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THE CHEFOO LAND Case.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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The sensation sought to be evolved out of the Chefoo land case has proved to be very shortlived, as it was bound to be, for seldom before has such an absurdly small question of private rights been elevated to the rank of an international dispute. The comments of the home papers form amusing reading, for, having only brief telegram to go upon, they have drawn absurdly wrong inferences and treated the subject on much the same footing as they might have done had it been a case of the forcible ejectment of British subjects from land actually occupied by them as the right- ful owners. As a matter of fact it is a simple question of the rights of marine lot-holders, as they are termed in Hongkong, over the foreshore iu frout of their holdings. There is nothing in it out of which an in- ternational dispute can be evolved; but the question is an important one as affecting private rights. It has generally been assumed by foreigners that the owners of land in China with a water frontage were possessed of the same rights over the foreshore, as regards accretions or reclamations, as in England would belong to the Crown or the lord of the manor, as the case might be; but whether this assumption rests on any solid foundation of law appears doubtful, law in China being in an inchoate state. The case of the Inch foreshore at Shanghai hardly applies, for that was decided according to English law, and the rules governing accretions to riverine lands on the one hand and reclamations from the sea on the other are not identical. In Hongkong marine lot-holders are not of right entitled to any reclamations that may be made in front of their lots, but if deprived of their water frontage they would have a good cause of action for compensation. The pre- sent reclamation works are being carried out under arrangement between the Crown
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the lot-holders, and no dispute as to their respective rights has arisen except in the cases of the land held re- spectively by the trustees of the City fall and the Sailors' Home. These lots were excluded from the arrangement, the Crown, having regard to the nature of the trusts and the requirements of the institu- tions, electing to exercise its right to make the reclamation in front of these lots on Government account. If any of the private lot-holders had elected to stand out of the general arrangement made with the other private lot-holders the reclamation in front of their lots would in the same way have become Crown land. In the Chefoo case the respective rights of the Chinese Gov- ernment and Messrs. FERGUSSON and Co. over the foreshore in front of the latter's property have to be decided, and when the decision is announced we will see how far Chinese law differs from British law on
this subject. If it can be established that according to Chinese law the owners
of land by the sea have an absolute and exclusive right over the foreshore and to all reclamations that may be made thereupon
Messrs. FERGUSSON and Co.'s claim will no doubt be duly recognised and the recent sale by the Chinese Government of the fore- shore to another party will be cancelled.
The Courrier de Chine, the new French paper published at Shanghai, devotes one of the articles in its first number to this case, and its statement of the case being some- what different and in some respects fuller than has yet appeared, we reproduce the substance of it"The proprietors whose "lands adjoin the lot in dispute are Messrs. CORNABÉ and Co., Messrs. FERGUSSON
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"and Co., and the Chinese Customs. The "tide washes these properties and at the ebb "leaves a large extent uncovered. Long ago Messrs. CORNABÉ and Co. desired "to render themselves independent of the 'tide by constructing a jetty more than a "hundred metres in length; but for this they had to apply to the Taotai of Chefoo, "and that official, seeing no objections, con- "sented to sell them all the land adjacent to their property. The Chinese Govern- "ment, very justly according to our view, "holds that all land regularly covered by "the tide belongs to the Emperor and that "He alone can dispose of it. This view was perfectly admitted by the party in- "terested in the first case. Why, in the case of the adjoining ground and "under conditions absolutely identical, 'should this view be false? The right
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of pre-emption has been invoked, but "not only is this right not recognised in "the treaties but neither is it, so far as we know at least, recognised in Chinese law." This, we take it, represents practically the case that will be put forward for the pur- chasers of the land in dispute. The case resolves itself into one of law, and the sensational and hysterical writing indulged in by our Shanghai contemporaries about the alleged "Russian aggression at Chefoo is much to be regretted. Possibly the Rus- sian Consul may have interested himself in the matter of the purchase of the land in dis- pute in a way that may not commend itself to universal approval of that we know nothing-but a little sharp practice (if there has been any) on the part of the Russian agent would not raise the case to the dignity of a national aggression.
