November 24, 1897.J
AN ENGLISH TONKIN.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
407
M. Alexieff is managing the business of the Korean Financial Department in the Russia n Legation. Important documents and papers were sent to the Russian Legation yesterday from the Financial Department.
Seoul, 7th November.
LAUNCH OF A NEW JAPANESE CRUISER.
ularly favoured by the West River, may be on the eve of passing into the hands of the English Under the nom de plume of Paul de Vareilles, if France does not obtain from Peking sufficient a writer contributes a long article, "Un Tonkin compensation. But there is another consequence Auglais," to L'Avenir du Tonkin of the 6th
of almost equal inportance and which must be in- instant. We make the following extracts :--- stantly noticed. The duty on the import of Eng-
Tonkin bas, so to say, two values, a value of lish goods to Lungchow for example, is so slight, The contract for the engagement of M. its own, and a value resulting from its sur-
7 per cent. in appearance, 3 per cent. in Alexieff consists of eight articles. Article 8 roundings. It was not for its own value that reality, that it leaves a large margin for con- provides that in consideration of the friend. France made her enormous sacrifices of mon traband trade with a country which, like ship existing between Korea and Russia, and money, but for the value of the surroundings. Tonkin, is subjected to the general tariff. Con- the term of service of M. Alexieff shall re- Through its gulf and its rivers. the country. treband will be largely carried Ou on the main indefinite, but that only a foreigner of permits of the access of vessels. Its land fron- frontiers of the first and second military Russian nationality shall be appointed Financial tier borders on three Chinese provinces-Kwang- territories. Two years hence, English goods Adviser if he leaves the office. Article 5 pro- tung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan-of an incalculable
will enter Tonkin as they please, and there will vides that the Financial Adviser (Mr. Alexieff) richness, especially when one takes into account remain but few who will persist in importing shall chose his own Collector-General of Cus that the last named province has a portion foreign goods through Haiphong to pay toms (an office which Mr. Brown has previously of the wealth of Szechnen flowing into it. customs duties. France will be confronted withheld, together with that of Financial Adviser). It was to obtain a close communication with the alternatives of covering our Northern those four provinces that France conquered frontier with an army of customs officers or of Tonkin, It was to assure herself almost ex-abolishing the customs of Indo-China and allow- clusively of the commerce of South China that France consented to the great sacrifices in men and money the conquest entailed. With time she has been able to obtain the complete pacification of the country. In France, where the patriotic preoccupations are spread over a number of points, such as Madagascar, the Sondan, etc., people have begnu to feel irritated at the financial situation of Tonkin, the more so as distance obscures the development work which is being done here and which is on the point of being transformed into splendid re- sults. But at Hongkong, which is nearer Tonkin and where the spirit of rivalry is always kept awake, the English had a presenti- ment of the purposes for which Tonkin was des- tined, purposes to the detriment of the English port, and they quickly resolved upon striking us a mortal blow by opening the The English will have a direct, or as some say, indirect, activity on the whole course of the West River. To a certain extent, and without having been put to the sacrifices Francs has made in Tonkin, they will have acquired on their side a kind of English Red River.
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ing free entrance to English products. Those are the two consequences, both equally disastrous, resulting from the opening of the West River. The English can accompany the goods in Kwangsi in virtue of Art 2 of Rule I.:-"The Imperial Maritime Customs will deliver the pass to the merchant, who can personally go, or send an agent, native or foreign, with the pass to the indicated spot." Thus, whereas the French are obliged to obtain a Chinese passport to travel in Kwangsi, the English, under pre- text of accompanying or going in search of a small package, can overrun this province in every sense. They will take advantage of this prerogative, it may be to arrange for cou traband trade, to. organise piracy, or to supply Kwangsi with arms in view of a conflict be- tween Frauce and Chius.
Such is the work of cur. Tate ambassador at Peking, Mr. Gerard. It is true he has obtained an indemnity for Mr. Marty and a railway for the Compagnie de Fives-Lilles. It is true that be took home with him a high Chinese decoration for the President of the French Republic. Relying on these facts the friends of Mr. Gerard may celebrate the ability of this ambassador, but France, which works and labours, will learn, not without stupefaction, that under the embassy of this man the whole of Kwangsi has been given over to English influence. We ought henceforth to prepare ourselves for all eventualities, and for the
Through the opening of the West River the English have not only shortened the distance, but have brought their influence to bear, from Hongkong to Wuchow, annihilating more or less Canton. Up to now, and for all that part of China, one might say that the Euglish traded with Canton and with Canton only. They had to put up to a certain extent with the move-greatest sacrifices. ments of the place. Henceforth they can or less neglect it. Henceforth they will negotiate direct with the different com- mercial centres of Kwangsi. They have just established themselves commercially in Kwangsi, as they have established them- selves politically in Egypt. A few years
more
hence we will have to suffer, we in Tonkin. for the grave mistakes of our diplomacy, which ought to have done everything to prevent this result from taking place, or, not being able to check it, to obtain from China some sufficient compensa- tion. In this province of China, which borders on our first and second military territories, will they the better secure their aims since they have just obtained a new success-the transit pass. The transit pass systems the destruction of lekin. In Kwangsi the goods go from Wuchow to Nanning without having to pay any lekin. At Nanning they encounter the first lekin which should be paid if the goods were un- accompanied by a trausit pass. There this pass is exchanged for a transit certificate, which frees the goods of all lekin to the place of destina- tion, say Posé or Lungchow. Thus, thanks to the transit pass exchanged at the first lekin office for a transit certificate, all merchandise can go from any one point of Kwangsi towards the entrepot of Wuchow or vice versa without having to pay a single duty to the Internal Customs. English goods destined for Posé, for example, pay import duty at the rate of 5 per cent, ad valorem and for the transit pass half the import duty, or 74 per cent. in all. It should be added, however, that this 7 per cent. is payable in dollars or taels, not at the reduced value of silver, but at the value the dollar or tael possessed at the date of the treaty between England and China. Consequently the merchandise does not at present pay more than 3 per cent. Here, then, is an enormous result, from the commercial point of view, and one which will produce a donble consequence. The transit trade to and from Yunnan, sing'
Tonkin is no longer in reality bordered by pacific China, but by the English, who have taken root in Kwangsi and who have made or will make of it an English Tonkin.
