Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 783

KIAOCHAU (TSINGTAO)

州膠

Kiáu-chau

Tsingtao, situated at the entrance to Kiaochau Bay in Shantung, was occupied by a German squadron on November 14th, 1897, in consequence of the murder of two German missionaries, and Germany obtained from China a lease of the territory for the term of ninety-nine years. When the great war in Europe broke out in 1914, Japan, under the terms of her treaty of alliance with Great Britain, intervened because the peace of the Far East was menaced by the German occupation of Kiaochau, inasmuch as the Colony constituted a naval base for operations in the East against the shipping and terri- tories of the countries with whom Germany was at war. Shortly after the outbreak of the war Japan advised Germany to disarm all her armed vessels in Chinese and Japanese waters, and to hand Kiaochau over to Japan with a view to its eventual restoration to China. Germany returned no reply to this communication. Consequently, on August 23rd, Japan declared war against Germany, and took measures at once in co-operation with the British to blockade and invest the Gerinan territory of Kiaochau. The bombardment of the place by land and sea began on September 27th, and the garrison capitulated on November 7th after all the forts had been taken by a final night attack, in which the South Wales Borderers took part with the Japanese. H.M.S. Triumph and 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 might 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-à-vis China in 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 -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 Customs began to collect duties there as at all the other Treaty ports of China. But the Conven- tion stipulated that 20% of the money so collected at Tsingtao should be paid to the Imperial German Government. The Commissioner of Customs in his report for 1906 commented on the arrangement as follows:-"The principal object of the arrangement,

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