CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
to the Governor by the shipping of the colony,The firm of Ji MATHESON & Co. was
add
they have ga
We the tea and
Sing
Ious
The
bsence from the list of ai Hongkong Chamber of merce addressed the Shanghai Chamber on subject, and the committee of the latter body passed the following resolution
*
yearly shrinkage of their trade atio, and yet its so far as Great could not induce to modify the taxation on
After careful consideration of the matter improve their pro-it was decided to reply that while fully firing The policy
recognising the principle that light dues the
at the golden eggs "should only be levied on, s
shipping for fatuously pursued at Peking The " lighthouse purposes the Chamber could
live in the present, and the people
"not support any protest against the action quiesce in any exactions so long as they" of the Hongkong Government until they are not piled up quite to breaking point. were in possession of full information as The great question that China will be con- to the reasons which actuated the fronted with in this demand for a revision
"Government in levying the taxation of the tariff must of course be the provision
complained of." We Have on of a sufficient guarantee for the fulfilment of their pledge. CHANG YUN-WOON has pre sumably some scheme to formulate for the col- lection of the duties and for the apportionment of a certain proportion of the sum realised to the use of the provincial governments for the loss they would sustain by the abolition of their squeezes on the goods in transit. It will be interesting to see what shape his proposals will take.
K&
former occasion expressed our opinion on this resolution and will not now attempt to characterise it as it de- serves. The important point to observe in the present connection is that the Shang- hai partner of JARDINE, MATHESON & CO. was in the chair at the time the resolution was passed and it is impossible to resist the suspicion, in view of the action of the firm in Hongkong and of its Hongkong head, that the peculiar phraseology was due THE HON. J. J. BELL-IRVING AND to Mr. ALFORD's engineering. The scene
THE LIGHT DUES.
جیک ما نخستین
now shifts to London, where a petition on The public are entitled, we think, to some
the light dues question is presented to the explanation from the Hon. J. J. BELL Secretary of State for the Colonies by the IRVING as to the attitude adopted by him- steamship companies and firms trading to self and his firm with reference to the pro- the Far East. The Indo-China Steam posed permanent taxation of shipping under Navigation Company, which is under the the name of light dues. For more than half-management of Messrs. JARDINE, MATHE B-century the firm of JARDINE, MATHESON SON & Co., declines to
the isign & Co., which has earned the appellation of petition. The question is whether this com- the Princely House," has been a leader of mon action of the firm or its representatives public opinion on commercial questions in in London, Shanghai, and Hongkong is the Far East, and more especially in this dictated by reasons of common sense or colony of Hongkong, with which it has been whether, as regards Shanghai and London, so closely identified from the very day the the intention has been merely to cover up island passed under British rule. Before an error into which the Hongkong represen- the foundation of the colony, îndeed, the tative was inadvertently betrayed. The firm had urged the advisability of the an- question has an important bearing upon the nexation of Hongkong, and since that event position of the Hon. J. J. BELL-IRVING as took place the resident partners of the a public man, for it will be recollected that firm in a long succession have always that gentleman is a member of the Ex- been in the forefront in urging the main-ecutive Council and as such is supposed to tenance of the absolute freedom of the port. It is therefore surprising to find protect the interests of the public in the Messra JARDINE, MATHESON & Co. appear- ing as advocates of the taxation of shipping, and some declaration of the grounds on which this change of front has been made seems called for, provided there are any rounds that will bear discussion; if the other hand the policy that strikes the public as so peculiar has its origin simple error the sooner the error is re- paired the better. The facts of the case are these: In November last the Government the unofficial members of Council ation from the Chamber of king for the abolition of the dues imposed cover, the of the Gap Rock light, on the ground um had been raised from that source than sufficient to cover the object for which the dues were imposed. The un- mbers, with one dissentient (Hon. TEHEAD), recommended that the permanent. The
tem
rred
officia TH
Hon. J. the meet
ding the
not present at decision - was
ber
Govern
secret conclaves of the Government. In
MR. GRAN
RP AND THE
At the meeting of the Hongkong of the China Associ
on't by Mr
proj
declaration was m SHARP on beha. favour of the policy of i on shipping in order ton
HAR perty As Mr. the case in favou default. Mr. forward as the ady the Hon. C. P. CHATER BELL-IRVING Wore
disclaim the views he adva presumed that they endorsed satisfactory to have both sides of the case. fairly presented, and no one could have or eloquently than did Mr. SHARP Th urged the claims of property more for gentleman speaks to the public, while Chairman and Vice-Chairman of kong Land Investment Company Executive Council and possess, the pri ear of the Gove
Government. It cannot De said therefore, that the case on behalf of property is inadequately represented. The shipping interest, on the other hand, has no spokesman in the Executive Council, and its case has therefore to be fought entirely in the open.
can
Mr. SHARP urges that shipping should bear its share of taxation as well as property and says that if ships do not like it they can pass by the colony - That is precisely what it is to be feared they will do if taxation is piled up on them; and once admit the principle that ship- ping is a legitimate object of taxation and there is no logical mark at which be said taxation ought to stop. Mr. SHARP O very, frank declaration emphasises the, dan ger to which the colony is exposed from the shortsighted selfishness of land owners. The tax is two-and-a-half cents a ton at pre- sent; when more money is required property owners will naturally urge the addition another cent to the so-called light dues, and a Government in want of money for the maintenance of an extravagant service be only too ready to draw on suc be required, and so it will milch-cow. Byl and by
the burden becomes so heav affect the prosperity of the port
have not very far to look to pod ples that illustrate the folly ports of Indo-China all tell the came shipping. Macao, Manila, and the F
tale, and their experience ought strengthen the determination of the sidents of Hongkong to maintain the dom of the port, not merely dues, but from - taxation
directing the appointment of two unofficial members to the Executive Council the Secretary of State said the choice of such members should be inspired by consideration of personal merit and have no reference to the particular class or race to which the persons chosen belonged. When Mr. BELL-IRVING was selected there was a feeling that the spirit of Mr. CHAMBERLAIN's instructions under other na had not been complied with and that the selection had been made rather because Mr. BELL-IRVING was the representative of
for landed taxatio Frequ
on to
JARDINE, MATHESON & Co. than for any
which pro personal merit he possessed as a public man, for he had taken little active part in public the value it affairs; and presumably the term "personal shipping fails merit" must be taken to have some refer same proportion ence to public affairs and not merely to value. A M private character. Mr. BELL-IRVING's con- to do all w duct in the matter of the light dues, if left of discours unexplain certainly not calculated to owne strengthe the fidence of the public in him as one their principal repre- and sentatives.
the
Kong
the colony perty decli
In thi ING who addres
Indirec
Sub
praying
the
olition of the dues was
the latter the following day, both
gumer
that by imp
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