L
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LI HUNG-CHANG'S DISMISSAL.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
(Daily Press, 10th September.) The dismissal of LI HUNG-CHANG from his seat in the Tsungli Yamen is welcome news, for while he remained in power there was little hope of reform in the corrupt Government of China. He was the foremost representa- tive and supporter of the great squeeze system, under which anything like an honest administration is impossible, and he was more than suspected of being in the pay of Russia. His downfall will therefore be a blow to Russian ascendancy at Peking and must be regarded as another victory for Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD, whom Li has of late attempted to thwart and insult in every way in his power. But a question that at once suggests itself is, what is the position of the Empress Dowager in the matter? It has been understood that Her Majesty and Li were working together for their common interest,and they had the young Emperor completely under their thumb. We can hardly suppose that Lr's dismissal was in consequence of any breach between him and the Empress Dowager. The tlternative is that some power has step ped between the latter and the En- peror, with the result that the young man has been induced to assert him- self and that the Empress Dowager's hither- to unquestioned sway has come to an end. Will she yield it quietly, or is the world about to witness another series of palace intrigues? One thing is certain: with the Empress Dowager and Li HUNG-CHANG in retirement the hope of China's regeneration will be much brighter than it has been before.
•
[September 17, 1898.
THE CHINESE CUSTOMS', AND- HONGKONG'S DISTRIBUTING
TRADE.
the Customs in this colony will find, quite easy means of doing so, for we pre- sume the Committee of the Chamber would not carry their opposition to the Customs ing account in the colony. For our own so far as to object to their keeping a hank- (Daily Press, 14th September.) part we think it would have been better to political and commercial point of view, if It would be of some service, both from a have ignored the Customs office in Queen's the Hongkong Government would appoint Road altogether, seeing that it possesses no a competent officer, or a commission, to official status, can exercise no official func investigate the conditions attending the dis tions, and if it does no good can at least tributing trade in South China and the do no harm. After the office is closed reasons for its slow development. By dis- everything will go on as before, except that tributing trade we mean more particularly the business that cannot conveniently be that carried on by junks from Hongkong, taken out to the stations will be conducted but sound conclusions can only be arrived through agents instead of by the Commis- at on that point by taking into account also sioner direct, and probably there is not a the cases of Macao and Canton, which are European firm in the colony, no matter how also distributing centres and may owing to high its standing, that would refuse to accept special causes attract the trade from Houg- the agency if the inducement offered were kong. It is desirable to know whether the deemed sufficient.. The net result will be trade has in fact been attracted from the that a house for the Commissioner will have colony, if so what the reason is, and whether to be built at some point on Chinese ter the case is in any degree remediable. The ritory, with other houses for the staff, and Committee of the Hongkong Chamber of that gradually a little settlement or town Commerce, in their letter of the 19th July will spring up which may in time become to the Marquis of SALISBURY, say that the to some extent a trading centre. not suppose that such a settlement wouldgressive" since the establishment of the We do junk trade" has been practically unpro- constitute any nienace prosperity, but on general grounds it is twelve years ago, and that there is, "in the to Hongkong's Customs office in the city of Victoria some NS well to keep all the business in the colony that we can instead of driving it away. Much of the opposition to the Cus toms having an office or agency in Queen's Road seems to have no more foundation in reason than the "no popery ery in Eug land or the Anglophobia of Parisian journal- ists. When pressed for their reasons those who most strongly condemn the office have none to give. It resolves itself into a mere matter of sentiment. We are told some-
19
THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND times that trade is prejudiced, but how no
THE CHINESE CUSTOMS.
one can explain. If Customs duties in China were (Daily Press, 10th September.)
