --- | --- |\n| 1891 An Act to amend the law relating to Chartered Accountants. | To impose a penalty on unauthorized persons using the title of Chartered Accountant. |\n| 1892 Do. | Similar object. |\n| 1893 To regulate the profession of Accountancy, and to provide for the registration and control of persons acting as Public Accountants. | To provide for registration of all Public Accountants. |\n| 1893 To amend the law relating to Public Accountants. | Do. |\n| 1894 To amend the law relating to Accountants. | Do. |\n| 1895 To amend the law relating to Chartered Accountants. | To complete the organization of the profession of Chartered Accountants on the same lines as the profession of Solicitors, &c., and to protect the title, Chartered Accountant. |\n| 1895 To amend the law relating to Accountants. | To provide for registration of all Public Accountants. |\n| 1896 Do. | Do. |\n| 1896 To complete the organization of the profession of Accountants throughout the United Kingdom. | Do. |\n| 1897 Do. | Do. |\n| 1898 Do. | Do. |\n| 1900 To provide for the better organization of Professional Accountants. | Do. |\n\nThe whole of those Bills had practically the same object and were in effect attempts to create a monopoly for the members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, either solely or in conjunction with the members of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors. Needless to say, none of these Bills made any progress, but the persistence with which they were amended, modified and reintroduced by their promoters was worthy of a better cause.\n\n## (7) The Professional Accountants Bill, 1909\n\nTurning now to the Professional Accountants Bill, 1909, promoted jointly by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Society of Accountants and Auditors, its object (like that of its predecessors) is stated to be the organization of the profession of accountancy on the same lines as the learned professions, by establishing a register of qualified accountants in England and Wales and prohibiting any unregistered person from stating or implying that he is a Professional Accountant and undertaking accountancy business for remuneration.\n\nThe Bill provides in effect that the persons entitled to registration shall be\n\n(a) All present and future members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Society of Accountants and Auditors.\n\n(b) The members of the before-named three Scottish and one Irish Society who give notice of their intention to practise in England or Wales.\n\n(c) All persons, though not members of any Institute or Society, who were in practice in England or Wales at the passing of the Act, subject to certain reservations.\n\n(d) Any person not entitled as aforesaid who passes the examination prescribed by the Committee to be formed under the Act, and on proof to the satisfaction of the said Committee that he has served under Articles to a Professional Accountant in England or Wales for not less than five years (or in case of graduate of any University in the United Kingdom, for not less than three years), such service having been commenced before the passing of the Act.\n\nA Committee (called the Professional Accountants Register Committee) is proposed to be formed under the Bill consisting of fifteen members, nine to be appointed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and the remaining six by the Society of Accountants and Auditors. These Societies each have the right to remove any member of the Committee appointed by them and also the right in perpetuity to fill up vacancies in the ranks of the Committeemen appointed by them respectively. The Registrar proposed by the Bill is the Secretary for the time being of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and the Register is to be kept at the office of the Institute.\n\nThe Professional Accountants Committee are empowered to make rules with respect to the inspection of the register, the holding of examinations at such times and on such subjects as they may please, to determine questions relating to the qualification for admission to the register of persons other than members of the Institute and Society, to prescribe fees for examinations and registration. Specific powers are given to the Professional Accountants Committee to refuse registration in certain cases, including (inter alia) :-\n\n(1) Persons excluded or suspended for membership of the Institute or Society or any other Society mentioned in the Act.\n\n(2) Any person who is proved to the satisfaction of the Committee to have been guilty of an act or default discreditable to a Professional Accountant.\n\n(3) Any person following any business or occupation other than that of a Professional Accountant or some business which, in the opinion of the Committee, is incident thereto or consistent therewith, with certain exceptions.\n\nThe Bill contains provisions relating to correction of register, removal and restoration of names by the Committee.\n\nSection 19 prohibits persons falsely describing themselves as members of the Institute or Society, and section 20 provides that:\n\n“It shall not be lawful for any person registered as a Professional Accountant under this Act and not being a member of the Institute or the Society, to take or use any title, description or initials by letters or otherwise indicating that he is a Professional Accountant (other than the title or description of \"Professional Accountant\") unless such title, description or initials be approved by resolution of the Committee,”\n\nEver since its incorporation the Institute has put forward the untenable claim that it has the exclusive right to exist as a professional body of accountants in this country, and its desire has ever been to secure for its members a monopoly.\n\nPage 383",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-421 - Governor Sir May - 1915 [3-4]",
        "page_number": 442,
        "title": "CO129-421 - Governor Sir May - 1915 [3-4]",
        "content_text": "# Section 2\n## Article I\nThis is a matter more for the consideration of our Government, than for comment by the Committee.\n\n## Article II\nThe permission to Japanese to own, or lease, land in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia if granted can only in the end result in the \"Koreanising\" of these districts. Such permission to own, or lease, land in China is denied to the nationals of the other Treaty Powers.\n\n## Articles III and IV\nIf these concessions are made to Japanese subjects, it should be distinctly understood that other nationalities should have equal opportunity with Japanese merchants and concessionaires.\n\n## Article V\nNot only gives Japan an improper preference in a certain section of China, but directly infringes the Sovereign rights of the Republican Government.\n\n## Article VI\nHere again the Japanese demand special privileges which are contrary to Treaty.\n\n## Article VII\nThe handing over of this important branch line of railway is yet one more step towards the control of Southern Manchuria passing into the hands of the Japanese Government.\n\n## Section III\n### Articles I and II\nBy these Articles the Japanese are again demanding undue privileges, and in this instance in the centre of the Yangtze Valley, which has in the past been declared by His Majesty's Government as being the sphere of British influence. The Chinese Government are again asked to give over their rights, by agreeing not to dispose of their own property except with the permission of the Japanese.\n\nThe concluding paragraph of Article II is so vague and may be of so far-reaching a nature that the Japanese might possibly claim it prevents China from allowing a third Power to open any mine, or carry on any industry, not only in the three provinces of Hupeh, Hunan, and Kwangsi, but also in any other part of the republic.\n\n## Section IV\nThe same objection is made to the preamble of this article as has been raised to Article II of Section I.",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6]",
        "page_number": 636,
        "title": "CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6]",
        "content_text": "## CANADA AND INDIA\n\ntonomy.\" Local self-government should not be a mere sham, but based on real foundations as contemplated by that noble Viceroy, the Marquis of Ripon. The Arms Act must disappear from the statute book, and no limitation should be laid on the entry of Indians into any public service. Volunteers should be enlisted freely from all classes. Agriculture must be improved and commerce and industry helped. Education will have to be free and compulsory. I have refrained from laying down any cut-and-dry scheme of self-government. I suggest that there should be unanimity on these questions amongst all the people of India, and I can conceive of no better agency than that of a joint deputation of the Congress and the League, which would place our demands before the British public and the British Government.\n\n### SELF-GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE\n\nOne of the most important resolutions passed was that moved by Mr. Jinnah for the appointment of a Committee to formulate a scheme for self-government after conferring with other political bodies. Mr. Jinnah said that his object was that the two representative organizations, namely, the National Congress and the Muslim League, should, without the slightest prejudice to their interests and with due regard to the needs of Mussulmans, formulate a scheme and go to the authorities, those responsible for the administration of India, and say, 'Here is a demand in the united name of India.\"\n\nMr. Iaque, in seconding the resolution, said: \"It was stated that the view expressed by the National Congress was the view of all communities, minus the Mohammedans. But the Muslim League represented 70 millions of Mohammedans, and the united demand from the Congress and the League must be, according to common arithmetic, the united voice of the people of India.\"\n\nThe resolution was passed unanimously.\n\n### INDIAN SOCIAL CONFERENCE\n\nThe 29th Indian National Social Conference was held Dec. 30th in the Congress pandal, Bombay. A special feature of the session was the large number of Indian ladies present, about 1,600, and six of them were among the speakers.\n\n### INDIA'S GREATEST NEED\n\nProfessor Karve, in his Presidential address, which dealt very widely with the subject of education, said:\n\nComing now to the practical questions that are constantly knocking at our social doors for solution, I must say at the outset that to my mind the greatest need of Indian society at the present day is education. I do not know if you will all agree with me in placing education at the forefront of social questions. It may, perhaps it does, have a political aspect. But looking at it socially; want of education is the one canker that has been eating up the vitals of India. If there is injustice and wrong in society, it is because society is mostly buried deep in ignorance. Evil is the offspring of darkness, and there can be no darkness blacker than that of ignorance. No wonder if the Indian social world appeared to an outsider to be a scene of discord and division. What else can it be when that light which reduces all chaos to order is denied to it? Ninety per cent. of the population live and move and have their being without any opportunity of drinking at the living fountain of knowledge? The inner eye, with them, is never opened. Life to them is no more, no higher, than a struggle of hungry creatures, where might has a right to crush all weakness out of existence. The first thing that we ought to look to, therefore, is universal education. No re-adjustment of the social polity is possible unless every man, woman and child in the land is able at least to read, write and reckon.\n\nOn the political platform, the cause of universal elementary education was first emphatically espoused by my friend, the late Hon. Mr. G. K. Gokhale, and I hope the late patriot's efforts, backed by the unanimous voice of the country, will not fail ultimately to bear fruit. But we cannot afford to wait till the Government of the land are pleased to take up the question. We ought to bestir ourselves to supplement the endeavors of Government wherever we can.\n\nResolutions were adopted urging the abolition of the caste system, and advocating intercaste marriage, the education of girls, re-marriage of widows, raising of the marriageable age of girls to sixteen years, abolition of the purdah system, education and training of widows, elevation of the depressed classes, protection of minor girls, social purity, and condemning the system of indentured labor.\n\n### MOHAMMEDAN EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE\n\n#### FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION\n\nThe Mohammedan Educational Conference met at Poona, December 28th, in a spacious building erected for the occasion.\n\nThe president of the Reception Committee, in his opening remarks, said: \"So long as the scope of primary education is not widened, the progress of the Mohammedan community is impossible, and in order to achieve this object, it is necessary that the Government should make primary education not only free, but compulsory.\n\nOne of the most important resolutions passed by the Conference was \"That the principle of free and compulsory education should be recognized, and that as a step towards it the municipalities of the larger cities be empowered to levy an educational cess with a view to instituting free and compulsory education.\" In seconding this resolution Hon. Mr. Justice Abdur Rahim said that both Hindus and Mohammedans had impressed upon the Government the absolute necessity for this step. He instanced the State of Baroda, which had introduced free and compulsory education, and said that a beginning should be made in the larger cities in British India.\n\n### INDIAN WOMEN AND NATIONAL WEEK\n\nThe Indian National Social Conference had 1,600 ladies in attendance and six women speakers. Mrs. Sarojini Naidu was invited to speak before the Mohammedan Educational Conference, the Industrial Conference and other organizations. Fifty ladies attended the Hindu Intercaste Dinner, and let the superior West observe that these did not look down from a gallery upon the dining men, but sat down with them.\n\nThere were 750 ladies, delegates and visitors in attendance at the National Congress. A choir of Hindu, Mohammedan and Parsi girls opened the daily proceedings with singing. Mrs. Sarojini Naidu sat upon the platform, and spoke in support of the leading resolution that for self-government. A band of lady volunteers assisted in looking after the guests. In the words of an Indian reporter: \"Women acted as volunteers, women chanted the invocations before the Congress proceedings began, women attended the Congress as visitors and delegates, and women spoke with their musical voices from the Congress platform not merely on questions affecting women's interests alone, but of the Indians as a class. One's heart thrills with joy when such things happen. God's blessing on them.\"\n\n## CANADA\n\n### CANADA AND INDIA\n\nBoth Canada and India, after the war, are destined to have more important places in the Empire than they have hitherto commanded. Their loyal devotion and sacrifice at this time have won for them those higher places, and it does not require a prophetic voice to give assurance of their being called to higher duties. But if Canada and India are destined for higher places in the mother's house, they should be drawn together more intimately as children in that house, and in practical life give evidence of their relationship. We do not pretend to know all the ins and outs of the question, but we feel sure that there must be some way for dealing with the Hindu and Sikh question in Canada that will evidence brotherliness and Christian principles to a greater extent than has yet been experienced. - \"The Canadian Baptist.\"\n\n### THE SIKHS IN CANADA\n\nAlbert Ernest Stafford writes in the \"World\":\n\nThere is no reason to suppose that the Sikhs have any other object in coming to Canada than to establish themselves in an agricultural community. In a country such as Ontario, where settlers are at a premium, it might be thought they would be welcomed in the northland wastes. In British Columbia, there should be plenty of room for millions like them. The more men there are on the land, the more food there will be for the artisan and mechanic, and instead of fearing competition, the labor men should find their wages enhanced in value by the greater agricultural output. The big railways may discover the advantage of getting agricultural settlers of this highly cultivated type, and should they do so, the prairie provinces will quickly respond to the stimulus of such settlement. But the shameful problem in British Columbia at present is the refusal of the church people, the labor men, and the politicians to permit the Sikh settlers to have their wives and children brought from India. For not less than five years, and some of them for longer, these Sikh men have been separated from their families by the desire and act of our Christian community. They came over here in good faith, and invested their funds in land. Many have gone back at great loss, but 2,000 or 3,000 still remain. They are British subjects, and they are denied their rights. They are industrious and thrifty, and these virtues are regarded as crimes. They have a lofty and spiritual religion, and they are branded as heathen. And we are mightily offended when the Germans tell us that we practise hypocrisy. Our treatment of the Sikhs is one of the weak spots in our armor, and while we have no business politically to say anything to British Columbia, I am satisfied that the stronger our views are privately on the matter, the better for us as a nation. The women of India, the Sikh women and children, divorced from their husbands and fathers, challenge our caste worship. And what poem shall Sarojini Naidu write about British Columbia?\n\n### THE HINDU IN CANADA\n\nDr. Sunder Singh writes in \"The Christian Guardian\":\n\nThe people of Canada are not aware that the unrighteous and un-Christian treatment given to the Hindus in British Columbia (and especially the well-known and yet so little understood Komagata Maru episode) is really accountable for almost all the recent trouble in India about which we hear so much.\n\nIn the interests of the Empire, and Canada in particular, we should be more liberal in our desire to remove the barriers which are preventing a better understanding of India. We can do this by investigating the truth, and in the meantime discourage the exaggerated and apparently biased reports which are circulated from time to time. Let us remember how much India is rallying to the aid of the Empire's battles. This she is apparently doing without stint.\n\nWould it not be a wise thing for our ministers to investigate the truth of the British Columbia charges, with a view to bringing together the representatives of India and Canada on a fair and equitable basis after the war, and in the meantime resolve that they will remove, in the interests of morality and justice, the barrier to the families of the Hindus domiciled in Canada joining them? India has stood by us in this great war, so let us at least show a little appreciation by permitting the families of the Hindus in Canada to reach their husbands and fathers. Then the question of Oriental immigration can be dealt with, and a definite standard erected that will give the Hindus a common footing with the Japanese, Chinese, negroes, Bulgars and others. At present, gross discrimination against the Hindu appears to prevail. Surely this matter can be settled from a Christian and ethical standpoint.\n\n### THE STRONGEST OF ALL BONDS\n\n\"Canada and India,\" a journal published in Toronto, takes as its motto the words, \"The strongest of all British bonds are knowledge and sympathy.\"\n\nThese are true words, and they should be considered deeply, and applied to all our relations. What, after all, is the fundamental reason for the British unity that has been shown in this war? It is sympathy - a sense of brotherhood as between the people of Canada and the other outlying commonwealths of the British Empire and the people of the United Kingdom. We think of India too much as an abstraction. We think of India, but not enough of Indians as human beings and fellow-Britishers. In order to have a true British union, we must break down the prejudices of race and creed, and dwell only upon the common bond of humanity. Remember that the natives of India are three-fourths of the people of the British Empire. - Toronto Star.\n\n### VEDANTA SOCIETY\n\nDr. Sunder Singh lectures every Sunday afternoon in the Foresters' Hall on the religions of the East.\n\n### CANADA INDIA COMMITTEE\n\nThe Committee has been carrying on very successfully a series of drawing-room meetings in the city. About twenty have already been held, resulting in much interest and a large increase of membership.\n\nIn consequence of a fire, the Committee was obliged to remove from the room on Richmond Street to 158 Bay Street, Toronto. Information and literature may be obtained there on personal application or letter to the Secretary. Visitors and workers are always welcome.\n\n### WHAT FRIENDS MAY DO\n\nFriends interested in bringing about a better understanding between India and Canada may give time and attention to study the movement.\n\nThey may give effort in public speaking and in organizing their communities.\n\nThey may use the local press, the men's and women's clubs, young people's organizations, churches, missionary societies, or any social or literary organization to inform the public.\n\nThey may make personal effort among their acquaintances. They may write to lawmakers, asking support of bills for making just laws on this question.\n\nPage 626",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-433 - Governor Sir May - 1916 [5-6].txt",