CABINET CHANGES IN JAPAN.
The Japanese Official Gazette of the 7th November announces the retirement of Count Okuma from the position of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and acting Minister of State for Agriculture and Commerce, and directs that, as a special measure, he shall continue to receive the treatment due to a Minister of State. Baron Nishi Tokujiro is appointed from the position of Privy Councillor to succeed Count Okuma at the Foreign Office.
RUSSIA AND KOREA,
Seoul, 3rd November.
M. Alexieff is accompanied by a high official connected with the Siberian Railway, whose mission is said to be to arrange for the con- struction of railways in Korea to join the new Russian system in Manchuria.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs is reported to have proposed the dismissal of all foreiga employés in the Korean service with the excep tion of those of Russian nationality.
Seoul, 6th November.
It is reported that the contract signed be. tween M. de Speyer, the Russian Minister, and the Korean Foreign Minister respecting the engagement of M. Alexieff, ruus as follows
1.That M. Alexieff shall be engaged as Financial Adviser and Superintendent-General | of Customs in Korea.
2.-That M. Alexieff shall be paid an annual salary of 3,000 yen.
3. That the term of his service be left un- decided.
4. That M. Alexieff shall have the power of appointing or dismissing the Custom-house officials (so-zeimushi),
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The latest addition to the Japanese Navy was made on the 8th November by the launch at the Yokosuka shipbuilding yard of the cruiser Akashi, a sister vessel we believe, to the Suma, which was launched from the same yard about two years axo. The Akashi is a steel, twin- screw cruiser of 90 metres in length, 12.70 metres beam, 4.80 metres draft, 2,800 tons dis- placement and 8,000 horse-power. It is expected that she will attain a speed of 194 knots an hour, Her coal bunkers have a capacity for 600 tons, and her armament, when completed, will consist of six 12-centimetre quick-firing guns, two 15- centimetre quick-firers, fong machine guns and two torpedo tubes. The six 12-centimetre guns will be mounted in sponsons, three of which are constructed on either sider the ship, the two 15-centimetre guns being mounted, behind shields, fore and aft.-Japan Mail.
THE KOREAN RAILWAY.
The Chemulpo correspondent of the Indepen- dent writes as follows:-The work on the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway is pushing on to- wards Seoul, and I believe that some two thou- sand workmen are at it on the Seoul side of Orikol. They are all Koreans, with the excep. tion of thirty or so, and the Superintendent of the construction assures me that he is perfectly satisfied with the manner in which they are working. He says that the Koreans are far superior to Japanese and Chinese in heavy grading werk and that they endure hardship much better than their neighbours. Mr. Col- bran, the President of the American-Oriental Construction Company, who is one of the prin- cipal financiers of the Seoul-Chemulpo Railway is expected here early next month, probably in
several matters will be decided after arrival company with Mr. Morse. I am told that and the work will be pushed more vigorously,
THE PEKING RAILWAY AND THE ·
CARRIAGE OF GRAIN,
The following despatch has been received from Peking-In order to encourage the grain importers of Peking to use the Tientsin and Peking Railway for transporting their goods from Tientsin to the capital, H.E. Hu intends to abolish the likin duties on cereals carried by freight trains, which are at present collected at Tientsin by the likin officers of the Tungchou grain sub-prefect. In this way the grain dealers will only hare one duty to pay on cereals imported into Peking, which has to be paid to the Metropolitan Octroi Department the moment the goods enter the Yungting gate of the capital. As the average sum collected yearly by the Tsung-chon grain sub prefect in likin on imported grain at Tientsin, en route for the capital, amounts to about Tls. 8,000, and the cost of maintenance of
the likin stations and staff in Tientsin and at posts en route amount to about Tls. 3,000 per aunum, H.E. Hu intends to pay Tls. 5,000 a year to the Tungchon grain sub-prefect out of the estimated surplus of the earnings of the Railway, in order to indemnify that official for the loss of bis income caused by the abolishment of the provincial likin on imported cereals. The proposed reform has been hailed with delight by the people as well as the grain dealers, as the former will greatly benefit by obtaining cheaper grain.-N. C. Daily News.
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