done away with altogether The resolutions passed by the Committee of
there would no doubt be some development he Hongkong General Chamber of Com-
of trade, but the existence of the office in merce with reference to the Customs ques-Queen's Road has no bearing on that ques tion will on the whole commend them selves to the more moderate section of the community. They seem, however, to rest to some extent on a false premise. The first resolution reads:- "That the Customs office "be no longer permitted to collect duties in
the colony or its waters." This would convey the impression to any one unacquainted with the circumstances that the Customs
office had hitherto been allowed to collect duties, that is, to enforce their
pay ment, within the colony and its waters. Such is not the case. The Government has never formally recognised the existence of the Customs office in Queen's Road and the officers of that service are endowed with
no executive functions whatever within the
colony or its waters. The admission made
duties will be collected just the same if it is tion either one way or the other. The removed; if it remains they will not be en- hauced. The Committee of the Chamber, however, deferring apparently to popular sentiment in the matter, recommend the re-
moval of the office, and as sentiment counts with individuals we think Sir ROBERT for something with communities as well as
kong feeling in this matter and order HART might gracefully defer to Hong- the office to be closed, especially in view of the handsome character of the second and third of the Chamber's resolutions, which recommend that all opium arriving through the agency of bonded warehouses or in the colony be accounted for, either
otherwise, and that the Government do all in their power to protect the Chinese
16
Committee's opinion," a well founded im- pression that the natural growth of the "untive distributing trade of the colony is "restricted by the action of the Customs." The trade is admittedly restricted to the extent that the smuggling into China of goods shipped from Hongkong is prevented, ascertain is whether the legitimate, that is, but the point that it is of importance to
the non-smuggling trade, is in any way suggest were appointed the Customs would restricted. If a commission such as we
no doubt give it all the assistance in their the opportunity of formulating their griev power, and the Chinese traders would have
ances. The Opium Convention provides that "no dues whatsoever shall be demanded "from junks coming to Hongkong_from ports in China, or proceeding from Hong- kong to ports in China, over and above "the dues paid or payable at the ports of "clearance or destination." It has been suggested, we believe, that in defiance of this provision junks that have paid duty at the Kowloon stations are again required to pay duty on arrival at their destination. restrict the trade and would afford the A system of that kind would naturally Hongkong Government good ground for taking strong measures in reference thereto. But has any such complaint ever been for- mulated by a junk owner or shipper of cargo, by parties carried away by the violence or is the suggestion merely made at random of their hostility to the Customs? How
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by the Chamber, going as it does beyond revenue, more especially with regard to the many complaints has the Hongkong Govern.
the facts, is to be regretted, because it
may
opium farmer. The fourth resolution,
ment received since the Kowloon Customs
at some future period be used to the colony's namely, that the revenue stations and passed under the Foreign Inspectorate, what
detriment. But the system of voluntarily paying duties in the colony, so far as it exists, will go on after the office has been removed, as it went on before the office was established. Before the statious surrounding the colony passed under the control of the Foreign branch of the service duty paid certificates for various classes of goods were openly on sale in Queen's Road and used to be purchased by shippers, who deemed it more convenient to pay over the money here than to send it out to the stations with the attendant risk of loss or
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revenue cruisers be removed beyond the limits of British territory and British The stations and cruisers must necessarily "waters" may be taken as a matter of course.
be removed if British jurisdiction in the colony is to remain unimpaired.
The Chamberlain Road at the Peak is now
practically complete along its entire length from the Tramway Terminus at Victoria Gap to the junction with the roads to Aberdeen and Mount Kellett by "The Homestead." A brick shelter for the chair coolies on the vacant space ragged matshed now doing duty is all that is opposite the Tram Station in place of the required to perfect the arrangements made for
robbery during trausit. In the same way, after the office is removed, we venture to think that any one who for his own convenience or to avoid risk of loss in make a trip to take the air round Mount transit wishes to pay
mouey over to' Kellett.
the comfort of the numerous visitors who now
was the nature of such complaints, how many joint investigations have been held under article 6 of the convention, and what was the result in each case of such investi-
All parties are agreed that the Customs cannot be accorded any authority gation?
within the waters of the colony; an answer to the above questions would resist in deter- wining the attitude that should be main- tained towards the Customs situated beyond our jurisdiction but in our immediate neighbourhood.
Mr. HILLIER, the Commissioner of Cus- toms for Kowloon, in his report for 1897, says that the falling off in the trade of that year was more than accounted for by the decrease in the importation of rice from abroad, owing mainly to the magnificent
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