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        "id": 482351,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-458 - Public Offices & Others - 1919",
        "page_number": 399,
        "title": "CO129-458 - Public Offices & Others - 1919",
        "content_text": "# sion of the Treaty of August 22, 1910, whereby the then Emperor of Korea purported to cede \"completely and permanently to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan all rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea\", with her then population of more than fifteen million Koreans.\n\n## THE KOREAN PROTEST\n\n5. Against this extinction of Korean sovereignty and the incorporation of their Country as a province of Japan, the Korean People and Nation have strenuously protested and do still protest.\n\n6. This protest is renewed and is strengthened daily owing to the methods applied by Japan in the administration of Korea. In ruthlessness and efficiency these methods exceed those practised by Prussia in her Eastern Provinces, in Schleswig-Holstein, in Alsace-Lorraine.\n\nNot only in name but in reality, Japan is determined to turn Korea into a Japanese province. And she is trying to do this by a pitiless attempt to extirpate the great roots of patriotism—love of the soil, language of the people and the history of the nation—and also to \"control\" the two means which might render futile this organised attempt to destroy Korean patriotism, i.e., education and wealth.\n\n## JAPANESE “CONTROL\" OF KOREAN EDUCATION AND WEALTH\n\n7. Any and every department of modern education calculated, if pursued beyond a certain point, to encourage what Count Terauchi—the Japanese proconsul who annexed Korea—calls \"dangerous thoughts\" is either forbidden or taught in an emasculated sense in the schools of Korea under Government control. And the Korean student is absolutely prohibited from going to Europe or the United States to seek a modern education even at his or her expense.\n\n8. Nearly every wealthy Korean is obliged to have a Japanese overseer at his house, controlling his properties and finances.\n\nAnd Koreans with deposits in the Banks—which are all Japanese institutions—cannot withdraw large amounts at one time without disclosing to the Banks the purpose or purposes for which the money is to be used.\n\n## JAPAN AND CHRISTIANITY\n\n9. Every effort is made by the Japanese Authorities—particularly through their police agents—to discourage and obstruct Christian missionary work in Korea which is envisaged as opposed to vital Japanese interests in the Peninsula.\n\nIs not the gravest indictment of Japan's work in Korea to be read in the fact that Christianity is seriously regarded as a force hostile to the success of the Japanese system of Government in the Country?\n\n## KOREA FOR THE JAPANESE\n\n10. The Japanese Authorities claim that \"reforms\" have been introduced into Korea. But it is well to remember that most of these reforms, valuable as they are, may be found in a well-regulated penal colony (\"The Korean Conspiracy Case: New York) and all of them have been effected or introduced at the expense of the Korean taxpayer in the interest and for the benefit of the Japanese Settler for whom the Japanese Authorities are bent on making Korea an attractive field of colonisation.\n\nA rigid spy system is inaugurated (in Korea). Everyone must be registered and is given a number, which is known to the police. Every time he leaves his village or town he must register at the police station and state fully the business he intends to transact and his destination. The policeman phones to this place and if his actions are in any way at variance with his report he is liable to arrest and mistreatment. A strict classification is kept on the basis of a man's education, influence, position, etc. As soon as a man begins to show ability or qualities of leadership he is put in class **a**, detectives are set on his trail, and from thenceforth he becomes a marked man, hounded wherever he goes. Even children are watched or bribed for information. If a man escapes the country his number is traced, his family or relatives arrested and perchance tortured until they reveal his whereabouts. A man is likely to disappear any day and perhaps not be heard of again. It is a very efficient Prussianism which thus aims to crush the spirit of a people.\n\nThis policy is carried out in the educational system by forbidding the teaching of Korean history or geography... by excluding all European history or literature..... by forbidding any Korean student to go abroad for an education; in fact, by forbidding them to leave the country............ by forbidding them to entertain or express Korean ideas or aspirations. One student was put in jail for three months and fined three hundred dollars because he was caught singing the Korean national anthem.\" From a paper recently published in the United States by J. E. Moore, an American born in Korea.\n\n## JAPAN AGAINST THE WORLD\n\n12. In addition to these reasons connected directly with the fate of the Korean People, the vital interests of the world—especially the Asiatic interests of France and the Asiatic and Pacific interests of Great Britain and the United States—demand the dis-annexation of Korea and the liberation of her People from Japan.\n\n13. In trade and commerce, Japan is gradually eliminating the Western trader and merchant in Korea and transferring to the exclusive hands of her own people trade interests which have had their origin in the series of treaties of peace and commerce concluded between Korea and the foreign Powers.\n\nIn this elimination of Western competition, Japan continues true to that instinct for exclusion which, in the past, found expression in her rigidly guarded isolation and which, to-day, expresses itself in the menacing attempt to exclude Western Influence in Far Asia through the application of a debased Monroe Doctrine for the Far East.\n\n## JAPAN'S CONTINENTAL POLICY\n\n14. It is, however, in the far-reaching political aims of Japan—realisable eventually through her continued annexation of Korea—that France as well as Great Britain and America must be vitally interested.\n\nThe danger to the non-Japanese world, including specially the three Latin and Anglo-Saxon Powers, lies in Japan's unfettered prosecution of her Continental Policy.\n\nThis policy aims, first, at the seizure of the hegemony of Asia through the Domination and Control of the Man-Power and Natural Resources of China—possible by the Japanese possession of the continental point d'appui of Korea—and, next, at the Mastery of the Pacific as the Sole Means of Securing Unrestricted Entrance for the Japanese Immigrant into Australasia and the United States.\n\n## THE POLICY IN OPERATION\n\n15. Japan's Continental Policy has already found expression—\n\n(a) in two successful wars which have made her the greatest military power in Asia in much the same way that Prussia's two wars made her the greatest military power in Europe;\n\n(b) in the annexation of Korea;\n\n(c) in the gradual substitution of Japanese for Chinese authority in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia;\n\n(d) in the attempt now being made to secure from the Peace Conference the succession of Japan to German holdings and privileges in the Chinese province of Shantung, including Kiaochow;\n\n(e) in the growing subjection of China, with her incalculable man-power and resources, to Japanese domination by and through the same set of methods which made the annexation of Korea a \"political necessity\": and\n\n(f) in the Japanese possession of the \"South Sea Islands north of the Equator\" which brings Japan nearly two thousand miles closer to Australia and gives the Japanese Navy a base which dominates, practically, the entire land-areas of the Pacific.\n\nPage 385\n\n1",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-458 - Public Offices & Others - 1919.txt",
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        "id": 489451,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921",
        "page_number": 599,
        "title": "CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921",
        "content_text": "## 2\n\nDuring July, several opium dens were reported to have been closed in Swatow by the police and military. In September, however, following the advent of Ch'en Chiung Ming into the district, a head office for the curing of the opium habit was established by the Kwangtung army at Mei-hsien, where a drug, partly composed of opium, was on sale at 7 dollars an ounce.\n\nTengyueh.\n\nNothing more has been heard on the Tengyueh side of the Mintha and other leaders of the plot to ferment trouble on the frontier last season. Although rewards of 5,000 rupees have been offered by the Burma Government for information leading to the arrest of their leaders, no clues have been forthcoming.\n\nFrom information supplied to the district superintendent of police on the 20th June last, by a youth who claimed to be the younger son of the Mintha, Saw Yan Baing, His Majesty's consul learned that there were Burmans living in Nantien, although only shortly before the Sawbwa of that region had declared that no Burmans were there.\n\nThe Taoyin continued to take the stand that the Yunnan Government cannot be held responsible for the trouble on the frontier last season, because the plot was the work of bad characters from Burma.\n\nIn spite of all representations made and promises given, the Yunnan Government has done nothing to re-establish Chinese military posts on the frontier, and, as far as preventive measures on the Chinese side are concerned, things are exactly in the same position as they were last year. Successive Taoyins and magistrates here seem to have been animated by a single motive—the desire to get rich quickly, and everything is sacrificed to their greed and rapacity.\n\nThere have been no cases of robbery, and west of Talifu, at any rate, the roads are safe for travelling and trade. East of Talifu, the brigand Yang Tien-fa continued to be the cause of much nervous apprehension to travellers until his surrender to the authorities about the end of October, since when he has been at Yunnan-fu.\n\nHankow.\n\nThe feeling of apprehension and excitement which existed during the summer months owing to the passage through the province of Chang Ching-yao's demoralised troops and to the activities of Wu Kuang-hsin has now subsided, and outwardly at least conditions have again become normal.\n\nAt one time, the situation appeared to contain all the necessary ingredients for an upheaval on a considerable scale. The south of the province was alive with bands of armed men retreating by the road and river towards Hankow, and the adherents of the Anfu Party were leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to cause a diversion in favour of their leaders in Peking. But the utter collapse of the Anfu Party effectually damped the ardour of the Northern troops in Hupeh, and the desire of the Tuchun to keep peace in the province inclined him to abstain from any drastic action against the defeated party.\n\nThroughout the Anfu-Chihli struggle, the provincial authorities displayed the greatest anxiety to ensure the safety of foreign traders. On application from His Majesty's consul-general, some scores of proclamations were posted at the agencies, both in Hupeh and Hunan, of the Asiatic Petroleum Company and the British-American Tobacco Company, and other firms doing business in the interior, ordering the troops of the local officials to afford special protection to the agencies, and specifically referring to the goods stored there as the property of foreign firms.\n\nAbout the beginning of July, the renewal of the proposal to reconstruct Hankow with the proceeds of a loan from Messrs. Samuel and Co., and the formal appointment by the Central Government of Chang Kuo-kau to take charge of the works gave rise to considerable excitement, and the local newspapers constantly published articles violently opposing the scheme, on the ground that the agreement with Messrs. Samuel and Co. had not been published. In the end, Chang Kuo-kan resigned his post of director, and but little has been heard of the scheme since.\n\nOn the 29th September last, Vice-Admiral Sir A. L. Duff arrived at Hankow with H.M.S. `Alacrity` and `Hawkins`. At the Consulate-General and at Wuchang, official luncheons were given, at which the Tuchun and Commander-in-chief were present. The British Chambers of Commerce and China Association also gave a dinner in honour of Admiral Duff, and were much gratified at the interest shown by the admiral in commercial matters.\n\n## 3\n\nCanton.\n\nWith the complete overthrow of the Anfu Party in the North, it appeared probable by the end of July that there would be an early reunion of the Chihli and Kuangsi parties, if not actually of the whole country, and locally it was felt that events in the North would effectively discourage any attempt at a demonstration by Ch'en Chiung Ming, and that the Yunnanese would prefer to make terms rather than challenge the armies of the rest of the provinces. These hopes were, however, not to be realised; war has raged since August in the province of Kwangtung, where, after his sudden descent upon Swatow, Ch'en Chiung Ming advanced slowly on Canton, held by General Mo Yung Hsin, the Tuchun, and his Kwangsi troops. Chen's progress was definitely checked at Waichow, and he might have been obliged to abandon his project had not Generals Wei Pang-ping, chief of police, and Li Fu-lin, commanding Cantonese troops at Honam, declared independence on the 27th September. At the same time, they issued a notice calling on Mo Yung Hsin to resign and return to Kwangsi forthwith, giving him three days in which to leave—a futile project, in view of the strength of the Kwangsi garrison in Canton.\n\nAt the beginning of October, as a result of representations made to both sides by the Consular Body, an armistice was agreed upon. Mo Yung Hsin expressed his willingness to retire and to return to Kwangsi with his troops, and only the question of the payment of the latter requires consideration. His demands are variously stated at from 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 dollars, a portion of such payment to be made before he resigns, and the retention of their arms and ammunition by his men.\n\nNeither party has made concessions, and there seems to be no prospect of a lasting settlement without the intervention of the Central Government.\n\nOpium has for a long time been smuggled into Kwangtung from Yunnan, and the drug is smoked openly on passenger boats and launches. When, in consequence of the split between the two Southern parties, Tang Chi-yao sent a force to watch the Kwangsi-Yunnan boundary near Pose, the Kwangsi authorities decided that a strict campaign against opium smuggling would be the most efficient weapon against this force, which depended on the trade for funds. The searching of motor-boats began to be carried out particularly carefully in August, when it became evident that the Yunnanese military authorities were pursuing a victorious career in Szechuan. Motor-launches were constantly stopped and suspected shops were raided.\n\nChungking.\n\nThe outstanding development of the quarter was the movement towards making Chungking the seat of Government of the South-West Confederacy. In connection with this, General Li Lieh-chun, Chief of Staff of the Military Government, arrived in the city on the 6th September for the purpose of setting up general headquarters; the most direct result of his visit was the production of dissension between the Kweichow and Yunnan commands. Towards the end of September, the members of the old Canton Parliament arrived; their stay proved, however, a short one, and as the Parliament never entered on its functions in the city, Chungking's elevation to metropolitan rank was brief and inglorious.\n\nThe conduct of the Kweichow troops was a source of complaint throughout the quarter, and on more than one occasion, newly arrived bodies made their presence felt by wholesale theft and commandeering of foreign junks. In every case, however, His Majesty's consul's representations to their commander-in-chief, General Wang Wen-hua, were successful, and the stolen property was restored to the rightful owners.\n\nA singular feature of the quarter was the number of preventive arrests made by the local Kweichow commandant, who laid hands on all persons suspected of sympathy with Hsiung K'o-wu's cause. The majority of these \"suspects\" were released on security after one night's incarceration, which, as described by one of their number, must have rivalled the Black Hole of Calcutta.\n\nAs a result of representations made to His Majesty's consul and his colleagues by the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs in connection with the storage in foreign premises of Chinese goods, a circular was sent to all British missionaries in the district requesting them to afford protection to women and children only or to people with whom they were personally acquainted.\n\nAt no time under any sort of control in this province, brigandage has during the recent hostilities become so great a pest that junk traffic between Chungking and ... \n\nPage 6047 α-6  \nB 2  \n596",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7]",
        "page_number": 45,
        "title": "CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7]",
