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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
(July 8, 1896.
HINDRANCES TO TRADE IN CHINA. | goods imported or exported in foreign bot-claim for the loss of the steamer Kowshing
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The causes operating to check trade in China are very clearly set out by Mr. Con- sul ALLEN, in his able and valuable report on the trade of Foochow for 1895. This is one of the ports concerning which it may be truly written: Ichabod, the glory has de- parted. The tea trade, its great staple in former days, has been practically killed, partly by the competition of the teas of India and Ceylon, and partly by the heavy lekin and export dues imposed upon it by the provincial government. Mr. ALLEN tells us that the lekin duty on tea is nominally Tls. 2.20, but additions bring it up to Tls. 2.80. Taking the value of tea Tls. 15 per picul, the export duty and lekin combined make a total of Tls. 5.30, or about 35 per cent. ad valorem before it leaves China. No wonder the Fukien leaf cannot compete with the free teas of India and Ceylon, which, moreover, have less freight to pay, owing to closer contiguity to the English markets. There might still be a small chance for the Fukien teas, however, if they could be brought down from the in- terior by foreigners under transit pass, as by this means they could be delivered in the port at a cost of Tls. 1.25 per picul. But the native dealers and growers are, Mr. ALLEN says, afraid of official opposition, and European exporters find it impossible to make the necessary arrangements. It there- fore comes to this, that the Chinese officials, through their extortions, have destroyed one of the largest items of trade with foreign countries. This, too, in spite of the fact that Foochow tea is in high favour with consumers on account of its delicate flavour and freedom from the astringent and acrid properties of most of the tea produced in the Spicy Island and in Northern India. The question of price stands in the way at an important juncture in the history of the tea trade, for both in Great Britain and in Australian colonies it is beginning to be recognised that the Chinese teas are far less prejudicial to health than their modern rivals, and if they could be laid down in those markets at anything near the price of the latter they would pro- bably again come into large demand aud possibly recover something like their former position. But the Chinese official, ever blind to his own true interests and wholly indifferent to those of his country, has been content to kill the goose in order to get at the golden eggs.
Age cannot bring him wisdom, and experience cannot teach him; he is hopelessly impervious to reason and common sense, and his country cannot prosper while he remains to cumber the ground, to crush the vitality from trade, and be the death of all enterprise.
toms or in Chinese steamers; the Native Customs, who levy duties on junk-borne cargo; the Lekin Office, originally erected to collect a temporary war tax, but which remains a sort of universal excise duty from which nothing is exempt; and the Lo Ti Shui Office, which may be called the octroi office, and levies duties on all goods brought into Foochow by road. Concerning the lekin tax, Mr. ALLEN writes:-"It is only
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peaceably disposed people like the Chinese "who would submit to a tax which must be "almost as burdensome as the tax of the "tenth penny imposed by ALVA on the inhabitants of the Low Countries. Even "in China the imposition of lekin occasion- ally leads to riots." There is no doubt it would cause open rebellion if only the effect of this taxation were fully understood by the people. They have neither the discri- mination to see nor the time to learn that the enforcement of these excessive taxes is stifling the life from trade and rendering the struggle for existence doubly severe to the agriculturist, the trader, and the labourer. If once educated to recognise this fact, the reign of the mandarin would speedily be cut short, for the average China- man, though he will stand a good deal of legislation for his regulation and control, is extremely vulnerable when it touches his purse.
has not been settled, so it is to be feared that two or three years more may yet elapse before we obtain justice. In the meantime it would be rather a curious commentary on our rather asinine patience is another more energetic Power were to demolish the house of cards yclept the Peking Government.
THE GOVERNOR AND THE SECRE- TARY OF STATE'S DESPATCH. (5th July.)
