130
THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.
(16th February.)
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
He
THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANK MEETING.
[February 20, 1895.
deposits on the 31st December for the last ten years may be found instructive, but un- fortunately it is only during the last three years that the silver and gold deposits have been shown separately.-
Deposits
man, the Viceroy LI HUNG-CHAN, who has been termed the Bismarck of China. I we believe to be a self-seeking man imbued with Renter's telegram stating that the Chi-all the vice of Chinese officialdom and having nese Peace Embassy has left Japan disposes little in common with the great German | of the last ray of hope that something might statesman with whom he has been compared still be done by CHAN and SHAO, with the by an ingenious but inaccurate phrase maker, assistance of Mr. FOSTER, their American Nevertheless he is in his way au undoubtedly adviser, towards arranging a settlement. On great man, with a strong will and a the arrival of the Envoys at Hiroshima it clear head, and is the best man that was found that their credentials were fatally could have been selected for the busi- defective and powerless. They were not ness that is now entrusted to him. authorised to pledge their Government knows China's weakness and will be un- and in fact occupied a position little hampered by any foolish misconceptions as superior to that of message hearers, to the country's ability to withstand so the Japanese Ministers refused to con- by force the march of the invader, and tinue negotiations and closed the conference.
as the Japanese can take no exception The Chinese Envoys were required to depart to his selection and lis cre lentials forthwith, and they left for Nagasaki to will presumably be found in order the await a steamer to China. A telegram was, negotiations will be brought to a definite however, sent to them at Nagasaki by their issue one
way or the other. Japan's Government directing them to remain at demands, at present nuknown, will be that port pending the receipt of creden- formulated, and they will have to be accepted tials which might be acceptable to the or rejected by China. They will have to be Japanese. This looked as if the Em- very exorbitant indeed to make China peror's advisers were sincerely desirous determine on a continuation of the struggle, of peace and were acting in good faith, and and the chances are therefore in favour hopes of a successful issue of the mission of the conclusion of peace, though that were revived.
These hopes have, unfor- result cannot at present he looked upon as tunately, been dissipated, and the Em- absolutely assured. Japan's ter as, whether bassy has now definitely failed. But Count accepted now or only after A further Ito is reported to have told the discredite struggle, are sure to include a considerable Chinese Envoys when dismissing them from opening up of China to foreign trade and Hiroshima that Japan would always be enterprize. ready to receive real instead of only no- minal Plenipotentiaries to treat for peace. Two Embassies have now failed and some time must necessarily elapse before a third can be despatched, The Chinese if they are
The shareholders of the Hongkong and well advised will of course send another as Shanghai Bank were in great good humour soon as possible, but the inevitable delay is at the half-yearly meeting of that institution likely to prove costly and to make the final on Saturday. And with good reason, for settlement more difficult. It was stated by the Bink is in an excellent position; it has a Japanese journal that Mr. FOSTER would been successfully steered through one of the accompany the returning Embassy to most acute and prolonged financial crises ever Peking, and would endeavour to have an known, and there is a general feeling abroad now on the threshold of a Embassy appointed by the Chinese Govern- that we are ment which should be free from the defects period of prosperity which will make up that have invalidated the efforts of the two for the leau years of the recent past. The previous Chinese peace missions. The shareholders get an increase of 5s. in their Kobe Chronicle remarks:-"That the Pek. dividend aud in their gladness of heart "ing Government are urgently in need they increased the directors' remuneration of some assistance to enable them to and sauctioned a bonus to the staff. Good "understand the position seems certain, work deserves recognition and there is little "but it may be doubted whether Mr. to cavil at in what was said and done on "FOSTER is likely to sucered where other Saturday, though some of the shareholders foreign advisers, thoroughly acquainted way look back regretfully to the times when "with Chinese methods, have failed The they received a two pound dividend with a obstinacy and purblindness of the Tsung- bonus of ten shillings added, just double "li Yamen is extraordinary, even for China." the present dividend. It will probably be a But experience is a hard teacher and long time before they get a return like that in view of the course of events at Weihaiwei again, for no doubt the recommendation of we may suppose that the Chinese are at last Mr. DOUGLAS JONES that not more than sincerely desirous of peace, and as Japan has £3 should be paid as dividend in any one said that she is willing to treat with pro-year until the reserve fund has reached a perly accredited envoys, it may be that the million sterling will be acted upon by the termination of the war is after all not so Board of Directors, the policy being a sound one. Recent experience has shown how very far off.
important a large reserve fund is and the permanent interests of the shareholders will be best consulted by devoting a reason- annual ably large proportion of the
to earnings to building up the fund the amount mentioned by Mr. DOUGLAS JONES. At present the reserve fond stands at $5,000,000 or rather less than half a million sterling.
