March 4, 1896.]
and a-half millions, for the aborigines are probably not a hundred thousand all told, the Japanese will have their work cut out ot bring these people into obedience to laws entirely different from those under which they have hitherto lived, and to break them of the peculiar hahits and vices they have made their own. The administration of justice in China has always been more or less of a mockery. The longest purse almost invariably wins, and bribery and corruption have been ram- pant in Formosa as on the mainland. Will Japanese judges and officials prove incor- ruptible or will they succumb to the cor- rupting influences surrounding them? On the answer to this question depends, in large measure, their chances of success. The Japanese Government mean well and they intend to do well. They have the requisite determination, and provided only their offi- cials can remain proof against the deterio- rating effects of life among the Chinese, it is tolerably certain that they will accomplish a great deal in the direction of material pro- gress and something towards the moral deve lopment of the people. Liberal votes for public works are to be made, including twenty million yen for railway construction, six millions towards the making of roads, and four millions for the construction of the harbour of Kelung. This expenditure will give employment to a large number of per-- sons, and when completed will open up a great portion of the island, admitting of more extensive production, and stimulating the opening up of the mineral resources. The coal mines will be properly and scienti fically worked, the petroleum wells tested, the sulphur deposits opened up, and the gold mines exploited before long. The camphor forests will also no doubt be placed under supervision and the wasteful methods of the Chinese abolished, new plantations being made and carefully preserved. The Japanese will also introduce new industries and, we trust, give inducements to foreign traders to establish themselves in the ports and cities. The ports and places hitherto opened by China to foreign trade have been named by Japan as open to foreign nations having treaties with her, but presumably the whole island will be opened to foreign residence when the revised treaties come into force.
The greatest difficulty that will confront the Japanese Authorities when the work of pacification is complete will be, not the reclamation or even education of the Chinese, but the opium smoking habit prevalent among them. This difficulty we foresaw
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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could so readily land a small cargo. Re- for mining engineers and material, railways, cognising these difficulties, and being aware or anything alea France has now appar that the total prohibition of the drug would ently recognised the inadvisability of one serve to keep alive discontent and on a nation seeking exclusive privileges and favourable moment incite to open insurrec- rights at all events she has agreed that tion, the Japanese Government have decided in the province of Yunnan she will on a compromise. Opium is to be admitted seek no privileges or advantages that to Formosa for medical purposes only, and are not equally open to Great Britain. Al- only those pronounced by medical experts though this may not involve any material to be incurably wedded to the habit will be sacrifice on her part it is nevertheless in- allowed to smoke the drug, and that under dicative of a spirit of friendliness and a special licence. The vendors of the drug courtesy and as such is acceptable. It will will also have to be licensed. Severe punish- be noted, however, that while the French ments will no doubt be inflicted on those Convention with China of 1895 purports to who attempt to commence the habit, and give to France special rights with reference also on any Chinese attempting to induce to the exploitation of the mines of Yunnan, Japanese to smoke. Even these restrictions Kwangsi, and Kwangtung, France agrees will in all probability be strongly resented to share her rights with England only by the Chinese. Unless some stringent in so far as regards the province of Yunnan, steps be taken it is quite possible that the The provinces of Kwangsi and Kwangtung conquered race may teach the conquerors a remaiu subject to the clause above quoted habit that may spread throughout the Em-in the Franco-Chinese Convention, in so far pire. The working of this novel experi- as that clause may have any validity; but, ment-an attempt to confine a habit to the as already mentioned, the clause is opposed existing generation-will be watched with to the spirit and the letter of the most great interest.
favoured nation clause, and therefore could not be recognised by other Powers. ENGLAND AND FRANCE AND COM- The clause is, however, too vague in its
MERCIAL ADVANTAGES IN YUNNAN.
