78
HERR VON BANDT AND THE AUDIENCE QUESTION.
Herr VON BRANDE, the late
German
Minister to China, has, we note, been mak- ing a defence of the now happily discardel and discredited policy of the Ministers at Peking in accepting audience in the Hall of Tributary Nations. This designation of the Hall, be maintains, is incorrect. In his
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND resigned over the Military Contribution question, but Penang resolutely refuses to join in de horment, and in fact, if the Penang Guzette may be taken as a correct exponent of public feeling in the Settlement, Mr. SHELFORD'S speech at
[January 31, 1895.
ment. In the Straits the estimated revenue for 1895, enhanced by increased taxation, is $3,973,521, and the contribution of £90,000, taken at the exchange o. the day, comes to about 223 per cent on that amount. But if to the above revenue be added that of the the recent great meeting at Singapore various municipalities, which was in 1893 our Penang contemporary characterises as $1,162,862, arrive at Eli total
speers at it!
we
of
nothing but froth and gas. Why," it $5,596,383, on which sum the contribution Chats about China" now appearing in the asks, “should not the Home Government amounts to about 16 per cent. only, instead
London and China Express he says: " The foreign press in China. having got hold of the question, reproached the Representa- tives with having submitted to an indignity by accepting to be received in the ball of tributary nations used for the reception of envoys sent by them. This whole state- ment has no foundation; the hall in ques- tion has never borne the name given to in
+4
measure its exactions by the length of the of 22 per cent. Colony's purse? It is right that every "part of the Empire should pay according "to its abilities for the protection of "the whole It is right that the rich
64
by the press uor been used for the purposes: « area under British Protection." The latter be" inequitable, but the colony could not
attribute 1 to it; the only fault which might have been found with the arrangements of 1873, that instead of making the reception of the foreign envoys by the Emperor the acknowledgment of their right to such an. audience, it placed it rather in the light of a favour grantel by the Chinese, was over- looked by the critics, who never went fur-
"should pay for the poor, The Colony of the Straits Settlements and her de- the Home Government if only the exaction pendencies can well afford the demands of is properly and fairly distributed over the allusion is to the question, of whether the Native States should be invited to join in the contribution, a side issue with which we need The not at present concern ourselves. position taken up at Penang is that resigna- tion over the Military Contribution question, while there are
other more imporiaut
Hongkong's estimated revenue for 1895 is $2,079,526, and the military contribution of £10,000, taken at the exchange of 28., amounts to 19 per cent. As a matter of fact, there- of that sum. fore, we are worse off than our neighbours in the south by some three per cent. We mediate increase in the amount demanded have not been threatened with any in from us, and not only would any increase afford to pay it. The Imperial Govern- meat is apparently satisfied that Hongkong has been squeezed as far as is reasonable and would probably be willing to let matters rumam on their present basis for some ti to come But in view of the irritation that has been expressed in the Eastern Crown to the resignation of the unofficial Justices. of an unofficial majority in Council, is
There must," of the Peace and most of the unofficial au unpractical protest. says the Gazette,
be a Military Contribution. members of Council at Singapore, it No amout of protesting can get over that. is probable that the home Government The question of amount necessarily follows, may be induced to place the whole question some rational basis and treat all the and that is one for argument." And on Penau having grievances of its own, Crown Colonies alike, instead of taking all which the Singapore unofficials instead of that can be obtained from those whose trying to remove are accused of assisting constitution allows of pressure being easily to fasten on the Settlement, now refuses to applied and exempting others whose con support those gentlemen when they choose stitution renders the process more difficult. to try to retire amidst a fizzle of cheap In the elaboration of any new scheme for local glory." So, while the Singapore the levy of military contributions on a com- unofficials resign and are apparently sup- mon basis, therefore, it is important that ported in doing so by the Singapore the fact that there is in this colony no was reserved for tributaries, and the admis-emmunity, at Penang an agitation is separation of municipal from general re- sion is emphasised by the following sen
being carried on for a fuller measure of venue should not be lost sight of. If tence" I cannot say that I altogether popular representation and a specific demand the levy is to be made in the form
shared these critic'sms. The creuiony is put forward that the right of nominating of a percentage