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His Excellency the Governor would have treated the community with more considera- tion had he made public the decision of the Secretary of State with reference to the constitution of the Legislative Council as soon as the despatch reached him. It ap- pears that the despatch was received by the last English mail, but it was not intended that the fact should be made known“ until the meeting of the Council on Wednesday next. It is difficult to keep a secret in Hongkong, however, and this particular means leaked out. secret has by some Reuter's telegram stating that Mr. CHAMBER- LAIN had addressed a despatch to the Governor conveying his decision concern. ing the creation of additional unofficial members of Council was dated the 4th June, and we were ourselves under the impression that the despatch would Meantime, while these various taxes are leave London by the mail of the 5th pressing cruelly on the Chinese people, they June, for Mr. CHAMBERLAIN does not ap are also seriously affecting foreign trade pear to be punctilious about not disclosing with China. For more than a quarter of a the contents of despatches before they are century we have patiently submitted to a sent off, as witness his famous Transvaal virtual denial of one of the most important despatches. It would seem, however, that privileges conceded by the Treaty of the despatch had been posted by the pre- Tientsin, namely, the right to trade with vious English mail, and that the informa- the interior by transit pass. Volumes of tion was communicated to the home press reports, endless letters of complaint, and after it had left. Whether that informa- despatches innumerable have been written tion was confined merely to the circum- on the subject, which has also, time after stance that a despatch on the subject had tine, been pressed on the attention of the been addressed to the Governor, or whether Tsung-li Yamen by successive Ministers; it but although the latter have had right and justice on their side and the text of the Treaty to appeal to, the privilege has unfailingly been rendered a dead letter in South China, and sufficient provocation for another war afforded. But Gre t Britain, with characteristic long-suffering, has re- frained from an appeal to that last arbiter the sword, and the Chinese officials have mocked and flouted her for her forbearance. There are signs that this forbearance has some limits. Negotiations are now in progress for the opening up of the interior waters of South China to foreign trade, and for the unrestricted exercise of the right to trade under transit pass. Naturally these negotia- tions will be tardy-everything connected with Ching must be slow-but we sincerely How crushing in its effect the fiscal system hope that they will be effective for the pur- if it can be called a system-in China is pose this time. British subjects have been to the people is well shown by Mr. ALLEN. cheated out of some of their trading privi- The cost of collection of the lekin tax is leges in China for twenty-six years, and estimated to be some 70 per cent. of the it will be only reasonable that some com- total amount realised, and although, as the pensation should be made for this wrong. Consul says, that is no doubt an exag- Fortunately the Government of Lord SALIS- geration, yet the fact of its being made BURY has the nation at its back in this shows how disproportionate the cost of matter: the great mercantile bodies through- collection must be. It is not only out the kingdom are eager to see China that the plan of farming taxes is abrought to book; and there is no lack, either rotten and vicious one in itself, but it is, both in Fukien and in the Two Kwang, aggravated by the fact that there are various farmers competing with one another. In Foochow, Mr. ALLEN tells us, there are four separate establishments levying taxes on merchandise, each one competing with the others and looking on the revenue collected by them as a loss to itself. There are the Maritime Customas, levying duties on all
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of evidence of bad faith on the part of the Chinese Government, or of hardships in- flicted on British traders in China. The case is complete in every detail; the bill presented to China should be a heavy one, and ought to be pressed to a conclusion with all reasonable expedition. The rotten plea of the ill-health of the Chinese Minister was allowed to defer the negotiations for many months, and even to this day the simple
extended to the contents of the despatch, we have no means of knowing, but the question will be set at rest by the arrival of the French mail of the 5th June this evening or to-morrow morning. It will be rather singular if the community first/learns the nature of the Secretary of State's despatch through the medium of the home papers, instead of through the proper channel, namely, His Excellency the Goy- ernor.
But whether the mail brings us this intelligence or not, we think it is on every ground to be regretted that His Excellency should have unnecessarily withheld the despatch. The community, is vitally in- terested in the matter, and we fail to see what purpose His Excellency can have in- view in not letting it know at once what the decision is, now that he is him- selfi n possession of it. The publication is entirely within his own discretion, for he is bound by "no hard and fast
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matter of courtesy the members of Council ought to be the first to whom the despatch is made known, but they would have been well content if it had been circulated to them halfan-hour before being sent to the newspapers "As to the terms of the despatch, if report speaks truly, they are not likely to be agreeable to th ecommunity. The appointment of the General to the Council is in itself a wise and proper step, especially now that the Officer commanding the Garrison is always to act as locum tenens for the Governor when the latter is absent, but that is a from the one on question entirely apart which the Secretary of State's decision is so anxiously awaited, namely, whether we are to have an unofficial majority on the Legis
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