        "content_text": "March 25th, 1922.]\n\nCHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT\n\nHONGKONG FIRE INSURANCE CO. FAR\n\nThe report of the General Managers and Consulting Committee to the Shareholders reads as follows:-\n\nWorking Account, 1920.-This account shows a surplus of $534,307.02.\n\nReinsurance Fund-It is proposed to appropriate £38,014.13.2, at exchange 2/7=$294,307.02, out of the profits of the year 1920 to the credit of this Fund. The Fund will then stand at £170,861.0.11.\n\nDividend. The General Managers and Consulting Committee have pleasure in recommending a dividend of $30 per share absorbing $240,000.\n\nEASTERN NEWS.\n\nCABLE FROM REUTER'S AGENCY.]\n\nHONGKONG'S ELECTORAL REFORM PETITION PRESENTED TO COMMONS.\n\nLONDON, March 22nd. In the House of Commons, Colonel John Ward presented a petition by the British inhabitants of Hongkong for the substitution of popular election for Government nomination of non-Chinese members of the Council and for the adoption of a larger electoral body thereanent.\n\nTHE \"MUI TSAI\" SYSTEM TO BE ABOLISHED IN HONGKONG.\n\nWorking Account, 1921.-The balance at credit of this Account is $101,039.11.\n\nConsulting Committee. The General Managers regret to have to record the death of Mr. Francis Maitland who has been actively interested in this Company since 1897 in the capacity of a member of the Consulting Committee.\n\nThe Hon. Sir Paul Chater, C.M.G., Sir Robert Ho Tung, Messrs. A. M. Bowes-Smith, E. J. Chapman, T. E. Pearce, H. P. White retire but, being eligible, offer themselves for re-election.\n\nGULA-KALUMPONG RUBBER ESTATES, LTD.\n\nMessrs. Lowe, Bingham & Matthews advise us that the annual general meeting of the Gula-Kalumpong Rubber Estates, Ltd., will be held in London on April 4th, the Share Register being closed from March 24th to April 4th, both days inclusive. The balance at credit of profit and loss account is £53,673.15s., from which the following dividends payable on and after April 11th to all shareholders registered on April 4th and bearer share coupons, subject to confirmation at the annual meeting, have been allocated: Fully paid-up shares, 1/6d.; partly-paid shares, 4¾d. less income-tax at the rate of 6s. in the pound. It is proposed to place at reserve fund £7,176.3s.4d. and carry forward £49,406.2s.5d. Forward sales of rubber for 1922 are 145 tons at 2/8d. The board of directors do not intend making a call on partly-paid shares during 1922.\n\nNANYANG TOBACCO CO.\n\nThe net profits of the Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Co. last year were $4,041,778.83, of which, according to the articles of incorporation, 5 per cent., namely $206,088.94, must be placed to the reserve fund. The fixed rate of interest on the shareholders' capital is 8 per cent. This equals $1,200,000.\n\nIn addition to this reserve fund and interest 30 per cent. will be placed to the special reserve fund, i.e., $791,906.97. The directors have decided to allow on each share a dividend of eight per cent, the total being $1,200,000. This together with the interest referred to above gives the shareholders 16 per cent. on their money.\n\nTHOMAS HARDY'S SECRET.\n\nCHANGE TO BE CARRIED OUT WITHIN A YEAR.\n\nLONDON, March 22nd.\n\n29\n\nBRITONS IN CHINA. A STATEMENT IN PARLIAMENT.\n\n318\n\nLONDON, March 31st.\n\nIn the House of Commons, replying to Mr. Lestrange Malone, Mr. Harmsworth said the number of British officials paid by the British Government on Foreign Office vote (Diplomatic, Consular and Commercial Diplomatic Services) and employed in China was 106. No British officials on the Foreign Office active service list were employed in the service of the Chinese Government or paid by the Government. A number of British subjects were employed and paid by the Chinese Government in the Customs, Salt, and other Departments but the details were not available.\n\nBANQUE INDUSTRIELLE.\n\nMINISTERIAL DECREE AGAINST M. PHILIPPE BERTHELOT.\n\nPARIS, March 16th. A Ministerial decree places M. Philippe Berthelot on the retired list for ten years.\n\nASSOCIATED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE OF KWANGTUNG AN INAUGURAL MEETING.\n\nCANTON, March 20th. An Association of the Chambers of Commerce of Kwangtung was inaugurated at Canton. The ceremony was attended by over 500 prominent men including officials, merchants, and labour leaders. Among those present were Major Sun Fo; Che Chih, Chief Secretary to President Sun; Dr. Jamieson, British Consul-General; Mr. A. H. Harris, Commissioner of Customs, Messrs. Tso Ying-pak, Fung Chih-yau, Tang Tseh-yu, Che Leung-mu, and others.\n\nMr. Woon, President of the Association, occupied the chair. A message of congratulation was read from Governor Chen Chiung-ming, and numerous congratulatory speeches were delivered.\n\nIn the House of Commons, replying to a question, Mr. Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, announced that the Governor of Hongkong had reported that his Government, in consultation with the Society (Societies?) for the protection and abolition of mui-tsai, would draw up a scheme for the abolition of the system.---- (Cheers.) This would take time. Meanwhile, Mr. Churchill said he had directed the issue of a Proclamation stating that the status of mui-tsai, as existing in China, would not be recognised in Hongkong in future. Particularly, no commission for girls over twelve to leave their homes would be allowed.\n\nDr. JAMIESON, H.M.'s Consul-General, delivered a speech which was interpreted into Chinese. He dwelt upon the mutual interests of Hongkong and Canton and expressed a hope that the Association would undertake to get rid of certain old practices which were obstacles to the prosperity of business in the province.\n\nMr. HARRIS, Commissioner of Customs, addressed the gathering in Mandarin.\n\nMr. CHE CHIH, President Sun's Chief Secretary, pointed out that some of the existing Chambers of Commerce in China were not established for all merchants but for the more wealthy ones—not for the purpose of promoting commerce and industry, but for the social purposes of a few.\n\nMr. Che recommended to the officers of the Association that this organization must be made democratic so that every merchant throughout the province could have the same privilege of membership.\n\nGeneral HSU SHAO-CHING said that the Association was proposed by President Sun Yat-sen at a banquet given to the prominent merchants of the city and the President is expecting that the one in Kwangtung will set a good example so that a similar merchants' institute will be organized in other provinces when the country is unified.\n\nMayor SUN FO said there should be no division of the classes in regard to labour and capital in China. The Association of Chambers of Commerce will not only co-operate in the development of industries but encourage good feelings between businessmen and workers.\n\n[In connection with this subject the following paragraph from yesterday's Canton Times is of interest:-\n\nThe mui-tsai system was recently abolished by a Presidential proclamation, but the future occupation of the newly-freed girls has now become one of the vital questions engaging considerable attention from the women of Canton, who propose to organize as many industrial institutions as possible in which to place these \"fortunates\" and give them the necessary vocational education to enable them to earn an independent living after they have secured their freedom. Many public-spirited citizens who advocated the abolition of slave girls are in favour of the proposition, and now advocate the immediate establishment of such institutions. The necessary funds may be donated by the Government and raised from the public. Concerning the campaign of raising funds, regulations have been drawn up to be submitted to the Government for approval.”\n\n\"HONGKONG'S CHILD SLAVES.”\n\nLONDON, March 22nd.\n\nThe Daily News is gratified at the news that \"the Child Slaves in Hongkong\" are to be freed. It congratulates Mr. Churchill on the characteristic thoroughness of his announcement and the prudent measures taken to ensure the drawing up of a practical scheme for the future welfare of the liberated children.\n\nIt was seven years since Mr. Henry Arthur Jones had produced a play in London, said Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in proposing the health of the distinguished dramatist at a dinner in his honour at the Authors' Club. There was something amiss in that, continued Sir Arthur, because he had actually during that time produced then elsewhere. I hope we are not going to have another tragedy like that of Mr. Thomas Hardy,\" he added. \"For reasons which have never been clear to me, but which I believe are partially due to criticism he resented, he ceased to write the finest series of novels brought out in our generation.”",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-475 - Governor Sir Stubbs & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1922 [5-7].txt",
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        "id": 494486,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "page_number": 31,
        "title": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "therefore, decided to erect a new and modern factory, for the preparation and packing of opium tubes, following the system adopted in the Netherlands Indies. Tenders were called for and the machinery ordered in the year 1910.\n\n14. In December 1911 and January 1912, the first International Opium Conference was held at the Hague. Siam was represented and was one of the countries signatory to the Convention concluded at the Conference. (See Annexe III for Statement of Delegation).\n\n15. In 1912, the new Opium factory was commenced and the machinery erected, and in April 1913, (commencement of Buddhist year 2456) opium was retailed in tubes in the city of Bangkok. There was considerable prejudice, to begin with, against the new method of packing; for this reason the sale of opium in this form was confined to Bangkok for the first year. But in B.E. 2457 (1914-15) opium in tubes was supplied to all the inner Provinces and in B.E. 2458 (1915-16) throughout the kingdom.\n\n16. During this transitory period, opium was still sold through sub-Farmers, the person undertaking to dispose of the largest quantity in any district being appointed sub-Farmer. As, however, this method was inconsistent with the policy of reducing consumption, the system was adopted, from B.E. 2458 (1915-16), of fixing the quantity of opium to be sold in each district, and of appointing as sub-Farmer, the person bidding the highest sum for the sale of the assessed quantity. It was intended to decrease the assessment year by year, but the quantities fixed were necessarily not always correct and in conformity with the real consumption, and towards the end of B.E. 2460 (1917-18) this method was altogether upset by outside causes, as explained below.\n\n17. At the second Conference at the Hague Siam deposited her ratification of the Convention of 1912.\n\n18. In the meantime, negotiations between Great Britain and China had resulted in the former agreeing to lessen the production of raw opium in British India in consonance with the measure taken by China to reduce the cultivation of the opium poppy. A given number of chests of opium were, accordingly, \"certified\" for import into China, and it was declared that the number of certified chests would be decreased by 10% annually, so that at the end of 10 years, the import of raw opium into China from India would cease. China, on her part, took vigorous measures to suppress the cultivation of the opium poppy within her borders, and in 1912 she declared that it had been entirely stopped. Consequent upon a report from the British Opium Commissioner confirming this declaration, the Government of India, in 1913, ceased to put up for auction any further number of \"certified chests\", and raw Indian opium could thenceforth only enter China as illicit opium.\n\n19. The stocks of Indian opium in China naturally began to get exhausted, and an increasing demand, at high prices, arose for opium from other countries. The drug as prepared by this Government for sale, is of a high quality, and the sub-Farmers could not resist the temptation of increasing their profits by surreptitiously disposing of some of their assessed quantity (see para 16) for export to China. The natural consequence was that the balance available for sale in this country was insufficient, and as it would have caused great hardship to persons addicted to the drug to be deprived of their usual dose, the Government was compelled to increase the fixed quantities. The opium exported to China was, of course, smuggled out, and it is hardly necessary to say that the detection of outward smuggling is as difficult as that of opium being smuggled in. The Government fully realised its obligation under the Hague Convention and did its best to stop the practice. The old opium Laws, however, made no provision for the prohibition of export of Government opium, and convictions in the Courts could not be obtained. Nevertheless, many cases of exports were detected and stopped by the Customs authorities. (See table II, Annexe IV).\n\n20. In the meantime, although the European War had necessarily caused opium to cease to figure as an international question, the Government had not been idle in pursuing its policy of gradual suppression, and had taken the next step indicated, viz., that of discontinuing the farming system of sale entirely. The new arrangement came into operation in B.E. 2461 (1918-19), when the sub-Farmers ceased to exist, their places being taken by the Revenue Officials in every Amphor (District Officer), and increases in staff being made where necessary. This additional staff, covering the whole kingdom, involved a...\n\n4\n\n5\n\n28",
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        "title": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "# ANNEXE VII. (Cont.)\n\n## TABLE II.\n\nSHOWING NUMBER OF SMOKERS HOLDING \"SPECIAL LICENSES\" (HOME SMOKERS) IN THE YEAR 2462 (1919-20).\n\n# ANNEXE VIII.\n\n## TABLE SHOWING TOTAL REVENUE FROM ALL SOURCES, REVENUE FROM OPIUM, AND QUANTITIES OF OPIUM SOLD, FROM 1901-02 TO 1919-20.\n\n  \n    Year\n    Total Revenue\n    Revenue from opium\n    Percentage of opium revenue to total revenue\n    Number of tamlungs sold\n    Ticals to the consumer in ticals per tamlung. Vide Note 1 below\n    Remarks\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2444 (1901-02)\n    36,157,963\n    5,072,705.00\n    14.02\n    \n    \n    Farming system.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2445 (1902-03)\n    39,152,125\n    7,080,637.00\n    18.08\n    \n    \n    do.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2446 (1903-04)\n    43,458,817\n    6,972,780.10\n    16.04\n    \n    \n    do.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2447 (1904-05)\n    46,046,104\n    6,409,003.00\n    13.90\n    \n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2448 (1905-06)\n    51,657,539\n    10,260,961.00\n    19.86\n    7,693,669.37\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2449 (1906-07)\n    57,014,805\n    8,863,386.32\n    15.55\n    \n    75\n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2450 (1907-08)\n    55,826,532\n    9,662,532.00\n    17.29\n    1,609,871\n    \n    do. Vide also Note 2 below.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2451 (1908-09)\n    60,859,508\n    14,514,453.04\n    23.95\n    2,102,774\n    \n    Vide Note 3 below.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2452 (1909-10)\n    62,679,401\n    11,253,950.49\n    17.95\n    2,076,797\n    \n    In this and the previous year the Province of Puket was still farmed.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2453 (1910-11)\n    63,509,181\n    11,517,213.06\n    18.14\n    1,794,561\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2454 (1911-12)\n    61,493,918\n    11,697,473.48\n    19.02\n    1,884,735\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2455 (1912-13)\n    66,877,377\n    14,162,728.50\n    21.18\n    1,981,155\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2456 (1913-14)\n    74,399,682\n    14,942,798.64\n    20.09\n    2,037,906\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2457 (1914-15)\n    73,903,669\n    16,190,101.17\n    21.91\n    1,907,102\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2458 (1915-16)\n    77,298,015\n    16,500,227.02\n    21.42\n    \n    8\n    The whole country under Government control from this year onwards. Vide Note 4 below.\n  \n  \n    B.E. 2459 (1916-17)\n    82,911,149\n    19,342,187.83\n    \n    \n    10\n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2460 (1917-18)\n    86,494,066\n    21,179,720.78\n    \n    1,813,944\n    12\n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2461 (1918-19)\n    93,109,470\n    \n    \n    1,905,733\n    13\n    \n  \n  \n    B.E. 2462 (1919-20)\n    96,066,931\n    \n    \n    2,046,120\n    15\n    Sub-Farmers eliminated from this year.\n  \n\n  \n    Province\n    Holders of Special Smoking Licenses\n    Total number\n    Class I\n    Class II\n  \n  \n    Krung Thep\n    \n    593\n    16\n    \n  \n  \n    Ayuthia\n    \n    233\n    29\n    \n  \n  \n    Rajburi\n    \n    \n    \n    \n  \n  \n    Nakorn Chaisri\n    \n    65\n    2\n    \n  \n  \n    Nakorn Saw\n    \n    \n    \n    \n  \n  \n    Pitsanuloke\n    \n    132\n    15\n    85\n  \n  \n    Nakorn Rajasima\n    \n    30\n    9\n    \n  \n  \n    Prachinburi\n    \n    109\n    \n    88\n  \n  \n    Suret\n    \n    67\n    30\n    \n  \n  \n    Nakorn Pritamarat\n    \n    23\n    4\n    \n  \n  \n    Patani\n    \n    97\n    \n    \n  \n  \n    Udorn\n    \n    158\n    178\n    \n  \n  \n    Ubon\n    \n    92\n    220\n    \n  \n  \n    Roi Et\n    \n    168\n    212\n    \n  \n  \n    Maharat\n    \n    52\n    269\n    \n  \n  \n    Bayap\n    \n    20\n    112\n    \n  \n  \n    Puket\n    \n    674\n    244\n    \n  \n  \n    Chantaburi\n    \n    57\n    6\n    \n  \n\nNOTE 1. The price of opium to the consumer is that current in the Inner Provinces, where the greater portion of consumption takes place. The outer and Coast Provinces have slightly lower rates.\n\nNOTE 2. The increase of revenue was due to competition among the bidders, resulting in the collapse of the Farm in the following year, as explained in para. 10 of the Memorandum.\n\nNOTE 3. The farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907.\n\nNOTE 4. In this year (the first one in which Government control was exercised throughout the country), the system was adopted of including the cost of the raw opium on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the account. Thus the total revenue of the year and the revenue from opium, both included the sum of Tcs. 1,785,042, the cost of the raw drug. In subsequent years, in order to avoid undue inflation of the accounts (and also fluctuations due to variations in the price of raw opium), the amount spent on the latter was deducted from the expenditure as well as the receipt side--the opium revenue thus being shown net, except for actual administrative expenses. If this sum of Tcs. 1,785,042 be deducted from columns 2 and 3, the resulting net figures will be Tcs. 59,074,466 and Tcs. 12,729,412, respectively and the percentage of opium revenue will be 21.5.\n\nNOTE. For difference between Class I and II, vide Ministerial Regulations. Clause 3. It will be seen that the total number of home smokers represents only about 2% of the total estimated number of smokers viz., 200,000.",
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        "title": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "therefore, decided to erect a new and modern factory, for the preparation and packing of opium tubes, following the system adopted in the Netherlands Indies. Tenders were called for and the machinery ordered in the year 1910.\n\n14. In December 1911 and January 1912, the first International Opium Conference was held at the Hague. Siam was represented and was one of the countries signatory to the Convention concluded at the Conference.\n\n{ See Annexe III for Statement of Delegation ).\n\n15. In 1912, the new Opium factory was commenced and the machinery erected, and in April 1912, (commencement of Buddhist year 2456) opium was retailed in tubes in the city of Bangkok. There was considerable prejudice, to begin with, against the new method of packing; for this reason the sale of opium in this form was confined to Bangkok for the first year. But in B. E. 2457 (1914-15) opium in tubes was supplied to all the inner Provinces and in B. E. 2458 (1915-16) throughout the kingdom.\n\n16. During this transitory period, opium was still sold through sub-Farmers, the person undertaking to dispose of the largest quantity in any district being appointed sub-Farmer. As, however, this method was inconsistent with the policy of reducing consumption, the system was adopted, from B. E. 2458 (1915-16), of fixing the quantity of opium to be sold in each district, and of appointing as sub-Farmer, the person bidding the highest sum for the sale of the assessed quantity. It was intended to decrease the assessment year by year, but the quantities fixed were necessarily not always correct and in conformity with the real consumption, and towards the end of B. E. 2460 (1917-18) this method was altogether upset by outside causes, as explained below.\n\n17. At the second Conference at the Hague Siam deposited her ratification of the Convention of 1912.\n\n18. In the meantime, negotiations between Great Britain and China had resulted in the former agreeing to lessen the production of raw opium in British India in consonance with the measure taken by China to reduce the cultivation of the opium poppy. A given number of chests of opium were, accordingly, \"certified for import into China, and it was declared that the number of certified chests would be decreased by 10% annually, so that at the end of 10 years, the import of raw opium into China from India would cease. China, on her part, took vigorous measures to suppress the cultivation of the opium poppy within her borders, and in 1912 she declared that it had been entirely stopped. Consequent upon a report from the British Opium Commissioner confirming this declaration, the Government of India, in 1913, ceased to put up for auction any further number of \"certified\" chests, and raw Indian opium could thenceforth only enter China as illicit opium.\n\n19. The stocks of Indian opium in China naturally began to get exhausted, and an increasing demand, at high prices, arose for opium from other countries. The drug as prepared by this Government for sale, is of a high quality, and the sub-Farmers could not resist the temptation of increasing their profits by surreptitiously disposing of some of their assessed quantity (see para 16.) for export to China. The natural consequence was that the balance available for sale in this country was insufficient, and as it would have caused great hardship to persons addicted to the drug to be deprived of their usual dose, the Government was compelled to increase the fixed quantities, The opium exported to China was, of course, smuggled out, and it is hardly necessary to say that the detection of outward smuggling is as difficult as that of opium being smuggled in The Government fully realised its obligation under the Hague Convention and did its best to stop the practice. The old opium Laws, however, made no provision for the prohibition of export of Government opium, and convictions in the Courts could not be obtained. Nevertheless, many cases of exports were detected and stopped by the Customs authorities. (See table II. Annexe IV.)\n\n20. In the meantime, although the European War had necessarily caused opium to cease to figure as an international question, the Government had not been idle in pursuing its policy of gradual suppression, and had taken the next step indicated, viz., that of discontinuing the farming system of sale entirely. The new arrangement came into operation in B. E. 2461 (1918-19), when the sub-Farmers ceased to exist—their places being taken by the Revenue Officials in every Amphur (District Officer), and increases in staff being made where necessary. This additional staff, covering the whole kingdom, involved\n\n4\n\n85",