By the Convention between England and France of the 15th January last the two Governments agree that all commercial "and other privileges and advantages con-
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ceded in the two Chinese provinces of "Yunnan and Szechuen either to Great "Britain or France, in virtue of their respective Conventions with China of 1st March, 1894, and 20th June, 1895, and "all privileges and advantages of any nature which may in the future be conceded in "these two Chinese provinces, either to "Great Britain or France, shall, as far as rests with them, be extended and rendered common to both Powers and to their nationals and dependents, and they engage to use their influence and good offices with "the Chinese Government for this purpose.' In the British Convention of 1st March, 1894, there are no privileges conferred that can be termed exclusive. The duties leviable on the frontier trade between Burinah and China are the same as those agreed upon in 1887 for the trade between Tonkin and China, and the other regulations are simply such as the nature of the trade routes requires. The French Convention of 1895, however, con- tains the following provision:-"It is under "stood that China, for the exploitation of its "mines in the provinces of Yunnan, Kwang- "si, and Kwangtung, will address itself, in "the first instance, to French commerce and "engineers, the exploitation remaining "otherwise subject to the rules and the "edicts by the Imperial Government which "affect national industry. It is understood "that railways already in existence or pro- jected in Annan can, after mutual agree- ment, and under conditions to be defined, be prolonged on Chinese territory." This clause, in so far as it confers exclusive pri- vileges, was contrary to the most favoured nation clause of China's treaties with other Powers, and as against them was therefore invalid. If it was open to France to obtain exclusive privileges in defiance of the most favoured nation clause it would have been equally open to other Powers, and in a scramble of that kind England would pro- bably have obtained as much as her competi- tors. But such a policy would be fatal to true progress in China and would introduce abuses and difficulties of all kinds. It is right that China should be left free to go to the market that suits her best whether
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at the time the cession of Formosa was first mooted. The drug is excluded by Japan, except for medical purposes, and now Formosa has become a portion of the Japanese empire they have to decide upon one of two evils, namely, whether to make an exception in favour of the new depen- dency or to enforce the law and exclude the drug from that island the same as is done in Japan. At first the Japanese Authorities" were, a Yokohama contemporary tells us, inclined to take the latter course malgré all consequences; but further experience has convinced them of the present im- practicability of that policy. The num- ber of Chinese in Formosa who use the drug is very large. It is not only used as a luxury by the rich; it is generally regarded by all classes as a prophylactic against the malaria so common in the island; and it would be extremely difficult to wean them from the habit. Moreover, it would not be an easy matter to prevent its being smuggled into the island, which possesses such a long coast line just opposite to China, and from whence junks freighted with it
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character to have any real value, even if its legal validity were admitted. China would fulfil her obligations under it by simply in- viting tenders from France, without being in any way bound to accept such tenders.
PLAQUE AND QUARANTINE.
The colony has once more been declared affected with bubonic plague. Quarantine, which has for some time past been in force at Manila, has now been established also at Singapore, and other places with which we have tradal connections will no doubt follow the lead set by the latter. The action of the Straits Government is altogether un- reasonable and lacking in common sense, for their experience in 1894 amply demon- strated that quarantine was unnecessary and that inedical inspection afforded an ample guarantee of safety. The step now taken will inflict serious loss on this colony and on the various lines of steamships connect- ing with it. Some idea of the extent of the injury may be gathered from the following passage in the Harbour Master's report for 1894: "The port was pro- "claimed infected with bubonic plague on 10th May, and the shipping returns for that quarter showed a decrease in "arrivals of 51 European vessels and 251 'junks. It was not, however, until later "that the full effect on shipping was made "apparent, and the September quarter "showed an additional falling off of 375
European vessels and 1,824 junks. During "this quarter both influences [the plague "and the war] were at work, and, until the "12th September, our shipping trade re- "mained under a ban. With the raising "of the 'quarantine blockade,' however, things began to improve, and at the end "of December we had reduced our deficit
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in arrivals for the year to 306 European " vessels and 1,336 junks." We now know that the war had no prejudicial effect on the shipping trade of Hongkong, but, on the contrary, tended, if anything, rather in its favour. The whole of the loss mentioned by the Harbour Master must therefore be put down to the plague.
The present year differs from 1894 inas- much as while we then had a serious epide- mic in the colony, which quite apart from questions of quarantine injured trade, this year we have no epidemic, but only sporadic cases of plague, and injury is to be feared
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