Directory_and_Chronicle_1909 — Page 795

CHINA

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the Tu-cha Yuan, or Board of Public Censors. It consists of from 40 to 50 members. By the ancient custom of the Empire, all the members of this Board are privileged to present any remonstrance to the sovereign. One censor must be present at the meeting of each of the Government Boards.

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The amount of the public revenue of China is not known, and estimates concerning it vary greatly. The Imperial Maritime Customs receipts form the only item upon which exact figures are obtainable, and these for the year 1907 amounted to Tls. Mr. E. A. Parker, formerly of the British Consular Service, in 1896 made a computation which gave a revenue of Tls. 84,000,000, and Sir Robert Hart in 1901 computed it at Tls. 88,200,000. Mr. H. B. Morse, Commissioner of Customs and Statistical Secretary to the Inspectorate General of Customs, brought these figures up to date in 1907, making the total Taels 102,924,000, and the imperial expenditure so far as is known or reported, was calculated at Taels 136,496,000, giving an excess of expenditure over revenue amounting to Tls. 33,572,000, “indicating, as the government is far from bank- rupt, a considerable degree of elasticity in the revenue. Besides the revenue from the Customs given above, the receipts from the other principal sources, allocated to Imperial purposes are in round sums : Land tax Taels 26,000,000; Tribute, Tls. 7,500,000; Native Customs, Tls. 4,000,000; Salt gabelle, Tls. 13,000,000; Miscellaneous taxes Tls. 4,000,000 ; Lekin on general merchandise and native customs Tls. 14,000,000. Mr. Morse estimates that in addition to this about Tls. 142,000,000 for provincial administration and Tis.43,000,000 for local administration, is raised, giving a grand total of Tls. 284,000,000—a sum which, as Mr. Morse remarks, is an obviously insufficient sum on which to maintain the fabric of govern- ment of an Empire like China. Recently the question of evolving a National Budget has been discussed in government circles at Peking, but this is a task which has been described by a competent authority as one to puzzle the shrewdest firm of chartered account- ants. The amounts given above are those supposed to be accounted for to the Government, but very much larger amounts are raised from the people and absorbed by the officials in the way of peculation. With the significant exception of the Maritime Customs, which is under foreign control, no item of revenue shows any elasticity. The land tax, salt revenue, Lekin or Native Customs, where they are still under native control, are all about the same figures as they were ten years ago, although it is a matter of common notoriety that these sources of revenue have increased indefinitely. Many modifications were decided upon in 1901 in the fiscal plans of both the central and provisional governments to enable China to meet the obliga- tions created by the indemnity paid to the Powers on account of the Boxer rising in 1900. In some districts Lekin and Native Customs were brought under the control of the Imperial Maritime Customs and hypothecations made on the salt revenues. The tariff was raised to an effective 5 per cent. ad valorem. These innovations. will obtain till 1940, when the amortization of China's obligations will be complete. Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-General of the Imperial_Maritime Customs, estimated in 1904 the possible revenue from a reform of the Land Tax at 400 million taels.

China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874, when a loan of £627,675, bearing 8 per cent. interest, was contracted through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority, and secured by the Customs revenue. Afterwards a number of other loans, of comparatively moderate amount, were contracted, mostly through the agency of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and several of them have been paid off. Up to 1894 the total foreign debt of China was inconsiderable, but since then extensive borrowings have had to be made to meet the expenses of the war with Japan and the indemnity, which was Tls. 200,000,000 (at exchange of 3s. 34d.), with a further Tls. 20,000,000 for the retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula. The last instalment was paid in 1898, and the total indebtedness of the country up to 1900 was £55,755,000, the princi- pal loans being the Russian of 1895, the Anglo-German of 1896, and the Anglo-German of 1898, each of £16,000,000. The country's obligations in 1901 were increased by a sum of Tls. 450,000,000, the amount of the indemnity paid to the Powers to meet (1) the expenses of the Expeditionary Forces, and (2) claims for compensation for losses to missions, corporations, individuals, etc. Several minor loans have since been obtained, chiefly for railway construction, and China's total foreign debt outstanding amounts now to about £140,000,000.

AREA AND POPULATION

China proper, extending over 1,335,841 square miles, is divided into eighteen provinces, according to the official records for 1907, the area and population of the various prefectures and provinces are as given.

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