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        "title": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "22\n\nANNEXE VII. (Cont.)\n\nTABLE II.\n\nSHOWING NUMBER OF SMOKERS HOLDING \"SPECIAL MORSES\" (HOME SMOKERS) IN THE YEAR 2469 (1919-20).\n\nANNEXE VIII.\n\nTABLE SHOWING TOTAL REVENUE FROM ALL SOURCES, REVENUE FROM OPIUM, AND QUANTITIES OF OPIUM SOLD, FROM 1901-02 TO 1919-20.\n\nYear\nTotal Revenue\nRevenue from opium\nPercentage of opium revenue to total revenue\nNumber of Holders of Special \"Smoking Licenses\"\nRemarks\n\nProvince\n\nTotal number | Class I | Class II\n\nKrung Deb\n\n590 | 46 |\n\nAyuthia\n\n233 | 29 |\n\nRajburi\n\n75 | 5 |\n\nNakorn Chaisri\n\n65 | 2 |\n\nNakorn Sawan\n\n21 |\n\nPitsanuloke\n\n132 | 85 | H\n\nNakorn Rajasima\n\n39 | 9 |\n\nPrachinburi\n\n109 | 88 |\n\nSucat\n\n67 | 36 |\n\nNakorn Sritamarad\n\n23 | 4 |\n\nPatani\n\n97 | 7 |\n\nUdorn\n\n158 | +. 178 |\n\nUbon\n\n92 | 220 |\n\nRoi Ech\n\n168 | 212 |\n\nMaharat\n\n52 | 269 |\n\nBayap\n\n20 | 112 |\n\nPuket\n\n574 | 244 |\n\nChantaburi\n\n57 | 6 |\n\nB.E. 2444 (1901-02)\nTicals 36,157,963\n5,072,705.00\n14.02\n\nFarming system.\n\nB.E. 2445 (1902-03)\n39,152,125\n7,080,637.00\n18.08\n\ndo.\n\nB.E. 2446 (1903-04)\n43,458,817\n6,972,780.10\n16.04\n\ndo.\n\nB.E. 2447 (1904-05)\n46,046,404\n6,403,008.00\n13.90\n2,571\n\nB.E. 2448 (1905-06)\n51,657,539\n10,260,961.00\n19.86\n1,552\n\nB.E. 2449 (1906-07)\n57,014,805\n7,693,669.37\n15.55\n4,123\n\nB.E. 2450 (1907-08)\n55,826,532\n9,652,532.00\n17.29\n\nVide Note 3 below.\n\nB.E. 2451 (1908-09)\n60,859,508\n14,514,453.04\n23.85\n\nB.E. 2452 (1909-10)\n62,679,401\n11,253,950.49\n17.95\n\nB.E. 2453 (1910-11)\n63,509,181\n11,517,213.06\n\nB.E. 2464 (1911-12)\n61,493,9.8\n11,697,473.48\n\nB.E. 2455 (1912-13)\n66,877,377\n14,162.728.50\n21.15\n\nB.E. 2456 (1913-14)\n74,399,682\n14,942,798.64\n20.09\n\nB.E. 2457 (1914-15)\n73,903,669\n16,190.101.17\n21.01\n\nB.E. 2458 (1915-16)\n77,298,015\n16,560,227.02\n21.12\n\nB.E. 2460 (1917-18)\n82,911,149\n\nB.E. 2461 (1918-19)\n86,494,066\n19,342,187.89\n23.33\n\nB.E. 2462 (1919-20)\n93,109,470\n21,179,720.78\n24.49\n\nB.E. 2462 (1919-20)\n96,066,931\n21,444,478.00\n22.93\n\n23,221,569.38\n24.17\n\nNOTE. For difference between Class I and II, vide Ministerial Regulations, Clause 3. It will be seen that the total number of home smokers represents only about 3% of the total estimated number of smokers viz., 200,000.\n\nNOTE 1.\n\nThe price of opium to the consumer is that current in the Inner Provinces, where the greater portion of consumption takes place. The outer and Coast Provinces have slightly lower rates.\n\nNOTE 2.\n\nThe increase of revenue was due to competition among the bidders, resulting in the collapse of the Farm in the following year, as explained in para. 10 of the Memorandum.\n\nNOTE 3.\n\nThe farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907. The two figures in column 8 thus represent the revenue paid by the farmer, and collected by the Government, respectively. In this year (the first one in which Government control was exercised throughout the country), the system was adopted of including the cost of the raw opium on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the account. Thus the total revenue of the year and the revenue from opium, both included the sum of Tcs. 1,785,042, the cost of the raw drug. In subsequent years, in order to avoid undue inflation of the accounts (and also fluctuations due to variations in the price of raw opium), the amount spent on the latter was deducted from the expenditure as well as the receipt side - the opium revenue thus being shown net, except for actual administrative expenses. If this sum of Tcs. 1,785,042 be deducted from columns 2 and 3, the resulting net figures will be Tcs. 59,074,406 and Tcs. 12,729,412, respectively, and the percentage of opium revenue will be 21.5.\n\nNOTE 4.\n\nIn this and the previous year, the Province of Puket was still farmed. The whole country under Government control from this year onwards.\n\nPrice to the consumer in ticals per tarlungs mmlung. Vide\n\n265,061 1,609,871\n\n8 | 30.00\n\n8 |\n\n2,102,774\n\n2,076,797\n\nB | 18.14 | 1,794,561\n\n10 | 19.02 | 1,884,735\n\n10 |\n\n1,981,155\n\n11 |\n\n2,037,006\n\n12 | do.\n\ndo.\n\ndo. Vide also Note 2 below.\n\nVide Note 3 below.\n\n1,907,102\n\n12 |\n\n1,813.944\n\n13 |\n\n1,905,733\n\n13 |\n\n2,046,120\n\n15 |\n\n1,859,886 1,900,831\n\n15 | 15 | Sub-Farmers eliminated from this year,\n\n35",
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        "title": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "therefore, decided to erect a new and modern factory, for the preparation and packing of opium tubes, following the system adopted in the Netherlands Indies. Tenders were called for and the machinery ordered in the year 1910.\n\n14. In December 1911 and January 1912, the first International Opium Conference was held at the Hague. Siam was represented and was one of the (See countries signatory to the Convention concluded at the Conference. Annexe III for Statement of Delegation).\n\n15. In 1912, the new Opium factory was commenced and the machinery erected, and in April 1913, (commencement of Buddhist year 2456) opium was retailed in tubes in the city of Bangkok. There was considerable prejudice, to begin with, against the new method of packing; for this reason the sale of opium in this form was confined to Bangkok for the first year. But in B.E. 2457 (1914-15) opium in tubes was supplied to all the inner Provinces and in B.E. 2458 (1915-16) throughout the kingdom.\n\n16. During this transitory period, opium was still sold through sub-Farmers, the person undertaking to dispose of the largest quantity in any district being appointed sub-Farmer. As, however, this method was inconsistent with the policy of reducing consumption, the system was adopted, from B.E. 2458 (1915-16), of fixing the quantity of opium to be sold in each district, and of appointing as sub-Farmer, the person bidding the highest sum for the sale of the assessed quantity. It was intended to decrease the assessment year by year, but the quantities fixed were necessarily not always correct and in conformity with the real consumption, and towards the end of B.E. 2460 (1917-18) this method was altogether upset by outside causes, as explained below.\n\n17. At the second Conference at the Hague Siam deposited her ratification of the Convention of 1912.\n\n18. In the meantime, negotiations between Great Britain and China had resulted in the former agreeing to lessen the production of raw opium in British India in consonance with the measure taken by China to reduce the cultivation of the opium poppy. A given number of chests of opium were, accordingly, \"certified\" for import into China, and it was declared that the number of certified chests would be decreased by 10% annually, so that at the end of 10 years, the import of raw opium into China from India would cease. China, on her part, took vigorous measures to suppress the cultivation of the opium poppy within her borders, and in 1912 she declared that it had been entirely stopped. Consequent upon a report from the British Opium Commissioner confirming this declaration, the Government of India, in 1913, ceased to put up for auction any further number of \"certified\" chests, and raw Indian opium could thenceforth only enter China as illicit opium.\n\n19. The stocks of Indian opium in China naturally began to get exhausted, and an increasing demand, at high prices, arose for opium from other countries. The drug as prepared by this Government for sale, is of a high quality, and the sub-Farmers could not resist the temptation of increasing their profits by surreptitiously disposing of some of their assessed quantity (see para 16) for export to China. The natural consequence was that the balance available for sale in this country was insufficient, and as it would have caused great hardship to persons addicted to the drug to be deprived of their usual dose, the Government was compelled to increase the fixed quantities. The opium exported to China was, of course, smuggled out, and it is hardly necessary to say that the detection of outward smuggling is as difficult as that of opium being smuggled in. The Government fully realised its obligation under the Hague Convention and did its best to stop the practice. The old opium Laws, however, made no provision for the prohibition of export of Government opium, and convictions in the Courts could not be obtained. Nevertheless, many cases of exports were detected and stopped by the Customs authorities. (See Table II, Annexe IV).\n\n20. In the meantime, although the European War had necessarily caused opium to cease to figure as an international question, the Government had not been idle in pursuing its policy of gradual suppression, and had taken the next step indicated, viz., that of discontinuing the farming system of sale entirely. The new arrangement came into operation in B.E. 2461 (1918-19), when the sub-Farmers ceased to exist—their places being taken by the Revenue Officials in every Amphur (District Officer), and increases in staff being made where necessary. This additional staff, covering the whole kingdom, involved a\n\n5\n\n106",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "page_number": 124,
        "title": "CO129-479 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [1-3]",
        "content_text": "USI\n\nANNEXE VII, (Cont.)\n\nTABLE II.\n\nSHOWING NUMBER OF SMOKERS HOLDING “SPECIAL LICENCES” (HOME SMOKERS) IN THE YEAR 2ata (ibid dď);\n\nANNEXE VIII.\n\nTABLE SHOWING TOTAL REVENUE FROM ALL SOURCES, REVENUE FROM OPIUM, AND QUANTITIES OF OPIUM SOLD, FROM 1901-02 TO 1919-20.\n\nYear\nTotal Revenue\nRevenue from opium\nPercentage of opium revenue to total revenue\nNumber of Holders of Special Smoking Licenses\nPrice to the consumer in ticals per tamlung\nRemarks\n\nB.E. 2444 (1901-02)\nTicals 36,157,963\n5,072,705.00\n14.02\n\nFarming system.\n\nB.E. 2445 (1902-03)\n39,152,125\n7,080,637.00\n18.08\n\ndo.\n\nB.E. 2446 (1903-04)\n43,458,817\n6,972,780.10\n16.04\n593\n\ndo.\n\nB.E. 2447 (1904-05)\n46,046,404\n6,403,003.00\n13.90\n16\n\nB.E. 2448 (1905-06)\n51,657,539\n10,260,961.00\n19.86\n\nB.E. 2449 (1906-07)\n57,014,805\n7,693,669.37\n13.55\n65\n\nVide Note 2 below.\n\nB.E. 2450 (1907-08)\n55,826,532\n9,652,532.00\n17.29\n2\n\nVide Note 3 below.\n\nB.E. 2451 (1908-09)\n60,859,508\n14,514,453.04\n23.85\n\nB.E. 2452 (1909-10)\n63,079,401\n11,253,960.49\n17.95\n2,076,797\n\nB.E. 2453 (1910-11)\n63,509,181\n11,517,213.06\n18.14\n1,794,561\n\nB.E. 2454 (1911-12)\n61,493,918\n11,697,473.48\n19.02\n1,884,735\n\nB.E. 2455 (1912-13)\n66,877,377\n14,162,728.50\n21.18\n1,981,155\n\nB.E. 2456 (1913-14)\n74,399,682\n14,942,798.64\n20.09\n2,037,906\n\nB.E. 2457 (1914-15)\n73,903,669\n\n1,609,871\n\nB.E. 2458 (1915-16)\n71,298,015\n\n2,102,774\n\nB.E. 2459 (1916-17)\n82,911,149\n16,190,101.17\n19.52\n\nB.E. 2460 (1917-18)\n86,494,066\n16,560,227.02\n19.14\n1,907,102\n\nSub-Farmers eliminated from this year.\n\nB.E. 2461 (1918-19)\n93,109,470\n19,342,187.83\n20.78\n1,813,944\n\nB.E. 2462 (1919-20)\n96,066,931\n21,179,720.78\n22.05\n1,905,733\n\nProvince\nTotal number\nClass I\nClass II\n\nKrung Deb\n233\n29\n\nAyuthia\n\n+\n\nRajburi\n75\n5\n\nNakorn Chaisri\n\nNakorn Sawan\n21\n15\n+\n\nPitsanuloke\n132\n85\n\nNakorn Rajasima\n39\n9\n\nPrachinburi\n109\n88\n\nSurat\n67\n36\n\nNakorn Sritamarat\n23\n4\n\nPatani\n97\n7\n\nUdorn\n158\n\nי י\n\nUbon\n02\n220\n\nRoi Ech\n108\n212\n\nMaharat\n02\n269\n\nBayap\n20\n112\n\nPuket\n574\n\nChantaburi\n57\n6\n\nNOTE 1.\n\nNOTE 2.\n\nIn this and the previous year the Province of Puket was still farmed. The whole country under Government control from this year onwards. Vide Note 4 below.\n\nNOTE 3.\n\nNOTE 4.\n\nNOTE. For difference between Class I and II, vide Ministerial Regulations. Clause 3. It will be seen that the total number of home smokers represents only about 2% of the total estimated number of smokers viz., 200,000.\n\nThe price of opium to the consumer is that current in the Inner Provinces, where the greater portion of consumption takes place. The outer and Coast Provinces have slightly lower rates. The increase of revenue was due to competition among the bidders, resulting in the collapse of the Farm in the following year, as explained in para. 10 of the Memorandum.\n\nThe farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907. The two figures in column 3 thus represent the revenue paid by the farmer, and collected by the Government, respectively.\n\nIn this year (the first one in which Government control was exercised throughout the country), the system was adopted of including the cost of the raw opium on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the account. Thus the total revenue of the year and the revenue from opium, both included the sum of Tcs. 1,785,042, the cost of the raw drug.\n\nIn subsequent years, in order to avoid undue inflation of the accounts (and also fluctuations due to variations in the price of raw opium), the amount spent on the latter was deducted from the expenditure as well as the receipt side - the opium revenue thus being shown net, except for actual administrative expenses.\n\nIf this sum of Tcs. 1,785,042 be deducted from columns 2 and 3, the resulting net figures will be Tcs. 59,074,466 and Tcs. 12,729,412, respectively, and the percentage of opium revenue will be 21.5.",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923",
        "page_number": 502,
        "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923",
        "content_text": "## ANNEXE VIIJ\n### TABLE SHOWING TOTAL REVENUE FROM ALL SOURCES, REVENUE FROM OPIUM, AND QUANTITIES OF OPIUM SOLD, FROM 1901-02 TO 1919-20.\n\n| Year | Total Revenue | Revenue from Opium | Percentage of Opium Revenue to Total Revenue | Number of Catties Sold | Price per Tical | Remarks |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| 1901-02 | 36,157,963 | 5,072,705.00 | 16.02 | 18.08 |  | Farming system. |\n| 1902-03 | 39,152,125 | 7,000,637.00 |  | 3,276 |  | do. |\n| 1903-04 | 43,156,617 | 6,972,760.10 |  | 5,244 | 7 | do. |\n| 1904-05 | 46,046,404 | 6,403,003.00 | 17.24 | 4,248 | 8 | do. |\n| 1905-06 | 51,657,539 | 10,260,961.00 |  | 7,244 | 9 | do. |\n| 1906-07 | 57,014,605 | 7,693,669.37 | 1,173,366.32 | .2450 (1907-08) |  |  |\n| 1907-08 | 55,026,532 | 9,652,532.00 | 17.95 | 2,076,797 |  |  |\n| 1908-09 | 60,159,506 | 14,514,453.04 |  | 1,684,735 |  |  |\n| 1909-10 | 62,679,401 | 11,253,950.49 | 20.09 | 2,037,906 |  |  |\n| 1910-11 | 63,509,161 | 12,517,213.06 | 21.91 | 1,907,104 |  |  |\n| 1911-12 | 61,493,916 | 12,697,413.45 |  | 1,913,944 |  |  |\n| 1912-13 | 66,877,377 | 14,162,720.50 | 23.33 | 1,905,733 |  |  |\n| 1913-14 | 74,399,662 | 14,942,796.64 | 24.49 | 2,046,120 |  |  |\n| 1914-15 | 73,903,669 | 16,190,101.17 | 22.93 | 1,859,666 |  |  |\n| 1915-16 | 77,296,015 | 16,560,227.02 | 24.17 | 1,900,631 |  |  |\n| 1916-17 | 82,911,149 | 19,342,187.53 |  |  |  |  |\n| 1917-18 | 66,494,066 | 21,179,720.76 |  |  |  |  |\n| 1918-19 | 93,409,470 | 21,444,478.00 |  |  |  |  |\n| 1919-20 | 96,066,961 | 23,221,569.36 |  |  |  |  |\n\n### Notes\n1. \n2. In this and the previous year, the Province of Paknam was still farmed. The whole country was under Government control from this year onwards. \n3. The price of opium to the consumer is that current in the Inner Provinces, where the greater portion of consumption takes place. The outer and Coast Provinces have slightly lower rates.\n4. The Farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907. The figures in column 3 thus represent the revenue paid by the Farmer, and collected by the Government, respectively.\n5. In this year (the first one in which Government control was exercised throughout the country), the system adopted was to include the cost of the raw opium on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the account. Thus, the total revenue for the year and the revenue from opium both included the sum of Tcs. 1,705,042, the cost of the raw drug. In subsequent years, in order to avoid undue inflation of the accounts (and also fluctuations due to variations in the price of raw opium), the amount spent on the latter was deducted from the expenditure as well as the receipt side, the opium revenue thus being shown net, except for actual administrative expenses. If this sum of Tcs. 1,705,042 be deducted from columns 2 and 3, the resulting net figures will be Tcs. 59,074,466 and Tcs. 12,729,412, respectively, and the percentage of opium revenue...",
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        "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923",
        "content_text": "546\n\n## AGE 3 HOR\n\n34.3. TE\n\nOf Bangkok, there was considerable prejudice, to begin with, against the new method of packing; for this reason the sale of opium in this form was confined to Bangkok for the first year. But in B.E. 2457 (1914-1915) opium in tubes was supplied to all the inner Provinces and in B.E. 2458 (1915-1916) throughout the kingdom.\n\n16. During this transitory period, opium was still sold through sub-Farmers, the person undertaking to dispose of the largest quantity of opium to be sold in each district and of appointing as sub-Farmer, the person bidding the highest sum for the sale of the assessed quantity. It was intended to decrease the assessment year by year, but the quantities fixed were necessarily not always correct and in conformity with the real consumption, and towards the end of B.E. 2460 (1917-1918) this method was altogether upset by outside causes, as explained below.\n\n17. At the second Conference at the Hague, Siam posited her ratification of the Convention of 1912.\n\n18. In the meantime, negotiations between Great Britain and China had resulted in the former agreeing to lessen the production of raw opium in British India in consonance with the measure taken by China to reduce the cultivation of the opium poppy. A given number of chests of opium were accordingly \"certified\" for import into China, and it was declared that the number of certified chests would be decreased by 10% annually, so that at the end of 10 years, the import of raw opium into China from India would cease. China, on her part, took vigorous measures to suppress the cultivation of the opium poppy within her borders, and in 1912, she declared that it had been entirely stopped. Consequently, upon a report from the British Opium Commissioner confirming this declaration, the Government of India, in 1913, ceased to put up for auction any further number of \"certified\" chests and raw Indian opium could thenceforth only enter China as illicit opium.\n\n19. The stocks of Indian opium in China naturally began to get exhausted and an increasing demand, at high prices, arose for opium from other countries. The drug, as prepared by this Government for sale, is of a high quality, and the sub-Farmer could not resist the temptation of increasing their profits by surreptitiously disposing of some of their assessed quantity (see para. 16) for export to China. The natural consequence was that the balance available for sale in this country was insufficient, and as it would have caused great...",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "page_number": 576,
        "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923",
        "content_text": "# ANNEXE VIIJ\n\n## TABLE SHOWING TOTAL REVENUE FROM ALL SOURCES, REVENUE FROM OPIUM, AND QUANTITIES OF OPIUM SOLD, FROM 1901-02 TO 1919-20.\n\n| Year | Total Revenue | Revenue from Opium | Percentage of Opium Revenue to Total Revenue | Number of Tamlungs Sold | Price per Tamlung in Ticals | Remarks |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| 1901-02 | 36,157,963 | 5,072,705.00 | 14.02% | 1,241,515 | 8.2 | Farming system. |\n| 1902-03 | 39,152,125 | 7,000,637.00 | 17.88% | 1,244 | - | do. |\n| 1903-04 | 43,458,617 | 6,972,760.10 | 16.04% | 1,244† | - | do. |\n| 1904-05 | 46,046,404 | 6,403,003.00 | 13.90% | 1,2445 | - | do. |\n| 1905-06 | 51,657,539 | 10,260,961.00 | 19.86% | 1,609,671 | - | do. Vide also Note 2 below. |\n| 1906-07 | 57,014,605 | 7,693,669.37 | 13.49% | 1,173,366.32 | .2450 | The Farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907. |\n| 1907-08 | 55,626,532 | 9,652,532.00 | 17.35% | 2,102,774 | .2451 | Government control. |\n| 1908-09 | 60,459,506 | 14,514,453.0 | 24.01% | 2,076,197 | .2452 | do. |\n| 1909-10 | 62,679,401 | 11,253,950.49 | 17.95% | 1,794,561 | .2453 | do. |\n| 1910-11 | 63,509,181 | 11,517,213.06 | 18.14% | 1,684,735 | .2454 | do. |\n| 1911-12 | 61,493,916 | 11,697,413.48 | 19.02% | 1,901,155 | .2455 | do. |\n| 1912-13 | 66,877,377 | 14,162,720.50 | 21.18% | 2,037,906 | .2456 | do. |\n| 1913-14 | 74,399,662 | 14,942,796.64 | 20.09% | 1,907,106 | .2457 | do. |\n| 1914-15 | 73,903,669 | 16,190,102.17 | 21.91% | 1,613,944 | .2458 | do. |\n| 1915-16 | 77,298,015 | 16,560,227.02 | 21.42% | 1,905,733 | .2459 | do. |\n| 1916-17 | 82,911,149 | 19,342,187.63 | 23.33% | 2,046,120 | .2460 | do. |\n| 1917-18 | 86,494,066 | 21,179,720.76 | 24.49% | 1,859,666 | .2461 | do. |\n| 1918-19 | 93,409,470 | 21,444,478.00 | 22.93% | 1,900,631 | .2462 | do. |\n| 1919-20 | 96,066,961 | 23,221,569.38 | 24.17% | - | - | - |\n\n**Notes**\n\n* Note 1: In this and the previous year the Province of Puket was still farmed. The whole country under Government control from this year onwards. Vide Note 4 below.\n* Note 2: The increase of revenue was due to competition among the bidders, resulting in the collapse of the Farm in the following year, as explained in para. 10 of the Memorandum.\n* Note 3: The price of opium to the consumer is that current in the Inner Provinces, where the greater portion of consumption takes place. The outer and Coast Provinces have slightly lower rates.\n* Note 4: Sub-Farmers eliminated from this year. The Farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907. In this year (the first one in which Government control was exercised throughout the country), the system was adopted of including the cost of the raw opium on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the Accounts. Thus the total revenue for the year and the revenue from opium both included the sum of Tcs. 1,705,042, the cost of the raw drug. In subsequent years, in order to avoid undue inflation of the accounts (and also fluctuations due to variations in the price of raw opium), the amount spent on the latter was deducted from the expenditure as well as the receipt side, the opium revenue thus being shown net, except for actual administrative expenses. If this sum of Tcs. 1,705,042 be deducted from columns 2 and 3, the resulting net figures will be Tcs. 59,074,466 and Tcs. 12,729,412, respectively, and the percentage of opium revenue will be 21.5.",
