THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE OPENING OF THE INLAND our Minister to state publicly and clearly
WATERS AND THE LO VI-SHUI QUESTION.
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(Daily Press, 26th January.) The so-called policy of the "open door" and the policy of "division" each have their advocates as being the remedy for a -state of things which both admit to be bad in that homogeneous mass known amongst nations as China. Both will admit that while the argument is going on as to which is the right one to pursue, no harm can be done in trying to reform some of the abuses which are mainly the cause of the necessity for adopting either policy. To those bent on reform the words of MACAULAY when deal ing with the proceedings of that Parliament whose history he loved to. tell carry a significance and a moral which might well be applied to China to-day. He says:-- They were perfectly aware that the Eng- "lish institutions stood in need of reform. But they also knew that an important point was gained if they could settle once "for all by a solemn compact the matters "which during several generations had been "in controversy. They therefore most judi- 'ciously abstained from mixing up the "irritating and perplexing questions of what ought to be the law with the plain question of what was the law." In Mr. GRAY's speech, when introducing Lord CHARLES BERESFORD to the Chamber of Commerce, and also in the latter's speech when addressing that body, there were two points on which each dwelt where the necessity clearly exists for defining what the law. We allude to the "undefined" Tsoli or Lo-ti-shiu tax awaiting the "ship. "ment at its destination" nuď “the com- plete opening of the waterways of China." The first issue is to some extent covered by and included in the second, inasmuch as by the regulations for the latter it is provided that the amount of dues and duties leviable on foreign goods at the various stations passed by the steamer shall be declared; thus giving the option of
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[January 28, 1899.
whole idea is that the Treaty Port is to be the centre from which will radiate lines of steamers carrying foreign goods to all the surrounding places; and bringing goods, destined for export to a foreign country, from those places to the Treaty Port. It is not difficult to see whence this idea origin- ated; it is based on the old fallacy that the British merchant resides at the various goods and sells them to his Chinese con- Treaty Ports, where he imports his foreign stituents, and that consequently there is a radius round every Treaty Port where the foreign merchant desires to send his goods. These will be carried to any place within navigation at that Treaty Port; or, if by that radius by steamers registered for inland chance the merchant wishes to send his goods to a place situated on the other side of the next Treaty Port to the one he resides in, he can send them, as he did before the opening of waters, by another class of steamers, namely, vessels engaged in trade between two Treaty Porta. At the last Treaty Port they will be transhipped into the inland water steamer and carried to their destination. The same with exports destined for abroad.
what is the law with regard to the opening of these waters. It is useless to maintain the fiction of China having the right to pass any laws she likes in the matter. The British Minister is the man who inaugurated the scheme; he received the credit of the idea in the House of Commons, and to him the public look to see it success fully carried fully carried out no one can doubt, or if out. That it has, as yet, not been success they do, they simply have to look round them and see the number of British ships which have taken advantage of the privilege accorded to them, to be convinced of the commented on the proposed opening of the truth of our statement. We have frequently
waters. We have given loyal support to our Minister in what we foresaw and foretold, when the idea was first mooted, would be no easy task. We pointed out that a uniform system of duties for all goods would be the important point in the whole scheme; and we advocated and counselled patience on the part of merchants as being a necessity for the carrying through of such a radical reform as seemed to be implied by the opening of these waters. This was in the early part of last year. Nine months have now elapsed and we still await some explana- tion from our Minister of the conditious under which he has obtained this concession, The "Chinese Yellow Book" states that steamers not being vessels of a sea going "type" are allowed to trade. We ask, and ask with justice, whether an expression such as this received Sir CLAUDE MacDonald's assent or not? If so, what is the meaning of it? Were this expression the only point or phrase which needs defining it might be allowed to pass as one of those delightfully vague statements so dear to the heart of Chinese Officials and whereby they вате their face"; but there are other and vastly" more important stakes at issue. We, as did the public, accepted our Minister's state ment that inland waters would be opened "to steamers specially registered for that "trade at the Treaty Ports"in all good faith. We looked for no subtle meaning underly- ing the words, but by the interpretation which the Chinese Government put upon it,