The dispute which has unfortunately arisen, though primarily affecting only individual interests, suggests consideration of the question of marking out the foreign settlements at all the treaty ports. In ports where foreign concessions exist landholders hold their property from the respective Governments to whom the concessions have been made, and not direct from the Chinese Government, and any dispute which may arise is subject to the jurisdiction of civilised tribunals, whereas where there are concessions, as at Chefoo, any question of disputed ownership that may arise is difficult of adjustment, especially where different nationalities are involved
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and the assistance of the respective Legations has to be invoked. Chefoo Agreement it
was provided that "At all ports opened to trade, whether by "earlier or later agreement, at which no "settlement area has been previously de- fined, it will be the duty of the British "Consul, acting in concert with his col- leagues, the Consuls of other Powers, "to come to an understanding with the "local authorities regarding the definition "of the foreign settlement area.” This has never been acted upon, and the provision is on the face of it an impracticable one, for there is no authority in the British Government to compel the Consuls of other Powers to act in conjunction with the British Consul in the matter. The other Powers, indeed, seem all disposed to play for their own hand, and we have seen of late Russia, Germany, and France all marking out concessions for themselves without any reference to Great Britain. It would be well for Great Britain also to act for herself where her interests require territorial concessions, for it is evident that the other Powers do not favour a co-opera- tive policy in the matter and that the arrangement which has worked so well in the case of the British and American con-
[June 24, 1896.-
cessions at Shanghai is not likely to be repeated elsewhere. In some ports property has been acquired by British subjects in scattered lots widely separated from each other, which would possibly render it diffi- cult to arrange for a concession embracing them all on account of the extent of native owned land intervening between the dif ferent lots. The object of the provision in the Chefoo Convention, moreover, was not to secure general territorial juris- diction, either for municipal purposes or for the regulation of titles to land, but simply to define the area within which lekin should not be collected on foreign goods. Wherever possible, however, it seems to us it would be an advantage to have British concessions duly marked out and that the owners of land should hold their titles through the British Government.
FOREIGN SHIPPING AND THE OPIUM TRADE WITH
FORMOSA...
A correspondent in South Formosa men- tions that no opium is now cleared from the Customs godown at Anping, local require- ments being drawn from supplies, brought in by junks, and he expresses the opinion that smuggling is winked at by the Customs authorities. This is an extraordinary state of affairs; it must strike everyone as mon- strous that foreign steamers should be pre- cluded from participation in a lucrative trade by favouritism shown to Chinese native craft. We can hardly suppose it is a case of corruption, for the Japanese public service is fairly clean handed; neither can there be any difficulty in controlling the junk trade, as that is simply a matter of pro- viding the requisite staff for the purpose. We are driven to the conclusion, therefore, that this winking at smuggling by junks must be part of a settled policy dictated from head quarters. What the object in view may be we do not know. One conjecture that presents itself is that the Japanese Gov- erument, wishing to keep its band free in regard to the importation of opium in For- mosa and its possible prohibition, is delibe-. rately allowing the trade to be diverted from steamers to junks so that when the final decision is arrived at the former may have no grievance to urge, the trade having been already lost to them. That, however, does not seem a very feasible explanation, for Japan is quite unfettered in regard to opium and no formal objection could be raised to her prohibiting its importation, whether the trade were at the time in the hands of steamers or junks. If the explanation be that the Customs staff is insufficient to cope with the junk traffic it is not one that cannot be accepted, for the simple remedy of increasing the staff can be at once applied. Japan having taken over the government of the country to administer it with honesty and impar- tiality, which it cannot be said to do so long as it winks at smuggling by one description of craft while rigorously enforcing the regu lations in respect of others. Steamship owners have good cause of complaint and the matter should receive attention at the hands of the British Minister to Japan.
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It is now decided that the new road skirting the native city at Shanghai shall commence at the French Bund and shall be 35 feet wide. Three wharves for steamers and junks are also to be built. The work is to commence imme- diately. The control of the road and wharves will be delegated to native officials and con- trolled by the Native Public Works Bureau. The cost of the undertaking is estimated at Tls. 110,000.~China Gazette.
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