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        "content_text": "## \n620 \n\n: \nof Bangkok. \nThere was considerable prejudice, to begin with, against the new method of packing; \nfor this reason the sale \nof opium in this form was confined to Bangkok for the first \nyear. But in B.E. 2457 (1914-1915) opium in tubes was supplied to all the inner Provinces and in B.E. 2458 (1915-1918) throughout the kingdom. \n\n16. During this transitory period, opium was still sold through sub-Farmers, the person undertaking to dispose of the largest quantity of opium to be sold in each district \nand of appointing as sub-Farmer, the person bidding the highest sum for the sale of the assessed quantity. \nIt was intended to decrease the assessment year by year, but the quantities fixed were necessarily not always correct and in conformity with the real consumption, and towards the end of B.E. 2460 (1917-1918) this method was altogether upset by outside causes, as explained below. \n\n17. At the second Conference at the Hague Siam deposited her ratification of the Convention of 1912. \n\n18. \nIn the meantime, negotiations between Great Britain and China had resulted in the former agreeing to lessen the production of raw opium in British India in consonance with the measure taken by China to reduce the cultivation of the opium poppy: \nA given number of chests of opium were, accordingly, \"certified\" for import into China, and it was declared that the number of certified chests would be decreased by 10% annually, so that at the end of 10 years, the import of raw opium into China from India would cease. \nChina, on her part, took vigorous measures to suppress the cultivation of the opium poppy within her borders, and in 1912, she declared that it had been entirely stopped. \nSubsequently, upon a report from the British Opium Commissioner confirming this declaration, the Government of India, in 1915, ceased to put up for auction any further number of \"certified\" chests and raw Indian opium could thenceforth only enter China as illicit opium. \n\n19. \nThe stocks of Indian opium in China naturally began to get exhausted and an increasing demand, at high prices, arose for opium from other countries. \nThe drug, as prepared by this government for sale, is of a high quality, and the sub-Farmer could not resist the temptation of increasing their profits by surreptitiously disposing of some of their assessed quantity (see para. 16) for export to China. \nThe natural consequence was that the balance available for sale in this country was insufficient, and as it would have caused great",
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        "page_number": 650,
        "title": "CO129-482 - Public Offices - 1923",
        "content_text": "## ANNEXE VIIJ\n\n### TABLE SHOWING TOTAL REVENUE FROM ALL SOURCES, REVENUE FROM OPIUM, AND QUANTITIES OF OPIUM SOLD, FROM 1901-02 TO 1919-20.\n\n| Year | Total Revenue | Revenue from opium | Percentage of opium revenue to total revenue | Price of opium per tical | Number of ticals sold | Remarks |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| 244 (1901-02) | 36,157,963 | 5,072,705.00 | 14.02 | 16.08 | 265,061 | Farming System. |\n| 245 (1902-03) | 39,152,125 | 7,000,637.00 | 17.29 | 16.0 | 1,609,871 | do. |\n| 246 (1903-04) | 43,158,617 | 6,972,760.10 | 16.08 | 13.90 | 2,102,774 | do. See also Note 2 below. |\n| 247 (1904-05) | 46,046,404 | 6,403,003.00 | 13.90 | 17.95 | 2,076,797 | do. |\n| 248 (1905-06) | 51,657,539 | 10,260,961.00 | 19.86 | 18.14 | 1,794,561 | do. |\n| 249 (1906-07) | 54,693,669.37 | 7,693,669.37 | 14.07 | 19.02 | 1,664,735 |  |\n| 2450 (1907-08) | 55,626,532 | 9,652,532.00 | 17.35 | 21.18 | 1,901,155 |  |\n| 2451 (1908-09) | 60,659,506 | 14,514,453.04 | 23.65 | 20.09 | 2,037,906 |  |\n| 2452 (1909-10) | 62,679,401 | 11,253,950.49 | 17.95 | 21.91 | 1,907,104 |  |\n| 2453 (1910-11) | 63,509,161 | 11,517,213.06 | 18.14 | 21.42 | 1,613,944 |  |\n| 2454 (1911-12) | 61,493,916 | 11,697,473.45 | 19.02 | 23.33 | 1,905,733 |  |\n| 2455 (1912-13) | 66,877,377 | 14,162,720.50 | 21.18 | 24.49 | 2,046,120 |  |\n| 2456 (1913-14) | 74,399,662 | 14,942,796.64 | 20.09 | 22.93 | 1,859,686 |  |\n| 2457 (1914-15) | 73,903,669 | 16,190,101.17 | 21.91 | 24.17 | 1,900,031 |  |\n| 2458 (1915-16) | 77,296,015 | 16,560,227.02 | 21.42 |  |  |  |\n| 2459 (1916-17) | 82,911,149 | 19,342,167.53 | 23.33 |  |  |  |\n| 2460 (1917-18) | 86,494,066 | 21,179,720.76 | 24.49 |  |  |  |\n| 2461 (1918-19) | 93,409,470 | 21,444,476.00 | 22.93 |  |  |  |\n| 2462 (1919-20) | 96,066,961 | 23,221,569.36 | 24.17 |  |  |  |\n\n### Notes\n\n**Note 1.** In this and the previous year the Province of Puket was still farmed. The whole country under Government control from this year onwards. See Note 4 below.\n\n**Note 2.** Sub-Farms re eliminated from this year.\n\n**Note 3.** The price of opium to the consumer is that current in the Inner Provinces where the greater portion of consumption takes place. The outer and Coast Provinces have slightly lower rates.\n\n**Note 4.** The increase of revenue was due to competition among the bidders, resulting in the collapse of the Farm in the following year, as explained in para. 10 of the Memorandum. The Farm was taken over by the Government in January 1907. Figures in column 3 thus represent the revenue paid by the farmer, and collected by the Government, respectively.\n\nThe two figures in this year (the first one which Government control was exercised throughout the country), the system was adopted of including the cost of the raw opium on both the revenue and expenditure sides of the account. Thus the total revenue for the year and the revenue from opium, both included the sum of Tcs. 1,705,042, the cost of the raw drug. In subsequent years, in order to avoid undue inflation of the accounts (and also fluctuations due to variations in the price of raw opium), the amount spent on the latter was deducted from the expenditure as well as the receipt side, the opium revenue thus being shown net, except for actual administrative expenses. If this sum of Tcs. 1,705,042 be deducted from columns 2 and 3, the resulting net figures will be Tcs. 59,074,466 and Tcs. 12,729,412, respectively, and the percentage of opium revenue will be 21.5.",
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        "document_key": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924",
        "page_number": 59,
        "title": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924",
        "content_text": "## Chapter XII—Provincial and District Self-Government\n\n3. In remitting to the province the amount of provincial taxes allocated to it, the district shall have the right to retain a portion thereof, not exceeding 40 per cent. of the entire amount.\n\n4. The Provincial Government shall have no right to dispose of the property and self-government funds of the district.\n\n5. In case of calamities, natural or otherwise, or on account of shortage of self-government funds, the district may apply to the Provincial Administrative Council for, and, with the approval of the Provincial Assembly, may receive, subsidies from the Provincial Treasury.\n\n6. The district shall be under obligation to observe national laws and provincial laws.\n\n### Art. 129\nThe division of provincial and district taxes shall be decided upon by the Provincial Assembly.\n\n### Art. 130\nThe province shall not enforce special laws in one or a few districts, but those concerning the common welfare of the province shall not be included in this restriction.\n\n### Art. 131\nThe district shall have full executive power in matters of self-government in the district; and the province shall not interfere except in matters relating to punishments provided by the provincial law.\n\n### Art. 132\nNational administrative affairs in the province or district, besides being executed by officials appointed by the national Government, may be executed by the provincial or district self-government administrative organs by delegation.\n\n### Art. 133\nIn the event of the provincial or district self-governing administrative organs, in the execution of national administrative affairs, violating the law, the national Government may impose punishment in accordance with the provisions of the law.\n\n### Art. 134\nThe provisions of this chapter shall apply to places where districts, but not provinces, have been created.\n\n### Art. 135\nInner and Outer Mongolia, Tibet, and Tsinghai may, in conformity with the common wish of the local inhabitants, be divided into two grades, the province and the district, to which the provisions of this chapter shall apply, but pending the creation of province and district their administrative system shall be prescribed by law.\n\n## Chapter XIII—Amendments to as well as Interpretation and Validity of the Constitution\n\n### Art. 136\nParliament may introduce Bills for the amendment of the Constitution.\n\nUnless such Bills be approved by upwards of two-thirds of the members of each House present, they shall not be adopted.\n\nUnless it be endorsed by upwards of one-fourth of the total membership of his House, no member of either House shall propose an amendment to the Constitution.\n\n### Art. 137\nThe amendment of the Constitution shall be undertaken by the Constitution Conference.\n\n### Art. 138\nThe form of government shall not be a subject for amendment.\n\n### Art. 139\nAmbiguities in regard to the meaning of the Constitution shall be interpreted by the Constitution Conference.\n\n### Art. 140\nThe Constitution Conference shall be composed of the entire membership of Parliament.\n\nUnless there be a quorum of upwards of two-thirds of the total membership of Parliament no such aforementioned conference shall be held; and unless upwards of three-fourths of the members present vote in its favour no amendment shall be passed; but in the interpretation of any ambiguous point a decision may be reached with the approval of upwards of two-thirds of the members present.\n\n### Art. 141\nExcept by amendments made in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the Constitution shall never lose its validity, whatever change or development may come to pass.\n\n[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]\n\n**CHINA.**\n**CONFIDENTIAL.**\n\n`F 185/185/10`\n\nNo. 1.\n\n58\n\n[January 17.]\n\n## SECTION 1.\n\nPeking, November 26, 1923.\n\nSir R. Macleay to the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston. (Received January 17, 1924.)\n\n(No. 688.)\nMy Lord,\n\nIN paragraph 6 of my despatch No. 586 of the 17th October last, reporting on developments in the political situation in China, I mentioned that the new permanent Constitution was formally promulgated on the 10th October, the Chinese National Day, simultaneously with Ts'ao Kun's installation as President, and I have now the honour to transmit herewith a translation of the Chinese text of this Constitution as prepared by a member of the Wai-chiao Pu and published in the journal of a local Sino-foreign society of good standing (the Chinese Social and Political Science Association). No more authoritative English version has yet appeared. The Chinese text was published in the \"Government Gazette\" of the 18th October.\n\n2. The history of the drafting of the Chinese Constitution, which has been proceeding intermittently for the past ten or twelve years, is briefly as follows: In December 1911, after the outbreak of the revolution, the National Council at Nanking passed a provisional Constitution, which has been nominally in force, except when suspended by Yuan Shih-kai, until recently. Yuan having been elected provisional President in March 1912, the seat of the Republican Government was removed from Nanking to Peking, where a National Assembly or Parliament met in the following year. The Kuo Min Tang party were strongly represented in this Assembly, but, cowed by Yuan's suppression of the rebellion of 1913, they were induced to hasten the passing of the chapter of the permanent Constitution relating to the Presidential election, which was duly promulgated in October 1913, just before Yuan Shih-kai's election and installation as President, and which has up till recently remained the only part of the Constitution actually passed into law. After Yuan Shih-kai's formal inauguration as President on the 10th October, 1913, Parliament pushed on with the drafting of the remainder of the permanent Constitution, but differences between it and the President as to the extent of the powers to be wielded by the latter soon became acute, until, in November of that year, Yuan dissolved the Kuo Min Tang, and thus unseated over 400 members of Parliament, leaving the Assembly without a quorum. The President then created a Political Council of his own nominees, and, acting nominally on its advice, dissolved Parliament early in 1914 and replaced it by a new Assembly, or \"Council of State\", consisting likewise of his own nominees, which produced in May 1914 a new and different provisional Constitution giving large powers to the President. In December 1914 a further new Presidential Election Law was passed, the effect of which was practically to make the Presidency hereditary in Yuan's family. Both these instruments were abrogated at the time of Yuan's unsuccessful attempt to make himself Emperor in 1915-16, and after his death in June the original Parliament reassembled at Peking in August 1916. The preparation of the permanent Constitution was then taken up anew, with the draft of 1913 as a basis, and was continued until Parliament was again dissolved in June 1917 by President Li Yuan-hung acting under pressure from the Northern militarists. (Apart from the chapters on national powers and local self-government, the present permanent Constitution follows in the main the lines of the work done in 1916-17.) The dissolution of Parliament in 1917 was followed by Chang Hsun's abortive attempt to restore the monarchy, by the summoning of the new (and so-called \"bogus\") Parliament of the Northern militarists for the election of Hsu Shih-chang as President in 1918, and eventually by the expulsion of Hsu and the restoration of Li Yuan-hung as President in 1922, and the reassembling of the old Parliament at Peking for the third occasion in August of that year. The drafting of the permanent Constitution was then taken up once again, but owing to political intrigues proceeded but slowly, until Li Yuan-hung was once more driven out of office in the summer of the present year. The completion of the Constitution was, however, included in the plans of the Chibli party for the election of Ts'ao Kun as President, doubtless with a view to giving prestige to the new Government and President and legality to their acts, and was, it is said, eventually secured, like the election of Ts'ao to the...",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "page_number": 65,
        "title": "CO129-486 - Public Offices - 1924",
        "content_text": "## 12 \n\n1924 \n\n**HONG KONG** \n\n**C.O.** \n\n12493 \n\n64 \n\n3. In remitting to the province the amount of provincial taxes allocated to it, the district shall have the right to retain a portion thereof, not exceeding 40 per cent. of the entire amount. \n\n4. The Provincial Government shall have no right to dispose of the property and self-government funds of the district. \n\n5. In case of calamities, natural or otherwise, or on account of shortage of self-government funds, the district may apply to the Provincial Administrative Council for, and, with the approval of the Provincial Assembly, may receive, subsidies from the Provincial Treasury. \n\n6. The district shall be under obligation to observe national laws and provincial laws. \n\nArt. 129. The division of provincial and district taxes shall be decided upon by the Provincial Assembly. \n\nArt. 130. The province shall not enforce special laws in one or a few districts, but those concerning the common welfare of the province shall not be included in this restriction. \n\nArt. 131. The district shall have full executive power in matters of self-government in the district; and the province shall not interfere except in matters relating to punishments provided by the provincial law. \n\nArt. 132. National administrative affairs in the province or district, besides being executed by officials appointed by the national Government, may be executed by the provincial or district self-government administrative organs by delegation. \n\nArt. 133. In the event of the provincial or district self-governing administrative organs, in the execution of national administrative affairs, violating the law, the national Government may impose punishment in accordance with the provisions of the law. \n\nArt. 134. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to places where districts, but not provinces, have been created. \n\nArt. 135. Inner and Outer Mongolia, Tibet, and Tsinghai may, in conformity with the common wish of the local inhabitants, be divided into two grades, the province and the district, to which the provisions of this chapter shall apply, but pending the creation of province and district their administrative system shall be prescribed by law. \n\n### Chapter XIII--Amendments to as well as Interpretation and Validity of the Constitution \n\nArt. 136. Parliament may introduce Bills for the amendment of the Constitution. Unless such Bills be approved by upwards of two-thirds of the members of each House present, they shall not be adopted. Unless it be endorsed by upwards of one-fourth of the total membership of his House, no member of either House shall propose an amendment to the Constitution. \n\nArt. 137. The amendment of the Constitution shall be undertaken by the Constitution Conference. \n\nArt. 138. The form of government shall not be a subject for amendment. \n\nArt. 139. Ambiguities in regard to the meaning of the Constitution shall be interpreted by the Constitution Conference. \n\nArt. 140. The Constitution Conference shall be composed of the entire membership of Parliament. Unless there be a quorum of upwards of two-thirds of the total membership of Parliament no such aforementioned conference shall be held; and unless upwards of three-fourths of the members present vote in its favour no amendment shall be passed; but in the interpretation of any ambiguous point a decision may be reached with the approval of upwards of two-thirds of the members present. \n\nArt. 141. Except by amendments made in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the Constitution shall never lose its validity, whatever change or development may come to pass. \n\n50 \n\n**CIRCULATION :-** \n\n|  |  |\n| --- | --- |\n| M |  |\n| Vr. |  |\n| Mr. |  |\n| Asst. U.S. of S. |  |\n| Perm U.S. of S. |  |\n| Par U.S. of S. |  |\n| Secretary of State |  |\n\n**Previous Paper** `90` `57839/23` \n\ncoures. for bouf- 15 \n\n20 MAR 1924 \n\nMay 24 A/? \n\nmythe 900 of \n\n**DATE** \n\n15 March \n\n17 MAR 24 \n\nto member \n\nRemuneration to Chief Justice of H Kong \n\nof Court of Appeal at Shanghai \n\nTreas. is not prepared to sanction payt. of an allowance of $3000 pa, free of income tax, but has intimated willingness to allow an allowance. \n\nCol. Govt. states agreement is acceptable to them. \n\nAsks whether such allowance should be made forthwith. \n\nAbey. Fo. nifa, accordingly. \n\n**MINUTES** \n\n0 \n\nLefog \n\n**Subsequent Paper** `20627` `30627` `12811` `19824/27` `80,000` `11/23-McC` `E258`",
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    {
        "id": 503074,
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-493 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [6-8]",
        "page_number": 149,
        "title": "CO129-493 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [6-8]",
