CHINA
571
was to retain a silver reserve with which to pay the troops and so prevent mutinies and looting, but whatever the motive which prompted the so-called moratorium, there can be no question as to its harmful effect upon the national credit. The Government, however, managed to carry on the administration, and, in October, 1916, sanctioned the payment of silver by the Bank of China, with the result that the value of the Bank of Communications notes rose in one day from 79 to 91, but declined again to 87 in consequence of the run on the Bank of China for silver payments. To finance the futile war against the South the Government borrowed money from Japanese sources with a recklessness that scandalised all people interested in this country, especially as the proceeds were dissipated among the selfish Tuchuns and their followers. National assets were pledged with the prodigality of those who give away what is not their's. During 1918 alone over 150,000,000 yen was borrowed.
China's foreign debts are in various currencies and, owing to fluctuation of ex- change and the paucity of statistical information in Peking, considerable difficulty is experienced in arriving at an accurate figure of China's national indebtedness. The generally-accepted estimate is $1,500,000,000, although some authorities put it as high as $2,000,000,000. The Ministry of Finance reckon it on the basis of $4 per capita, which, taking China's population at 400,000,000, would make the National Debt $1,600,000,000. The following statement is as accurate as any, and represents the result of the examination of many returns:
....
1. General Foreign Loans 2. Foreign Railway Loans 3. Foreign Indemnities 4. Internal Long Term Loans 5. Internal Short Term Loans 6. Treasury Notes, etc.
4
$268,978,252
334,802,631
482,841,744
......
.... .....
275,226,738 69,101,978 18,640,000
$1,449,592,343
Budget Statements in China have yet to become the precise documents that they are in other countries. During the autumn of 1919 Parliament framed a Budget which showed a deficit of $120,000,000. To meet this it was proposed to reduce military expenditure by $20,000,000 and to introduce reforms in the collection of taxes which would yield another $20,000,000. For the balance a loan was to be raised. The corruption that has marked Peking finance for the last few years was deinonstrated in the spring of 1922, when Tung Kang, then acting Minister of Justice, published the conclusions of a Loan Commission which had been appointed by the Government and of which he was chairman. As the result of these disclosures, Mr. Tung was appointed Minister of Finance, but, there being no money in the exchequer, he was unsuccessful as his predecessors. Hence, another commission was formed, known as the Cominission for the Study of Financial Problems, over which Dr. Wellington Koo presided, for the discussion of ways and means whereby a fundamental re-organisation of China's finances could be effected.
as
To date the most complete statement of China's financial position is contained in the report by Dr. Lo Wen-kan prepared at the end of 1922. According to that report, which accompanied the Twelfth year Budget, the domestic loans as they stood in September, 1922, were $208,400,000 with security, and $249,000,000 without security; while the foreign loans amounted to $1,029,000,000 secured and $240,000,000 unsecured, making a total of $1,726,400,000.
The Chinese people have money, and if they can be made to have confidence in the promise of their rulers, ready cash to any amount, and even to the extent of paying off the national debt of China at one time, might be forthcoming.
The Maritime Customs and the Salt Gabelle are the only two sources of revenue for which exact figures are so far available. The Customs receipts amounted to Hk. Tls. 68,871,876 in 1927, as compared with Hk. Tls. 80,435,962 in 1926, Hk. Tls. 70,725,667 in 1925, Hk. Tls. 69,595,131 in 1924, Hk. Tls. 63,504,251 for 1923, and Hk. Tls. 59,359,194 for 1922, the highest on record up to that time. In his review of the trade for 1927 Mr. L. de Luca, the Statistical Secretary of the Chinese Maritime Customs .writes: The obstacles which arose to restrict trade at every turn were entirely of domestic origin, and so powerful that the Customs revenue dropped by some 10 million Haikwan taels, and the aggregate value of the country's foreign trade was some 53.9
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.