on revenue а rebate was entirely diffrent." That is to say. a member of Council now possessed by the ought to be allowed in the case of Hong- though the hall was objectionable, Sir Chamber of Commerce should be trans.erred kong in respect of so much of the revenue THOMAS WADE thinks the objection was re-
to an electoral boly with a broader basis. as way
be required for expenditure on moved in whole or in part by the difference The Singapore Chamber of Commerce has purely municipal purposes; otherwise this in the ceremony. We do not agree with Sir just been asked to nominate a mem-colony would be placed in a much more un- THOMAS WADE, but his testimony sufficiently
ber in lace of the one
who has favourable position than other colonies where refutes Herr VON BRANDT's contention as to
ther than the outer shell of thé question.”/ matters to be urged, such as the granting Colonies on this subject, and which has led
It so happens that the Press was right and that Herr von BRANDT is wrong. If the ball was unobjectionable why was the Tzu Kuang Ko abandoned for the Chang Kuang Tien? The latter in turn has now been abandoned for a hail within the precincts of the palace. Sir THOMAS WADE. whose authority is at least equal to that of VON BRANDT, speaking of audience of 1873, says,
"There was 'mug
dissatisfac-
་'
tion among Englishmen
that we should have been received in a
a hall
usually reserved for tributaries." Here
we have a distinct admission that the hall
14
4
the character of the hall itself. Nor is resigned. It is expected that the Chamber the municipal revenue is collected separately
the non-support or active opposition of Pe- It is unfortunate that unanimity nang. was not secured before resignation was decided on, but the partial resignation which has takep place will probably not be wholly
without effect.
When the French
will decline to do so, thus signifying from the general revenue. its approval of the policy of resignation. At the same time Penang makes representa- TRANSIT DUES IN TONKIN. tions to the effect that a Chamber of Com-
More than a year age M. DE LANESSAN merce is not a fit and proper body to exercise
Thus the two urged on the Minister for the Colonies a the right of nomination. Settlements are pulling in opposite direc-project for the abolition of the transit tions, and the effect of the resignation of the dues levied on goods passing through Ton- Singapore members must be dified y discussed in a recent issue of the Indepen- kin to and from China. This question is dance Tonkinoise, which warmly favours the proposed remission. tariff was extended to the possessions in Indo-China the necessity of treating on a more liberal basis goods simply passing through the country was recognised, with a view to encouraging trade by the Tonkin route. Absolute freedom of transit should have been granted, but instead of this a reduction of the tax to one-fifth of the amount leviable on goods entering Ton kin for internal consumption
WLS de cide upon. The total abolition of dues is proposed. In the early years of the occupation the amount of the trade by the Red River was insignificant, owing to the state of insecurity then prevail. ing, but of late years the volume of business has largely increased and the transit dues levied have become an appreciable item in the colony's receipts. Opinions as to the ad visability of the'r remission vary. Hanoi contemporary quotes from an anony.
THE HONGKONG MILITARY CON-
Herr VON BRANDT any more correct in saying that the press overlooked the fact that the arrangements in 1873, instead of making the reception of the foreign envoys by the Emperor the acknowledgment of the r right to such an audience, placed it rather in the light of a favour granted by the Chinese. That, in fact, was the chief burden of the complaint, and if the attack was directed more particularly to the selection of the Tzu Kuang Ko it was because that selection was the circumstance that mainly showed the character the Chinese wished to give to the audience, namely, not that of an audience granted as a right to the repre- sentatives of sovereigns of equal dignity with that of the Emperor, but a concession granted to inferiors. It is owing to the insistence of the press that the matter has It connection with the Military Contribu- now been placed on a more satisfactory foot-tion question the case of the Straits Setile- ing, and the utterances of Herr VON BRANDT, ments has frequently been represented as har and, to a lesser extent, those of Sir THOMAS der than that of Hongkong, inasmuch as the WADE, show what was the strength of the percentage of revenue required to meet the opposition that had to be overcome.
charge is higher. There is one important fac- tor in the calculation, however, that appears to have been overlooked. In the Straits there are municipalities for the towus of Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, each with its separate revenue distinct from the colonial revenue, In Hongkong there is no such division, tue whole revenue, alike for municipal and general purposes, being collected by the Govern.
THE SITUATION IN THE STRAIPS SETTLEMENTS.
The political situation in the Straits Settle ments at the present time is interesting and peculiar if not satisfactory. The majority of the Singapore unofficial members of Council and the Justices of the Peace have
TRIBUTION.
now
the
Our
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