        "content_text": "143\n\nissued at Peking on the 2nd June, 1919, under article 155 of the China Order in Council, 1904, and article 13 of the China (Amendment) Order in Council, 1907. I attach a copy of these regulations for convenience of reference.\n\n3.\n\nThis arms embargo has been faithfully observed by the British Government; but it is notorious that other Governments have not been so strict, and that the Russian Government, which participated in the note of the 5th May, 1919, has been pouring arms and ammunition into Northern China for the assistance of the Kuo-min-chun, and into Southern China for the assistance of the Canton Soviet. Moreover, the arms embargo was plainly a self-denying ordinance adopted by the eleven Powers concerned in order to prevent the disintegration of China, for it was only to be in force \"until the establishment of a Government whose authority is recognized throughout the whole country\". Such a day is far distant, and in the meanwhile China has, for the time being, split into the following main divisions:- (a) the provinces controlled by Marshal Chang Tso-lin, namely the greater part of Chihli, Shantung and the whole of Manchuria:\n\n(b) the provinces controlled by Marshal Wu P'ei-fu, namely Hupeh, Honan and parts of Chihli and Hunan:\n\n(c) the provinces controlled by Marshal Sun Ch'uan-fang, namely Anhui, Chekiang, Kiangsi and Fukien:\n\n(d) the provinces controlled by the Kuo-min-tang, namely Kuang-tung in somewhat doubtful alliance with Kuanghsi, parts of Hunan and Kueichou:\n\n(e) the region controlled by the Kuo-min-chun, namely Inner Mongolia, Chahar, Sui-yuan, Kansu province and parts of Shensi and Shansi provinces:\n\n(f) Yunnan province under General Tang Chi-yao\n\n(g)",
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    {
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-499-5 Canton situation- governor's despatches 11-3-1927 - 11-3-1927",
        "page_number": 110,
        "title": "CO129-499-5 Canton situation- governor's despatches 11-3-1927 - 11-3-1927",
        "content_text": "## (Six)\n\nA comparison is drawn with the foreigners along the Yang-tsze and in the South, while northern China was in turmoil. The northerners then learned that Boxers were not invulnerable and that to exterminate all foreigners was less easy than they had supposed. Remembering this, the northerners today are not attempting to destroy foreign treaty-rights by violence, but are willing to negotiate a friendly settlement. It is the southerners this time who believe themselves to have found an invincible weapon wherewith to drive all foreigners out of China. They miscall it \"the economic weapon,\" meaning thereby strikes, boycotts, labour unrest, mob violence, -all excited by lying propaganda,- piracy, brigandage, and every other means of making trade in China unprofitable to the foreigner and residence in China disagreeable to him. A better name for this weapon would be **the Bolshevik bludgeon**, and those who brandish it have been taught by their Russian \"high advisers\" that with this weapon they can so bedevil the foreigner that of his own accord he will after a while pack up his traps and leave China for good. But the true name of this weapon is \"the Bolshevik boomerang,\" because it will most certainly curl back and deliver its shrewdest blow at those who endeavour to wield it. Already, none suffer from it more than do the Chinese themselves, and it will sooner or later knock out every bolshevized Chinese in the country. (Applause.)\n\n## Defeatist Attitude Will Not Help\n\nLying propaganda of the most virulent type gives the initial impetus to all these Bolshevik machinations: and, gentlemen, we must counter it by telling the truth and exposing the falsehoods. There are many who, like Coventry Patmore, would sit down and say that for lack of them the world's course will not fail.\n\n| Original Quote |  |\n| --- | --- |\n| \"When all its work is done, the lie shall rot. | The truth is great and will prevail, |\n| When none cares whether it prevail or not.\" |  |\n\nSuch a defeatist attitude will not help us now. We must be up and doing. We must see to it that the lie shall rot before, not after, its poisonous work is done, and that the truth is widely told all over China now when the victory of truth is the best means of averting the Bolshevik menace. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce as well as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce should give most serious consideration to this matter.\n\n## Light On The Horizon\n\nGentlemen, it is always the darkest hour that comes before the dawn; and already I seem to see a glimmer of light on the horizon. The Chinese Nationalist Party is at last struggling to rid itself of the taint of Bolshevism and is discarding Comrade Borodin and other demagogues who deliriously direct chaos and who are prophets of communism and \"world-revolution.\" It now looks as if measures, similar to the emergency regulations made by the Hong Kong Government to save this Colony from the tyranny of Bolshevized Labour, have also been enforced by Chinese Nationalist generals both in Shanghai and at Canton and in other large cities, although Chinese generals have had to use the mailed fist where I fortunately was able to use the velvet glove. We may, therefore, be on the verge of a renewal of the friendly relations which are traditional between this Colony and the neighbouring provinces of China. With all my heart, I hope that it is so. I have complete faith in the future of this Colony. I do not believe that the day of British influence in China is drawing to a close. On the contrary, I believe that, when the spasm of madness now convulsing China is spent, Great Britain and the British Colony of Hong Kong will be recognized throughout the Eighteen Provinces as the most potent, the most beneficent, and the most congenial friends and coadjutors of the Chinese people in this era of its renaissance. (Applause.)\n\n110",
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        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-502-6 China- general situation 7-1-1927 - 3-3-1927",
        "page_number": 72,
        "title": "CO129-502-6 China- general situation 7-1-1927 - 3-3-1927",
        "content_text": "## 84\n\n3 \n\nand the Canton Governments, but this was rejected on examination as being tantamount to recognition of both Governments and ultimately it was decided that I should hand copies to no one. Dr. Koo, who had of course seen the questions asked in Parliament on the subject, himself raised the question of my credentials at my first interview with him and I explained to him my instructions. At one time I thought that he intended to make difficulties over the question, but when returning my call he made no further allusion to it and he has probably decided to leave the matter in abeyance, at any rate for the present. It is probable, however, that as soon as he has formed his new Cabinet, which I understand he has been asked by Chang Tso-lin to do, he will raise the question of credentials again.\n\n5. Interest in the north has centred on the plans and intentions of Chang Tso-lin, who arrived in Tien-tsin from Mukden in the first half of November. It was generally expected that Marshal Chang, having waited for the collapse of Wu Pei-fu's Administration, would proceed forthwith to Peking, to reorganise the Government with his nominees, and even place himself at its head as Provisional President or Chief Executive. Indecision and delay, due perhaps to divided counsels amongst his advisers and supporters, have, however, so far characterised Marshal Chang's actions since he left Mukden, and it was not until a month and a half later that he arrived in Peking towards the end of December; and it still remains to be seen whether he really has any constructive plans for the re-establishment of a Government.\n\n6. In the meantime events were moving rapidly on the Yang-tsze, where, as reported in paragraph 4 of Sir Ronald Macleay's despatch above referred to, hostilities had opened at the end of September between Sun Chuan-fang and the Cantonese. Sun poured troops from Kiangsu, Chekiang and Anhui into Kiangsi under the supreme command of his most trusted general, Lu Hsiang-t'ing, and despatched other forces up the river towards Hankow, himself proceeding to Kiukiang to superintend the operations of his armies. At first the better-equipped army of Sun dealt three successive blows to Chiang Kai-shek's army, costing the latter some 20,000 casualties and driving them back from Nanchang towards their communications in Hunan. If these victories had been followed up a general collapse of the Kuo Min-tang armies would probably have resulted from the threat to their base at Changsha; but, as usual in China, a policy of inaction allowed the initiative to pass from the hands of Sun into those of Chiang, who, by propaganda and by infiltration of small parties into the battle zone, was soon in a position to turn the tables on his adversary. Before the middle of November Sun discovered the Nanchang Kiukiang Railway to be cut and the Kuo Min-tang forces at the gates of Kiukiang. In a panic, he himself headed the flight, leaving his forces to find their way back to Kiangsu and Chekiang, thus totally evacuating the Province of Kiangsi, which passed under the control of the Cantonese.\n\n7. Sun Ch'uan-fang, who had been originally a subordinate officer in Wu Pei-fu's armies, had hitherto consistently professed at least a nominal adherence to Marshal Wu, and had sent a representative to join the Cabinet set up by Wu in Peking in the summer. Moreover, a year before, in the late autumn of 1925, Sun had declared war on the Fengtien leaders, then in occupation of Nanking and the Shanghai region, and had expelled them from Kiangsu by force, a state of armed peace having since prevailed between him and his Northern neighbour, Chang Tsung-ch'ang, the Fengtien Governor of Shantung. It was, therefore, a matter of some surprise and speculation when Sun in the latter half of November paid a sudden and unexpected visit to Chang Tso-lin at Tien-tsin, accompanied only by a few bodyguards. What exactly passed during his stay in Tien-tsin is not known, but his visit was generally interpreted by Chinese opinion as involving his abdication from his independent position in Central China, and his acceptance of the overlordship of the Manchurian Generalissimo. As the result of the conferences of Northern leaders, mostly of the Fengtien party, which now took place at Tientsin, it was shortly afterwards announced that a definite agreement had now been reached for a combined offensive against the armies of the Kuo Min-tang, while it was later reported that the details of the arrangements come to provided that Sun Ch'uan-fang should surrender to Chang Tsung-chang the whole of Northern Kiangsu, and confine himself to the control and defence of Chekiang and the Shanghai area. Sun thereupon returned to Nanking, and Chang Tsung-chang's troops immediately began to move south along the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway. Their further advance into Kiangsu was soon after halted for a time, outwardly on account, it was said, of objections raised by Wu Pei-fu; but also, it seems, on account of opposition manifested by local public bodies in Kiangsu, who were rumoured to have given it to be understood that they would sooner see their province overrun by the Nationalist armies than given over to the depredations of Chang Tsung-chang's notorious soldiery from Shantung. Eventually, however, Chang Tsung-chang himself, accompanied by strong bodyguards, arrived in Nanking in the third week in December, while his troops moved down into North Kiangsu to replace the forces of Sun Ch'uan-fang.\n\n8. The next move by the Northern leaders was the announcement early in December of the creation of the An-Kuo-Chün (army for the pacification of the country irreverently known by some of my more flippant colleagues as the Salvation Army) under Chang Tso-lin as generalissimo and Chang Tsung-chang, Sun Chuan-fang, Yen Hsi-shan (the Governor of Shansi) and other Northern leaders as vice-commanders, accompanied by the usual advertisement in the press of their military plans for the annihilation of the Reds. It was significant, however, that there was no mention in these arrangements of the name of Wu Pei-fu, who, while he now professes to regard Chang Tso-lin as an ally, could not be expected to subordinate himself to the latter's leadership.\n\n9. Marshal Wu has indeed proved a considerable thorn in the side of the An-Kuo-Chun, in view of his occupation of Northern Honan and his stubborn refusal so far to yield place to Chang Tso-lin's forces, which have advanced down the Peking-Hankow Railway to the borders of Honan, or accept their co-operation on the terms they desire. A glance at the map will show the strategic importance to the Fengtien high command of Chengchow (Wu's headquarters), situated at the junction of the East to West Lunghai Railway with the Peking-Hankow line, and the vital necessity to them of occupying it before engaging their forces seriously on the middle Yang-tsze. The difficulty of the situation from the Fengtien point of view is increased by the fact that Wu's forces, though still nominally 80,000 to 100,000 strong, are of small military value and are notoriously unreliable, while his subordinate generals, and notably Chin Yün-ao, are known to have small sympathy with their former enemies in the Fengtien armies and to have made overtures to the South. Wu Pei-fu's apparently intransigent and obstructive attitude towards his Fengtien allies, while typical of his character and past record, may in this case have been at least partly due to these considerations. It is now, at the end of the year, reported that the situation has been cleared up by the dismissal of Chin Yün-ao from his command, but it remains to be seen whether this has been really effected. It is expected that eventually the main attack of Chang Tso-lin's forces will be directed on Hupei down the Kin-Han line; but whether Wu Pei-fu will be relegated to West Honan to deal with the Kuo Min-chun, or whether his armies will take part in the main attack, remains to be settled between the leaders.\n\n10. Developments in the South during the three months under review will be reported on more fully by His Majesty's consuls in Central and Southern China, but the most notable event has been the transfer of the seat of the Kuo Min-tang Government from Canton to Wuchang, which took place in December. At the same time, the Kuo Min-tang, after their successful occupation of Kiangsi, have extended their control over the greater part of Fukien, where the Northern forces occupying that province in the interests of Marshal Sun Chuan-fang dissolved before the Southern advance with little or no fighting. Chekiang, now surrounded on two sides by Kuo Min-tang influence, has also been penetrated to some extent and appears likely to fall also in the near future into their hands.\n\n11. The general political and military position at the close of the year may be summed up as follows. Chang Tso-lin is in Peking and is credited with the intention of re-establishing a Central Government in the Northern capital, which remains, however, for the time being to all intents and purposes without any Government at all. Chang himself controls Manchuria and the metropolitan Province of Chihli and the adjacent territories of Inner Mongolia, and indirectly, through his former subordinate, Chang Tsung-ch'ang, the Province of Shantung. His allies, Sun Chuan-fang and Yen Hsi-shan, the former still controlling the Lower Yang-tsze region and the latter the Province of Shansi, have nominally accepted his leadership, but both are understood to be quite prepared to come to terms with the Kuo Min-tang if they can do so. Wu Pei-fu, who retains control of Northern Honan, also professes to be in alliance with Marshal Chang, but insists on retaining complete liberty of action, and impedes rather than assists the latter's plans. In opposition to this loosely welded block of individual Northern leaders, bound together by momentary ties of self-interest, stands the Kuo Min-tang Government, now established at Wuchang, and professing to control the Provinces of Kuangtung, Kuangsi, Hunan, Kiangsi, Fukien, Hupei, parts of Chekiang, and, ... \n\n## 8:",
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        "content_text": "# NORTH AND NORTH-WEST CHINA\n\n3. It is convenient, for the present purpose, to sub-divide North China and North-West China into:\n\n(a) Sinkiang (i.e., Chinese Turkistan). \n(b) Mongolia. \n(c) Manchuria.\n\n## (a) Sinkiang\n\nThe policy of Soviet Russia towards Sinkiang was outlined very clearly by the Soviet Representative at Pekin on 26th September, 1925, and his proposals received the full support of the Politbureau. Briefly, Soviet Russia desires to transform Sinkiang into an independent province or republic; such a result \"would be an important step toward the final consolidation of our influence in Central Asia, and also towards seizure of new routes upon Tibet and India.\" The danger of this design, if accomplished, was referred to by Lord Birkenhead on 25th February, 1926, before the Committee of Imperial Defence. Lord Birkenhead said \"the Sovietization of Sinkiang would give the Bolshevists a long stretch of continuous frontier contiguous to India, and her policy of piercing the cordon of buffer states with which we were surrounded would thus take a great stride forward.\" During 1926, in Kashgar, the Soviet Representatives made deliberate efforts to engineer general disturbances cleverly designed to injure the British community and simultaneously to test the power of the Chinese authorities. Owing, however, to the energetic and effective measures employed by the Chinese Governor of the province, these attempts failed. In short, Russian activities in Sinkiang have not yet met with much success, but there are indications that Moscow hopes to hasten matters by inducing Feng Yu Hsiang - who is at present occupying the provinces of Shensi and Kansu - to send troops into Sinkiang for the temporary occupation of that province. A Soviet move, posing as a Chinese venture, which would give the Soviets final control of the area through their sympathiser and tool, Feng. For the moment, however, Feng is likely to be retained in Shensi by the Nationalists, in order to co-operate in the Civil War.\n\n## (b) Mongolia\n\nOutwardly, the situation in Outer Mongolia has not undergone any material change during the last 12 months. There is, however, every reason to believe that the political campaign to Sovietize the province and induce it to declare itself as an autonomous state and dependency of the U.S.S.R. is approaching a successful termination. Meantime, the supply of money, material, and instructors to assist in the formation of the Mongolian National Army has continued, and a number of Mongolians have received instruction in the Red Army. The Urga railway project has also received considerable attention.\n\nAs regards Inner Mongolia, there is little information concerning Russian activities which, here, are to some extent countered by Japanese economic penetration. In this area, the Soviets appear to rely upon Feng Yu Hsiang and his army to further their schemes. Feng was taken to Moscow in 1926 to complete his education and, on the demand of Karakhan, returned to Inner Mongolia in August last in order that the Kuominchun might be revived by the personal influence of its leader. Russian designs in Inner Mongolia, although less developed than in Outer Mongolia, undoubtedly aim at the ultimate Sovietization of the province, thereby ensuring to themselves a predominant influence, if not absolute political control, in those regions. The influence at present exercised is illustrated by the fact that they have been able to organize the Trans-Gobi motor service with Russian personnel, whereby they keep Feng supplied with war material.\n\n## (c) Manchuria\n\nAlthough Russian activities in Manchuria have little direct bearing upon British interests in China, they are part and parcel of the general Russian policy being followed in the Far East and must be referred to in an investigation of that policy. In Manchuria, Russian interests, a relic from Tzarist times and based on the Chinese Eastern Railway, bring her face to face with Japan. In the field of diplomacy, the Japanese appear to have more than held their own and are pursuing their programme of railway extension and development to the detriment of Russian vested interests, in spite of Russian opposition. Checked in their efforts to fulfil the Tzarist policy of extending and consolidating their position in Manchuria, the Bolsheviks have been forced to allow their original policy of construction to degenerate into one of disruption. As a result, the Chinese Eastern Railway is being transformed into a hotbed of seditious activity with the object of overthrowing Chang Tso Lin (and so striking at the Japanese) and of developing the main objectives of their general plan, which will be referred to later, for China as a whole. For example, 30,000 employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway are being utilized for the spread of disruptive propaganda throughout Manchuria. That area known as Barga, in the north-west corner of Manchuria, has been selected for special Soviet treatment on the lines adopted further east. Propaganda cells, a special military force equipped and armed from Moscow, and an independent administration are all part of the programme evolved in Moscow.