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If our Minister is impressed with any ideas of that sort we commend to his notice Mr. BRENAN's "Report on the Trade at the "Treaty Ports." That he is impressed with those ideas and consequently has made a mistake perhaps not unnatural to a man now intimately acquainted with the conditions of trade in China is evidenced by the "Tradə « Regulations of the Yangtze Kiang" sent to the Foreign Office from Peking on August 5th last. In these it is stated “ Chinese junks “chartered by foreigners are only availablé "for conveying foreign owned cargo from
Treaty Port to Treaty Port
wtba "conditions of the bond being that the car- goes are bond fide foreign property.” That is to say, the whole of the chartered junk trade now carried on between Ichang and Chungking ought to be stopped, for it is very certain that all the cargo carried in the junke is Chinese owned. It is this miscon- ception of the conditions of trade that has caused our Minister to fall error he has with regard to what
露露
PAGMATE SI Azet en rande, or the cover of a ) it is not only the registration, as the ordinary be called his unsuccessful atte
transit pass, whichever course the merchant chooses to adopt; but the "undefined" Tsoli still awaits both classes after arrival at their destination. The bulk of merchants are only too fully aware of the meaning of this and of the manner in which our Go- vernment by a decision-based as it was on an. honourable but mistaken notion of the country with which they were dealing-has given to a rapacious and corrupt official class an excuse for extortion and the levy of vexatious taxes on our goods. There is the strongest and inost urgent necessity that the amount of this undefined Tsoli should be at once declared by the Chinese Govern- ment and also the places where it is pay- able. If there is the slightest hesitation shown in doing this the remedy lies with us and it should be applied promptly. It is, to make the transit pass clear goods of all other taxation whatever. In either case we shall have fixed what the law is and can then proceed to amend it if necessary.
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reader might suppose, which is to take place at the Treaty Port, but the "trade" itself is to be coufiued to it and the small area surrounding it. It is for Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD to say, and we urge him to say it in plain unmistakeable English, which version the public are to accept.
The criticism of the " Supplementary "Rules" which appeared in our issue of the 18th October was based on the idea that a British (or Chinese for that matter) steamer would be free to carry goods, native or for eign, between any two places in China, pro- vided she did not attempt to leave the waters of China and touch at foreign ports; or, in other words, that free circulation of goods was to be allowed on the payment of a fixed sum for duty. We dealt with certain letails of those Rules which appeared to us to re- quire some further explanation. The ex- planation has now been given. We thought the waters of China meant the waters of China; we find we were wrong. The so With regard to the second point, we fancy called opening of the waters means this: A that to the greater part of his hearers the state steamer is to be allowed to run from a ment made by Lord CHARLES BERESFORD Treaty Port to an inland place, touching at that "the waterways would not be satisfac-other inland places en route; but she must "torily thrown open until they had a differ- ‚"ent system of allowing those boats which were registered in a certain port to pass any port to go to a destination" must have been somewhat confusing. On this subject we cannot too strongly urge on
return to the same Treaty Port. She can- not carry goods from one inland place to another if those places are situated one on each side of the Treaty Port at which the vessel is registered; neither can she extend her trade to between two Treaty Parts. The
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open
the water ways of China. It is to the carriage of all goods, Chinese as well as foreign, and more particularly to the carriage of the domestic trade of China under an equal tariff, that he must give his attention, as we pointed out on April 30th last; and, as we then said, it is no light task. The logical consequence of the proper opening of the waterways of China means the aboli- tion of the tax of 7 per cent. (duty and a half) now levied by the Customs on all steamer borne Chinese goods carried be- tween two Treaty Ports. It should not be difficult nor do we think it would be un- fair to extend to Chinese goods the same privileges as are granted to foreign ones. Give the Chinese the right to pay dues and duties on their goods en route, or to com mute all further en route taxation by pay ment of what they now pay to secure the carriage of them by steamer between two Treaty Ports merely because they are steamer-borne. In short, extend the transit pass system to the domestic trade of China. The sooner the idea is abandoned that foreign goods and foreign trade are the sole concern of our Minister and that the Chinese Government has the right toʻtax its own subjects and their goods in any manner it pleases the sooner we shall arrive at a correct understanding of the points at issue in the opening, not only of the water. ways, but the whole of the country to trade.
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