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honest machinery for collecting the dues of the Imperial and provincial Governments. The contributor to our evening contem- porary writes as though lekin were legitimate and fixed charge, whereas there is no fixity about it; it is a squeeze, farmed out in many cases, and from which the farmers try to make all they can. Goods in
cases will make detours of hundreds of miles in order to find route where the squeezes are onerous than on the most direct route, the stations on the different routes compet- ing with each other for the traffic, but in such a way that the competition brings little advantage to trade, for it is simply a ques tion between paying high squeezes or incurring the cost of carrying the goods by roundabout routes. There is a good deal that is sensible in the article under notice but likewise a certain amount of pure nonsense, as, for instance, where the writer says "The Chambers of Commerce should also propose to compensate for the loss of lekin by agreeing to the prepayment of "transit duties on imports on entry at the port." That is precisely what is provided for in the treaties and what the Cham- bers of Commerce would like to see enforced, but the Canton Government refuses absolutely to have anything to do with the transit pass system.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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THE LYAUDET ABDUCTION,
The history of the abduction of the LYAUDET family, their long captivity, and their final deliverance, reads quite like a The LYAUDETS are not chapter of romance. by any means the first who have made an enforced sojourn with the Chinese bandits in Tonkin. Quite a considerable number of men have had the same experience and at least one other lady. The kidnapping business was, It was attended with in fact, a paying one.
ransom.
as opportunity offered.
The
[October 24, 1895. renounce the policy of ransom, which placed in peril every European, official and unofficial, residing in the proximity of Chinese territory. It was necessary, M. LYAUDET said, to strike a decisive blow and show the bands that the old system was finished, and if this lengthened their captivity by some weeks, he recognised the reasons of policy which made it necessary.
General Sou, the mandarin in charge of the frontier, by whose exertions the deliver ance of the captives was finally effected, is said to have paid out of his own pocket a ransom of $6,000. The question has been raised in Tonkin whether this should not be made up to him by the French Government; not under the name of refund of the ransom, but in some way which would save appearances and at the same time cover. the mandarin's loss. This, as it seems to us, would have been a mistake, but it was not necessary to take the matter into serious con- sideration, for it became known that General
risk, but once the quarry was safely carried off all the bandits had to do was to keep in hiding and wait for the ransom, which usually reached a very considerable figure. There was therefore every inducement for fre- them to repaet the operation as quently present Governor-General, however, deter-Sot had received peremptory orders from mined that this system must cease, and wheu | Peking not to accept any payment-should the LYAUDETS were carried off he absolutely it be offered him. The Governor-General declined to entertain the idea of paying a wished, however, to give some token of the French Government's appreciation of The situation must have been a trying one for His Excellency, to think of General Sou's services and has sent him as a lady and little girl with their husband and a present a handsome Sèvres vase. father suffering intolerable hardships and opinion formed of General Sou in Tonkin privations, which could at once: be put an seems to be rather favourable. Possibly he end to by a payment from the public is one of the better class of mandarins, for treasury, and yet to feel compelled to with- maudarins differ from each other in the hold his hand. The result, however, has degree of their avariciousness and the depth shown that the policy he adopted was the of corruption to which they will descend, but even the best of them cannot shake correct one.