\n\n# CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CHINA\n\n4. The present relations between Soviet Russia and China proper may be said to date from February, 1923, when Dr. Sun Yat Sen, returning to Canton from Shanghai, took with him one Jacob Borodin, the Bolshevik adviser. After the death of Sun Yat Sen, in March, 1925, Borodin and his assistants acquired complete control over the extremist section of the Kuomintang in Canton, and the Nationalists adopted the \"Committee\" form of government so well known in new Russia and so foreign to old China. While the policy of the Nationalist party undoubtedly aims at the expulsion of all foreigners from China, the establishment of the boycott on Hong Kong in the early summer of 1925 marked the inauguration of a movement which singled out Great Britain for isolated and concentrated attack by the extremist section with its Russian advisers. Borodin realised that all privileges enjoyed by foreigners in China had been first acquired by Great Britain; that British commercial and shipping interests predominated in South China; and that Hong Kong depended for its trade upon Canton, the possession of which offered the Nationalists a formidable lever for action detrimental to British interests. Although Borodin terminated the boycott voluntarily on 10th October, 1926, it had served its purpose by demonstrating to the Nationalist Government the effectiveness of this weapon. The occasion of the termination of the boycott was, moreover, used to indicate still further the impotence of the Powers by the introduction of a scheme of local taxation at Canton which was bound to, and did, provoke a united protest from the Powers. This protest was flung back in the face of its authors, and the world was informed that the Nationalist Government did not recognise the status of the \"Diplomatic Corps at Pekin.\" Meanwhile, the Nationalist armies - financed, armed, trained, and maintained by Moscow - had moved north to the Yangtze and had occupied Hankow and Kiukiang. Great Britain was again singled out for isolated attention, and, by an ingenious employment of mob tactics, was forced to evacuate her concessions. At Canton in 1925, and at Hankow in January of this year, the results were the same - the creation of a situation ignominious to Great Britain, and a consequential increase in the prestige of the Kuomintang and in the self-confidence of the Nationalist Government.\n\n5. Evidence of the degree of control exercised by the Soviet over the Kuomintang and the Nationalist Government is complete. This control extends to every phase and combination of the civil war. Directives from Moscow are received at the Soviet Embassy at Pekin and are re-transmitted to Borodin, other agents at Canton and elsewhere; the Russian banks at Pekin and Shanghai receive credits for disposal by the local Soviet representatives; while arms and ammunition, including aircraft and chemicals, continue to reach the Nationalists. Although there are persistent rumours of dissension at Nationalist Headquarters between the Russian advisers and the Chinese chiefs, the driving power behind the Nationalist anti-British movement apparently continues unabated. Mr. O'Malley finds it difficult to locate and describe this \"real power,\" and only knows that it is \"something far more sinister and hostile\" than he had at first anticipated. \"Wherever it lies,\" he cabled on 7th February, \"it is sufficiently powerful to put up posters in Hankow saying 'Down with Chiang Kai Shek (the Nationalist C-in-C.); Up Borodin,'\" a slogan which invites speculation as to whether the success of the Chinese Nationalist cause is an end in itself or merely a step in a deeper design of Russian ambition.\n\n# COMPARISON OF THE SOVIET EFFORTS IN NORTH AND NORTH-WEST CHINA WITH SOVIET ACTIVITIES IN CHINA PROPER\n\n6. In comparing the efforts of the Soviet in different parts of China, the conclusion offers itself that, in Sinkiang and Mongolia - and at Barga in Manchuria - the U.S.S.R. is aiming at the gradual expansion of Soviet spheres of influence in a manner calculated to increase the area controlled from Moscow (a) to serve as a buffer between Russia and... \n\nPage 184 \n(3063)",
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        "content_text": "## 185\n\n5 \n\nthe area of chaos in China proper, and (b) as an advanced base for their disruptive activities in the latter country. In other words, in these provinces she is pursuing a constructive policy. On the other hand, her policy in China proper may be described, at present, as one of disruption, in that it encourages and implements the continuance of civil war, and aims at the destruction of the interests of the British Empire with the certain knowledge that the interests of the other Powers, with the possible exception of Japan, must automatically fall as a natural sequence. It seems inconceivable that Russia can hope to pick up what the British Empire and the other Powers are calculated to lose. The needs of China's trade can never be satisfied by the Trans-Siberian Railway, and, even if Russia hopes eventually to secure Shanghai, Tsingtao or Canton as \"a warm water port\", she can never hope to monopolise the sea-borne trade of China. Since, therefore, Russia cannot reasonably expect much material gain from the chaos which she continues to aggravate in China proper, it seems logical to infer that her present policy is based on other and ulterior motives. The subsequent attraction of the Nationalist Government into the Russian orbit must undoubtedly be included in this category, but it is also probable that, if a serious military conflict with European and especially British forces should result from the present situation, vast field might be opened to the Soviets for the furtherance of their plans for world revolution.\" From information in our possession it also seems probable that the Bolsheviks are looking to Chinese Nationalist successes to stimulate anti-British opinion in India. Indeed, we have had reports of a proposal, emanating from the I.K.K.I. in Moscow, to induce the Cantonese authorities to formulate a plan for the invasion of Burma. However fantastic this idea may be, Borodin is said to have stated that once the Chinese revolution assumed definite shape, it would be followed by revolution in India, towards which end operations would probably be begun in Tibet. The danger of serious military conflict in this area may not be very great, and it should be possible to avert it by diplomatic or other methods, but it is reasonable to assume that Russia will continue to concentrate her energies, not only on carrying the war on British trade interests to the bitter end, but also upon infecting India, through Burma, with the revolutionary spirit of her neighbour.\n\n## RUSSIAN CENTRAL ASIA\n\n7. For the purposes of this paper it is necessary to begin our examination of Russian activities in Central Asia at the time when those measures were instituted which resulted in the final subjection of Russian Turkistan. Early in 1924 Radzutak, now a member of the Politbureau, made a tour through Turkistan and Trans-Caspia, and returned to Moscow with a very pessimistic account of the results which were being obtained by the military methods then in use for the suppression of the insurgents in the Ferghana, Bokhara, Khiva and Merv areas. He urged the abandonment of the policy of suppression by force, and the substitution of a policy of conciliation, based on a recognition of nationalist aspirations. \"The native intelligentsia and bourgeois classes\" he said, \"must be made to become our friends and also close assistants in the struggle for the liberation of the East.\" In September, 1924, these suggestions were put into effect and resulted in the creation of the Uzbeg, Turkoman and Kirghiz republics and the Tajik and Kara-Kirghiz autonomous provinces.\n\nIt is reasonable to assume that the pacification of Russian Turkistan was, primarily, a domestic necessity. With larger political issues at stake in adjacent countries, it was obviously essential first to settle lesser and domestic problems within the boundaries of Russia itself. In Turkistan, not only was the solution of these difficulties proving to be costly and irritating, but their continuance was likely to embarrass the development of external schemes by sapping Russian resources, and by exposing one of the main lines of communication with the countries concerned to interruption. But if the primary motive was domestic necessity, it is evident, none the less, that the Bolsheviks were quick to appreciate the advantages to their external policy which might accrue, for, in every case, these newly formed republics had an ethnological overlap into the neighbouring provinces of Afghanistan and Persia which revealed a possible method of peaceful territorial expansion. One of the corollaries of this settlement was the inauguration of an important programme of railway construction throughout the new republics. Although the majority of these projected railway extensions may be intended primarily to promote the economic development of the country, it is undoubtedly true that the increased railway facilities afforded must eventually become of material assistance in any subsequent programme of gaining control in Afghanistan and in the consequent approach to India.\n\n## AFGHANISTAN\n\n8. The activities of Bolshevik Russia in Afghanistan have their origin and official recognition in the Russo-Afghan Treaty of 1921. By the terms of this treaty, Afghanistan accepted an annual subsidy, gifts of munitions, and the services of specialists and experts to assist in the modernisation of her communications and in the general development of the country. The result has been a steady growth of Russian influence in Kabul and the continued infiltration of Russian personnel into the country. Russification of the Afghan Air Force came as an unforeseen development, but in other respects Russian activities have followed the natural course which was to be expected. Thus at the present day a telegraph line, built under Russian supervision, is in use between Kabul and Kandahar, whilst an extension is being built towards Spin Baldak near our Baluchistan frontier. The Kushk-Kandahar telegraph line is nearing completion, and it is understood that work on the Termez-Kabul line is scheduled to begin this March. The survey of a road which is to run from the Oxus to Kabul over the Salang Pass is steadily progressing, while reports from Meshed indicate that improvements are in progress on the Kushk-Herat route. Work on a railway extension from Tejend, on the Trans-Caspian Line, to Pul-i-Khatun, close to the Perso-Afghan border, has been intermittently carried on. In August last, the Red Air Ministry are believed to have issued orders for aerial surveys to be completed by April, 1927, of areas covering the main routes north of the Hindu Kush. It is understood, also, that negotiations are now progressing in Moscow for the formation of a joint Russo-Afghan Company to promote civil aviation in Afghanistan, and link up Kabul and Kandahar with the outside world, via Tashkent and Kushk. There are indications, also, that fresh orders for military munitions may shortly be placed by the Afghan Government in Moscow. In commercial spheres, as well, the Russians have secured concrete results in the establishment of a cotton ginning factory and power plant at Herat, while steps are being taken to develop cotton production in Northern Afghanistan.\n\nOne may perhaps be inclined to doubt the sincerity of Russia's intentions (and indeed her ability) as to the immediate fulfilment of the ambitious programme outlined above but, in their cumulative effect, even as projects, they cannot fail to impress the unbiased mind with Russia's obvious desire to strengthen and to go on strengthening her hold over Afghanistan. Most of these projects would obviously be of great assistance to Russia in the event either of a peaceful absorption of Northern Afghanistan or of an ultimate military advance. In either case, it would be essential for her to prepare the way carefully, before committing herself to any line of action in a country as wild and undeveloped as Afghanistan.\n\nAlthough the military menace is undoubtedly a very real and grave one, it is by no means impossible that Russia will adopt the more peaceful policy of absorbing the defenceless northern provinces of Afghanistan by propaganda and infiltration. It is, further, conceivable that she may prefer, on the analogy of her recent successes in China, to risk no half measures, but to try to extend her control in one stride to the very borders of India by less obvious and dangerous means. On this premise it is possible that her present activities are, in theory at least, part of a constructive programme in Afghanistan. We have no direct evidence to show that disintegration of the country is her intention; on the contrary the bulk of our information indicates that her primary endeavour is to cultivate Afghan reliance on Russia, and eventually to secure political domination over the country. In August, 1926, M. Osterov, a member of the Eastern Control Commission attached to the I.K.K.I., stated \"our business is to bring as much political pressure as we can to bear on the Government (of Afghanistan) and to make it directly dependent on us\".\n\nThis statement followed the remark that \"Revolutionary and party work, in the ordinary sense, are out of place here. We are not interested in the question of whether this semi-savage kingdom is governed by an Amir or by a Revolutionary Dictator\". If my appreciation of Russian aims in China is correct, it does not seem impossible that Russian political strategy may be aiming at securing political domination over Afghanistan, with the object of developing it as a defensive buffer, to be consolidated and exploited as a jumping-off place for the next move towards India.\n\nA certain degree of support is lent to the above theory by the manner in which the Soviets handled the Urta Tagai incident of November, 1925. This incident probably owed its inception to purely local causes, but subsequent developments gave Russia ample excuse for military aggression had the time been considered opportune for such a venture. For example, failure by Russia to comply with the truculent Afghan demands for the evacuation of this obscure island would undoubtedly have provoked the Afghans to declare war, and responsibility for this outbreak could hardly have been brought home to the Russians. Various reasons have been advanced in explanation of their very conciliatory attitude. It was suggested, for instance, that internal conditions in Russia\n\n## 186",
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        "document_key": "CO129-512-1 Political situation in China- and Canton 30-11-1928 - 23-5-1929",
        "page_number": 119,
        "title": "CO129-512-1 Political situation in China- and Canton 30-11-1928 - 23-5-1929",
        "content_text": "## 4 \n\n118 \n\nis a man to be reckoned with because he is fanatical in his political beliefs; he has made a close study of the recent histories of Russia and Turkey; he is a great admirer of the makers of present day Turkey; and his ambition for position and power is boundless, while his desire for money is not known to be great. Such a man devoting his talents to working for violent changes of the existing order of things is a distinct danger to the country.\n\n10. \n\nBesides Chan Kung-pok the Leftists have more talents than the Rightists. Even now there are many Leftists serving in the Government in the higher positions. Look at T.V. Soong who was at one time the trusted servant of Borodin, and who is now in charge of the country's finances. There are other men holding positions not only in Nanking but in all the provinces, who not long ago were regarded as extremists in the political world.\n\n11. Wang Ching-wei with his band of able lieutenants is bound to re-emerge with triumph soon or late. Wang himself is liked and respected by his followers, and he certainly has greater qualities as a leader than his \"opposite\" Hu Han-min.\n\n12. Some who do not know the inner history of the affair condemn, and rightly, Chiang Kai-shek for having married Soong Mei-ling in the circumstances known to the world. Chiang is not such a fool as to incur the odium, which he knew to be inevitable, of divorcing his wife \"to marry a little pretty face\". He realised his own position which had never been secure, and he accordingly married into a family whose principal members, such as the second Mrs. Sun Yat-sen and T.V. Soong, are inclined",
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        "document_key": "CO129-520-1 Chinese situations 20-12-1929 - 27-1-1931",
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        "title": "CO129-520-1 Chinese situations 20-12-1929 - 27-1-1931",
        "content_text": "Extract from the South China Morning Post of 24th February, 1930\n\nWith an excess of supply over demand the Silver Market has trended steadily downward throughout the year owing principally to a falling off in Indian demand, Continental sales of silver, presumably released when French Indo-China decided upon the transfer of their currency to a gold basis, an operation which they have now virtually accomplished, and, finally, a continuance of sales by the Indian Government.\n\nAs regards this last it is reasonable to suppose that in future, with the Refinery now working in Bombay, surplus coin in the Silver Currency Reserve will generally be refined and sold locally as opportunity offers, thus narrowing the outlet for the world's production. The increase in the Reserve is a weight on the silver market and with conditions as they are in China one looks in vain for any probable source of consumptive demand of sufficient strength and endurance to effect an appreciable recovery in prices. As I have said, our local requirements in Hongkong are bound to prove limited.\n\nSilver Prices.\n\nTrade in China.\n\nTaking the staple imports, foreign cotton manufactures have had to compete with a substantial increase of output from the local mills. The raising of the Japanese boycott also brought a flood of Japanese cotton goods on to the market, making competition extremely difficult for British manufacturers. The trade in woollens was dull in spite of lowered prices. The engineering business showed welcome signs of recovery from a long period of stagnation, thanks largely to the quickening of industrial developments on the Yangtze and to greater activity in the sphere of public works.\n\nRailway communications, to which I shall again refer later, have shown some slight improvement over the conditions of the previous year, but military interference has prevented or crippled traffic on nearly all main lines. The construction of 600 miles of railway track in Manchuria during the last three years is a fact worthy of notice.\n\nCoastal shipping has had a difficult year and again met with tragic experience at the hands of pirates. Foreign navigation on the Yangtze passed an uneventful year, the effect of reduced volume of trade being partly offset by Government commandeering of native vessels for military transport.\n\nThere was an increased importation of railway material, including engines and rolling-stock, a considerable demand for aircraft for both military and commercial use and a good market for motor vehicles corresponding to the rapid extension of motor roads in most provinces of China. British products, I may add, were fairly well represented in the supply of industrial machinery, only moderately so in regard to railway requirements and very slightly in the case of the motor trade.\n\nIn India the past year cannot be ranked as a very prosperous period, the trade of the country having shown a decided tendency to sag. The jute and gunny markets, two of the most important, have suffered from lower prices than had been seen for several years. The tea industry also saw a steady drop in values due to increased crops and the existence of unusually large stocks in the United Kingdom. The last monsoon was a fair one and should improve the position in regard to foodstuffs. Native manufactures have been favoured by better relations between employers and labour.\n\nCustoms Returns.\n\nThe extreme quotations of the year for the price of silver were as follows: highest: 26.7/16d., lowest: 21.5/16d., per standard ounce, which constituted a low record for the metal; (since then there has been a further decline). The quotations for Shanghai exchange were, highest: 2/7.1/14d., lowest: 2/1d., per tael for telegraphic transfers to London.\n\nThe Customs returns for the year show a gross revenue of Taels 152 millions against 82 millions in 1928. Reckoned in silver this represents an increase of 85%; reckoned in gold 68%; in this connexion I may add that, under the new tariff, the proportion of Customs revenue required for the foreign loans and indemnities at current rates of exchange is considerably less than one-half.