Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 758

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KIAOCHAU (TSINGTAO)

the destroyers Usk and Kennett assisted in the naval operations. Upwards of 5,000; prisoners were taken and conveyed to Japan for internment until the end of the war.

By the Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1915, China engaged herself to recognise all matters that may be agreed upon between the Japanese Government and the German Government respecting the disposition of all the rights, interests and concessions,, which, in virtue of treaties or otherwise, Germany possessed vis-a-vis China int relation to the province of Shantung. This instrument was recognised at the time by Great Britain and France. At the Conference of the Allies, at Paris, the Chinese delegates contended that any rights which Germany possessed should revert to their Government, in accordance with Japan's original undertaking, especially as, since: that undertaking was given, China had become one of the Allies. As they failed to obtain satisfaction, they declined to sign the Peace Treaty with Germany, which, provided that Germany's rights in Shantung should be transferred to Japan.

While Kiaochau was in German occupation, the special attention of the Adminis tration was devoted to agricultural, commercial and mining development in the Protectorate and Shantung. The local administration consisted of a Council, composed of all the heads of the several administrative departments under the personal supervision of the Governor and four members chosen from the civil population and appointed for two years. The Protectorate developed to an unlooked-for extent under this system of administration, which enabled all the vital questions at issue, such as legal rights, landed properties, land tax assessment, school and Church matters, to be satisfactorily settled. The object of the Administration in dealing with the land question was to secure for every settler the lasting possession of his plot, thereby opposing unhealthy land speculation. Tsingtao, on the 2nd September, 1898, was de clared a free port. The harbour had all the advantages of a Treaty port, and as a free port especially recommended itself as an emporium, since the merchant could there store, free of duty, his wares from abroad or his raw materials brought from the interior of China. The Chinese import duties were at first levied only on goods. brought to Tsingtao by sea, when they were transported beyond the borders of the Protectorate into Chinese territory. The Chinese export duties were at first levied e only on goods brought from the interior of China, when they were shipped from the German Protectorate to any other place. But in 1906 a new Convention came into force whereby Tsingtao ceased to be a free port, and the Imperial Maritime Customsu began to collect duties there as at all the other Treaty ports of China. But the Conven-lis tion stipulated that 20% of the money so collected at Tsingtao should be paid to the d Imperial German Government. The Commissioner of Customs in his report for 190600 commented on the arrangement as follows :-" The principal object of the arrangement, Jo which, moreover, afforded the opportunity of a political rapprochement and materialer concessions for mutual benefit on both sides, was the creation and promotion of tradeb and commerce between the Pachtgebiet and the Chinese hinterland. The results of the first epoch have conclusively proved the wisdom of this novel arrangement. Under it · trade developed beyond expectation and rose from a value of 2 million Taels in 1899 to 22 millions in 1905, and Tsingtao, the former dilapidated fishing village, grew into ac handsome city with a flourishing mercantile community and a considerable numberse of manufacturing establishments, giving promise of good profits and further develop ment. Its success emboldened the merchants, foreign and Chinese, to ask for, and the l Government to agree to, going a step further and arranging for the limitation of the freep area, which formerly comprised the whole Pachtgebiet, to the harbour on much the same lines as the German free ports Hamburg and Bremen. The chief advantage of this step lies in the removal of Customs control from the railway stations to the frees, area, and the consequent freedom of goods and passengers to pass in and out, from ands to the hinterland, without hindrance or control of any kind a traffic simplification i from which a considerable increase in trade was expected." The new arrangement inspired confidence in the stability and future of the port and attracted artisans, traders, and wealthy Chinese firms, which last, hitherto dealing with Chefoo had until now kept aloof from the place. The total value of trade increased from 30.7 millions Haikwan Taels in 1906 to 39.7 millions Haik wan Taels in 1909, and reached a} total of Hk. Tls. 56,330,321 for the year 1912, or an increase of 20% over the previous year: notwithstanding the disadvantageous conditions for trade caused by the revolutionary troubles in China.

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The Bay of Kiaochau is an extensive inlet two miles north-west of Cape Jaeschke. The entrance is not more than 13 miles across, the east side being a low promontory with rocky shores, with the new town of Tsingtao ("green island," from a small grassy island close to the land) about two miles from the point of the peninsula. On thei