themselves free of the vices of the system under which they work, nor does it ever occur to them to try. If Sou worked well for the deliverance of the LYAUDETs it was no doubt because he was ordered from Peking to do so and given to understand that failure would be attended with unpleasant conse-
We are also told that " With much unrea son Foreign Powers continue to clamour for the opening up of China or for additional ports, which means to the treaty-tied Chi- nese the surrender of much-needed revenue "without obtaining any concession in return "such as tariff adjustment, or other equi- valent, to enable China to improve her in come and meet her increasing financial "obligations." Poor treaty-tied Chinese! They fatuously plunge into with Japan, distinguish themselves by running away in every battle, have a large indemnity to pay, and then think themselves hardly used because foreigners object to the amount being raised by squeezes on foreign trade. The writer seems to think that China should be treated on the same terms as Japan, which is allowed to levy ten per cent, duties. But the fiscal administration of Japan is honest and there is no question of squeezing "Seeing," says the writer, "that the Powers have, under the new Treaty, assented to a ten per cent. duty on "cottons and woollens imported into Japan "without claiming any commercial equiva- "lent in exchange, we should say it would be worth granting a similar concession for "such advantages as the opening of the "West River to British trade." As a matter of fact, in the Kwangtung provinée cases | have been verified in which goods which ought to have been entirely cleared by the payment of import duty and the transit duty, that is, seven and a half per cent. in all, have had to pay charges totalling fifteen per cent. It would certainly pay the foreign merchant very much better to pay ten per cent. at the port of entry if he could thereby secure the goods against further squeezing, but he is not likely to assent to any increase of the import duty so long as the squeeze system continues in force, The opening of the West River is a demand which may be legitimately insisted upon and enforced without reference to any question of increased import duties. Let China set her financial house in order and place the collection of her internal revenue under the direction of the Foreign Customs or some special service under foreign control and then the Powers may be found willing to entertain proposals for tariff revision.
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The failure of the bandits to obtain any ransom beyond $6,000 believed to have been paid to them by the Chinese mandarin whom the captives were finally given
of up, the destruction their stronghold by the French troops, the energetic measures adopted hunt them out, the exhaustion of their resources, and above all the pressurequences. brought to bear from Peking on the Chinese authorities on the frontier who were sup- posed to accord a friendly tolerance if not actual assistance to the bandits, all these circumstances together are believed to have struck a blow at piracy in Toukin from which it is not likely to recover.
It was on the night of the 24th April that M. LYAUDEr and his wife and child were awakened to find themselves surrounded by a band of armed men who without giving them time to obtain a change of clothing hastily took them to a boat and rowed off with them. Their captivity continued until the 8th October, a period of six months within a few days. During all this time they were almost continually on the march, moving from one hiding place to another, wandering amongst barren mountains, with no means of changing their clothing, and subsisting on rice and maize without salt. Supplies of provisions were sent to them, for the pirates seem to be able always to keep open a channel of communication with the towns, but not a tenth part of what was sent reached them. The efforts made to effect their release only added to their hardships for the time being, for they kept the bandits continually on the move like hunted animals. The condition of the unfortunate LYAUDETS at the end of their long sojourn beyond the the pale of civilization may be imagined. M. LYAUDET, however, takes an eminently sensible view of the matter and has no word of blame for the policy adopted by his government. In his interview with a Haiphong journalist he said that no doubt the Governor-General had keenly felt not being able to
them, but he (M. LYAUDET) understood the imperative
· rausom
reasons which had made His Excellency
The
The French Government was pressing the Peking Government, and the latter held Sou responsible. Sou in turn would no doubt stir up the petty mandarins under him, the gentlemen who insisted on a kowtow from Madame LYAUDET for in- stance, and it being generally understood that the captives must be rescued and that there was no way of getting out of the business, arrangements were made with the pirates and the deliverance was duly effected.
It is quite clear, however, that there has hitherto been no serious attempt made on the Chinese side to grapple with and suppress the piracy which ravages the frontier districts but that on the contrary the pirates have? been allowed to use Chinese territory as a base from which to make their raids. To what extent the local into Tonkin. authorities may have been in active collusion with them it is impossible to say, but no doubt any petty mandarin would for a con sideration be conveniently engaged in another direction when a pirate gang passed through his district and would not think it necessary to give any inconvenient in So matters would formation afterwards. go on, until, under the pressure brought- to bear by the French Minister at Peking in the LYAUDET case, it was seen that so far as that particular affair was concerned the game was up. Then the matter was settled, after the usual Chinese manner, by buying the pirates off. The Governor-General was right in not paying a ransom and the failure of the pirates to make anything out of the LYAUDETS except what they got from the officials of their own country will discourage them from trying similar ventures in the future and render the mandarins less friendly towards them.
DOMETER SAVOURYŽETER",
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