\n\nJapan's trade for 1929 shewed a marked improvement over the low level of 1928. Exports shewed a large increase and the adverse trade balance for the year, standing at Yen 67.1/2 millions, is the lowest for ten years. The new Government which took office about the middle of the year set itself strenuously to appreciate the value of the Yen in preparation for restoring the currency to a gold basis.\n\nBy a curious coincidence Shanghai exchange touched the top on the first and bottom limits on the last days of the year respectively.\n\nThe mine production of silver for 1929 is computed at 275 millions of standard ounces which, added to 60 millions from outside sources, gives a total of 335 millions - an increase of 12 millions over the previous year. China's estimated consumption was 143 millions and India's 70 millions, corresponding respectively to 141 and 110 millions in 1928. China thus again achieved a record.\n\nThe trading conditions of last year in India and the Far East have, as I have already mentioned, been none too favourable. In the first place China failed to realize the promise of the previous year and relapsed into civil warfare; famine and brigandage played their familiar roles and a further misfortune was added in the fall of the silver currency. This accumulation of evils effectively destroyed any chances of trade expansion and I think we may reckon it fortunate that there has not been a more appreciable decline.\n\nThe raising of the tariff in February had little apparent effect on the volume of import trade which was well maintained during the first few months of the year. As the year progressed, however, the various hindrances to commerce became increasingly felt. Wars and disorders in the provinces together with the drop in exchange checked the demand for imports, while exports fell away under the burden of military taxation and difficulties of transport.\n\nIn the autumn came the disturbance of the foreign markets resulting from the crash on the New York Stock Exchange, and the end of the year found business in China at an unusually low ebb with little prospect of an early turn of the tide.\n\nThe Customs have not made available the comparative figures with former years which are necessary to furnish an index of the increase or decrease of trade, but one may infer by calculation a falling off though not of serious extent from the previous year's volume. The figures bring out the increasing preponderance of Shanghai's trade in relation to that of the rest of China; they also indicate a redressing of the balance between the northern and the southern ports, the south having recovered much of the ground lost through the Communist troubles, while the figures for the north show distinct decline.\n\nThis is especially the case in regard to Tientsin which found itself starved of cargo from up-country owing to the political unrest and also suffered for the first half year from the unnavigable state of the river which connects it with the sea. The Manchurian figures reflect the disastrous effect of the Sino-Russian dispute and the interruption of the Chinese Eastern Railway which, besides increasing freight rates, upset the economic machinery of the country and severely checked all commercial development.\n\nShipping Difficulties.\n\nFrom a fairly promising start trade conditions in the Straits Settlements and Malaya deteriorated through the year and finished at a regrettably low level. A notable increase in the world's consumption of rubber was outstripped by the increase in production and export, and prices receded in the latter half of the year to abnormally low figures. The tin industry presented similar features. The import trade shewed a corresponding decline and was very dull in the second part of the year.\n\nWhile on the subject of the Customs, let me add a word of recognition of the very successful manner in which the service, under Mr. Maze's guidance, has emerged from the very difficult crisis with which it was faced just over a year ago.\n\nAlthough trade in the Philippine Islands suffered from the effects of the world over-production of sugar as well as of the devastating typhoons and civil commotion revenues have been regularly remitted. In spite of wars and civil commotion the treaty-port has maintained prestige of the foreign administration in the fact that General conditions are by no means unsatisfactory.\n\nWe have evidence, too, of the main-tained prestige of the foreign administration both by private enterprise and considerable development is taking place.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-520-1 Chinese situations 20-12-1929 - 27-1-1931.txt",
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    {
        "id": 521178,
        "series_id": 27,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-co129-engine",
        "series_title": "CO129 Colonial Office Hong Kong Records 理藩院香港檔案",
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        "document_key": "CO129-520-6 Railway development- Canton-Kowloon Railway 5-11-1929 - 5-11-1930",
        "page_number": 79,
        "title": "CO129-520-6 Railway development- Canton-Kowloon Railway 5-11-1929 - 5-11-1930",
        "content_text": "250\n\nTHE CHINA\n\nCRITIC\n\nMarch 13, 1930\n\nMarch 13, 1930\n\nTHE CHINA CRITIC\n\n251\n\nand commerce will be seriously handicapped, and the livelihood of the people will be affected.\n\nIt is estimated that the Ministry of War now owes the Ministry of Railways about $12,930,000 for subsidies paid to various army groups and $3,250,000 for military transportation charges within a period of slightly over a year. The Ministry of Railways has sent a bill to the War Department, but the bill remains unpaid.\n\nIt will be recalled that at the Second Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, it was decided to appropriate two-thirds of the entire Boxer-Indemnity Funds for railway construction in China. Sometime ago, a petition was presented to the Administrative Yuan of the National Government suggesting that two-thirds of the Sino-British, Sino-Russian, and Sino-Italian Boxer Indemnity Funds be first appropriated to the Ministry of Railways for the completion of Canton-Hankow, Lunghai, and other lines. If negotiations with the British and Italian Governments had not been completed, it was further suggested that two-thirds of the Sino-Russian Indemnity Funds be handed over to the Railway Ministry. It has been discovered that the Peiping Universities continue to get $350,000 each month from the Sino-Russian Boxer-Indemnity Funds. As it has been decided by the National Government that the Sino-Russian Indemnity Funds shall be used for the completion of the Lunghai Railway, there will be no funds left for the railway construction, unless the Peiping Universities get their funds from some other source.\n\nAs the preliminary part of the Ministry's railway construction program, a number of men have been sent out to do surveying work in different provinces. The men assigned on the proposed Nanking-Canton line have been unable to do any work in Kwangtung and Fukien Provinces on account of bandit activities. Military operations in Kwangsi, Kweichow, and Yunnan provinces have also interfered with the work of the Ministry's staff. Mr. Chao Ya-chen, an expert of the Ministry, was killed last December by bandits at Ta Kuang, in Kweichow Province.\n\nThe debts of the railways run up to a stupendous total of $559,000,000. The loan agreements with various parties differ, and unless steps are taken to reorganize the railway debts, the actual financial condition of the country's railways cannot be ascertained. The creditors repeatedly go to the Ministry of Railways and ask for information regarding the payment of these debts. As the prestige of any government is largely determined by its ability or otherwise to meet its obligations, it is of great importance that the National Government should devise some means for the reorganization of the country's debts.\n\nThe Kiao-Tsi Railway, popularly known as Shantung Railway, has to pay $40,000,000 (Yen) to the Japanese Government within a period of 15 years, beginning from January 1, 1923. For seven years, the railway has paid up regularly the annual interest of $2,400,000 (Yen), but the principal remains unpaid. Before 1938, China must pay up that amount, and so far, nothing has been done towards meeting this obligation. The only thing the Kiao-Tsi Railway can do will be that of cutting down its expenses and of setting aside every year a certain amount of money for that purpose.\n\nTransportation undoubtedly has a lot to do with the development of a country's industries and commerce. While the railways want to increase their revenues, they must in the meantime take into consideration the business condition along the lines. Steps ought to be taken to facilitate the distribution of foodstuffs throughout the country and to encourage the development of native industries, so that severe famines in certain parts of the country can be prevented and the native commercial interests may compete on even terms with foreign business concerns.\n\nMeasures have been adopted for the taking over by the government of the Canton-Hankow Railway. This line was formerly financed by private interests with a capital of approximately $20,000,000. The Ministry of Railways recently submitted a proposal to the National Government suggesting that $20,000,000 worth of bonds be floated using the revenues of Canton-Shaokwan and Canton-Samshui sections of the Canton-Hankow Railway as securities. The proposal was approved by the National Government. The regulations governing the issuance of these bonds were promulgated by the Ministry of Railways on January 1, 1930. Beginning from April 1, 1930, the proposed bonds will be issued by the Ministry.\n\nIn spite of the unsettled conditions throughout the country, the following reports regarding the revenues for 1929-30 of various railways may prove interesting:\n\n  \n    \n    Revenues\n    Increase over 1928-9\n  \n  \n    Tientsin-Pukow Railway\n    $10,315,000\n    $6,143,000\n  \n  \n    Nanking-Shanghai Railway\n    $12,328,000\n    $1,811,000\n  \n  \n    S.H.N. Railway\n    $5,959,000\n    $1,959,000\n  \n  \n    Chengtai Railway\n    $5,134,000\n    $535,000\n  \n  \n    Kiao-Tsi Railway\n    $2,153,000\n    $1,213,000\n  \n  \n    Lunghai Railway\n    $447,000\n    $211,000\n  \n  \n    Hunan-Hupeh Railway\n    $1,075,000\n    $705,000\n  \n  \n    Canton-Kowloon Railway\n    $12,569,000\n    $610,000\n  \n\nThe Pei-Ning Railway, formerly known as the Peking-Mukden Railway, has been instructed to conclude a contract with the Netherlands Harbor Works Company of Amsterdam, Holland, for the development of the Port of Hulutao. Actual engineering work is to start this year as soon as weather permits.\n\nMukden is situated like the hub of a wheel, where a great deal of traffic must pass through. The distance from Mukden to Hulutao is 186 miles, and the distance from Mukden to Dairen is 246 miles. After careful study by experts, Hulutao has been regarded as a natural outlet to the sea for Manchuria and Inner-Mongolia. A proper port development at this place and a consistent rail development of the Three Eastern Provinces must create an enormous traffic for shipment through Hulutao.\n\nRailway development, unlike the activities of most of the other departments of the Government, is a profit-making proposition. Not only it brings larger revenues to the Government treasury, it represents one of the most important factors in the improvement of the economic condition of any country, and in the promotion of general welfare. The later the Government carries out its railway construction program, the greater difficulty it will have in its attempt to bring prosperity to the undeveloped regions in far-off provinces.\n\nThe existing railways can never be run on a business basis if the local military authorities are permitted to interfere with the administration of these lines. Drastic measures must be taken by the Central Government for the suppression of such irregular activities. The road is difficult but it is not impossible.\n\nAttitudes Toward China\n\nBy Hugh McL. Gilmore\n\nThe new and more orderly regime in China is regarded by most foreigners with disfavour. The reason is simple. Great changes have taken place abroad; younger countries have acted energetically and with vision to expedite economic and other \"progress.\" Chinese efforts to effect rehabilitation of her scattered fortunes seem, they think, in comparison, futile and ill-directed.\n\nTo a certain extent, this attitude is excusable. Foreign critics of an Eastern country, who belong to a totally different order of civilisation from those whose weakness they would appraise, cannot keep their minds free from purely national bias of the unreasoning sort; they naturally search for such attributes as are prized among themselves and feel disgusted if these are not in evidence. The result is they see specific faults too plainly while overlooking the very qualities on which greatness is mainly based. China, therefore, has suffered extremely from the stupidity, misstatement, and misrepresentation, from the lack of sympathy and generosity, and principally from the pure ignorance of her critics.\n\nIn the West, Might connotes Right. Western revenues, accordingly, are spent on war, past and to come, and only the residue on useful objects. The people are, have been, and always will be loaded with taxation for the construction of guns, battleships, poisonous gases, and aeroplanes for the purpose of killing each other wholesale.\n\nUntil comparatively recently, China had none of these things. Ergo, China is uncivilised, unworthy of consideration. The West, enforced by those selfsame armaments and gases, calls for \"law and order\" in a country whose efforts to enforce \"law and order\" are hindered by Western pugnacity.\n\nChina, unfortunately, is unable to offset the insinuations of these more pugnacious nations in the only way which they understand and appreciate. She believes in a progress of her own definition. Her belief is fortified by daily illustration of how the West protects \"progress\" with battleships and bluff and frames its ideals, not according to the measure of its altruism, but according to the measure of its ambitions. Hence, China has adopted, mistakenly it is true, a conversational attitude, thinking that constant iteration of her requirements would find a receptive ear.\n\nBut iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat rather than progress. This has happened in China. Unfamiliar with the intrigue which for centuries has supported Occidental diplomacy, her statesmen have more or less relied upon the \"honourable obligations\" of the West; they have spoken when they should have acted, reposed confidence where confidence is adjudged an indication of weakness. \"Honourable obligations,\" unknown to them, have long been buried under a pall of hypocrisy. Iteration of such \"obligations\" has engendered naivete and helped to cloud the issue where a little judicious action would have induced favourable consideration of inherent rights.\n\nIt does not logically follow that China, to attain her rights, should similarly put bloodshed and blood lust before civilisation. The world, happily, is awakening to a realisation of the futility of war and warlike methods and is in a fit state now, after centuries of morbid hate, to recognise that seeds of death planted in a loam of artificial hate have thrust their black heads above the earth all too often. Aggression is receding before world reason. China, accordingly, should so plan her future so that the surfeit of speech which hitherto has hampered her striving after autonomy should be abandoned in favour of pre-conceived and practical action. Speech, as a famous diplomat tells us, is after all but a form of innocuous gas. This innocuity, in China at least, has served to \"Make men lose the good they oft might win by fearing to attempt.\"\n\nIt is strange that no effort has been made to put the proper interpretation on the chief Western argument against Chinese autonomy, the lack of \"law and order.\" It is stranger still that no native statesman has expressed its true meaning. While banditry and disorder exist in every country in the world, China has been singled out for obloquy on that very count. It is natural that disorder in a country of 400,000,000 souls, hampered by foreign jurisdiction, should be greater than in a country of 40,000,000 free from alien restrictions.\n\n85",
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    {
        "id": 579522,
        "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": "CO129-592-6 Reports on current situation- including weekly intelligence reports 18-9-1945 - 20-12-1945",
        "page_number": 64,
        "title": "CO129-592-6 Reports on current situation- including weekly intelligence reports 18-9-1945 - 20-12-1945",
        "content_text": "9\n\nStopped at the level of the 8th floor by a fully armed and equipped Chinese soldier who refused to allow them to proceed any further. It transpired that a body of five Chinese officers and fourteen other ranks had entered MACAO some hours previously, under arms and without the sanction of the Portuguese authorities, and had proceeded to requisition the entire ninth floor of the Grand Hotel.\n\nThe Portuguese police were called out and some 20 or 30 of them, armed with tommy-guns and rifles, threw a cordon around the building and occupied the remaining floors of the hotel. An interview was then conducted with the senior Chinese officer and it was pointed out to him by Captain CUNHA (through an interpreter) that the Chinese troops had entered the Colony without authority and that under international law it was not permitted for troops of other countries to march through the streets of a neutral power carrying arms.\n\nThe Chinese officer, who was dressed in American uniform but wore no badges of rank or identification, replied in a truculent manner that he was under orders from his immediate superior Gen. CHAN FA KUI, and that he and his men had come from CANTON (as the advance party of a larger force) for the purposes of arresting collaborators and war criminals in MACAO, collecting Japanese war materials, and occupying buildings previously held by the Japanese or WANG CHING WEI's puppets. He refused in any way to alter the stand he had taken up.\n\nLater in the day, however, after further discussion between Captain CUNHA and the Chinese officer, a compromise was reached whereby the Chinese troops withdrew to houses allocated for their use by the Portuguese authorities, under orders to leave their arms there when walking in the streets. The Chinese officer apologised to CAPTAIN CUNHA for his attitude but maintained that pending the receipt of further instructions from his superior officer he could neither withdraw from the Colony nor hand over his arms.\n\nIt is suggested by the British Army officer concerned that the incident is connected with the recent arrival in MACAO in civilian clothes of Gen. CHENG KOK YIA, who in presenting his credentials stated that the purpose of his visit was to co-ordinate the actions of the Chinese and Macao Governments in the apprehension of certain war criminals, who he demanded should be handed over to him. He further demanded the immediate closing down of all gambling saloons and opium dens in the Colony on the orders of Generalissimo CHIANG KAI-SHEK. He was very properly informed that since MACAO was Portuguese territory the Generalissimo's orders carried no weight.\n\nIt is noted that the \"TONG FONG\" press, at least, has been at pains to lay down the MACAO incident as a matter of little moment which has now been satisfactorily settled.\n\n12. SPECIAL BRIEF - \"A\"\n\nSUMMARY OF THE MILITARY SITUATION IN CHINA\n\nI. THE KUOMINTANG AND THE COMMUNISTS:-\n\nJudging by the chief political development of the past week it seems evident that Chungking and the Communists are still competing for the control of Hopei (including Peiping and Tientsin), Inner Mongolia, Suiyuan, Shansi and Shantung provinces. In Shantung the Communists are holding Weihaiwei and Chefoo while the Chungking troops are occupying Tsingtao. The Communist Mayor of Weihaiwei stated that the Communist garrison would fight to the finish if Chungking attempted to oust the Communists from the Shantung peninsula. The proposal made in some Chungking circles...",
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    {
        "id": 595018,
        "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": "CO129-619-1 Parliamentary delegation to China 1-9-1947 - 23-12-1947",
        "page_number": 93,
        "title": "CO129-619-1 Parliamentary delegation to China 1-9-1947 - 23-12-1947",
        "content_text": "18 \n\n1 \n\nover outlying parts of the country which will then \nestablish local regimes exercising semi-independent authority. Some such process is already visible in \nthe north, where Manchuria, Inner Mongolia (comprising the Chinese provinces of Chahar, Suiyuan and Ninghsia) and Sinkiang are already progressing towards varying degrees of independence, the first two under Communist influence, and the third (`Sinkiang`) \nas a result of a native autonomy movement which many \npeople consider to be Soviet-sponsored.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/2diw2n4r2/CO129-619-1 Parliamentary delegation to China 1-9-1947 - 23-12-1947.txt",
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