44
LI HUNG-CHANG AS A PEACE
AMBASSADOR.
(18th February.) China has not allowed much time to elapse between the failure of her second peace mission and the appointment of a third. A Beuter's telegram informs us that LI HUNG- CHANG's honours have been restored to him and that he has been summoned to Peking prior to his starting for Japan to renew peace negotiations. There can be no doubt now that China is sincerely desirous of peace and after the failure of the two previous missions she is not likely to again make the mistake of issuing insufficient credentials to her representative. She has, moreover, selected for the mission the most representa- tive, strongest, and best known of her states-
Year. 1585.... 1886.
1837....
1858...
1889....
1890...
1891... 1892 1893. 1894...
Silver. Sterling, Total.
$66,615,078
69.865,901
70,996,295
78,745,737
81,289,205
103,1:2,514
114,031,067
$53,980,217 $35,999,83) 89 980,047 59,343,306 30/361,374. 89,707,630 73,654,339. 30,818,414 104,300,753
During 1892 there was a large withdrawal of gold deposits, owing to the failure of the Australian banks having rendered bank deposits rather an unpopular form of invest- ment at home, and in the case of the Eastern Banks a feeling of uneasiness was introduced by the rapid fall in the gold value of silver and the supposed strain that would be placed upon the banks by having to bring home silver at ruinous rates to repay the sterling deposits. It was then explained that all the gold deposits of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank were retained in London to meet the Bank's re- quirements in London and that consequent- ly there was no loss on exchange, and since then the silver and gold deposits have been shown separately in the accounts. The in- crease in the silver deposits during the last three years is remarkable! During the whole of that period complaints of bad trade have been rife and the difficulty of obtaining financial accommodation even on the best
securities has been very considerable. This applies not only to Hongkong in particular | but to the Far East in general, and, in fact, in a greater or less degree, to the whole Yet during those years the silver. world. deposits of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank have increased very largely. Where has the money come from? It has not been withdrawn from trade, nor would the savings or profits of the European communi- ties of Hongkong and the various places in the Far East where the bank has branches It must be sup- suffice to account for it. posed, therefore, that the Bank is being largely availed of by native capitalists and bankers for the purpose of safely placing their funds. A large amount of capital is thus rendered available for use in trade and we may hope that there will soon be a more ensible reliet of the long continued financials stringency thau has yet been experienced.
Reference was made by the Chairinan in his opening speech to the large accumula- tious of silver in the East, as evidenced by the large amount of cash in hand and the increase in the Bank's silver deposits. We would have been glad if Mr. HOLLIDAY had spoken a little more fully on this point and given some indication of the quarters from which these large deposits come and the signification attached to them by the Board. The following table showing the
FRANCE AND SIAM.
Reuter's recent message to the effect that a conflict had occurred between French troops and Siamese at Kammaun, on the left bank of the Mekong, in which a French officer was severely wounded, is anything but reassuring. If the report be true it is certain that France will demand satisfaction and the affair may lead to a renewal of the Franco- Siamese difficulty which was supposed to bave been settled by the treaty concluded eighteen months ago. It is possible, indeed, that France might be disposed to welcome any plausible pretext for reopening her old dispute with Siam. At the time the treaty was concluded many Frenchmen regarded it with disfavour and thought the settlement arrived at unsatisfactory, that France bad not exacted all she might have done nor all More especially was the she was entitled to. failure to dispossess Siam of the provinces of Angkor and Battambang condemned. If Siam has exceeded her rights, therefore, or been guilty of any act of treachery or ill- faith, she may have to pay dearly for it. ⠀⠀ Ite is not likely that the King or his responsible Ministers would directly sanction any act cal-*-
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