June 16, 1900.]
the same day an old man in his house at the east gate of Shew Hing was killed. The Chinese proverb, says: The thunder will strike till the third-generation of those who have done wrong."
TWO EXECUTIONS BY "LINGTSE."
A man the age of 20, named Hü Po-ün, who had murdered his father with a chopper, was tried and sentenced by the provincial judge to be executed by lingtse (i.e. cutting to pieces). He was
? a native of Heungshan, and was
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.
The U.S. Philippine Commission arrived in Manila Bay on Sunday, the 3rd inst. Judge Taft gave a statement, of which the following of the Press. is the most important part, to the representatives
415
THE PROPOSED REVISION OF THE TARIFF.
of the following despatch from Viceroy Liu of The North China Daily News gives the text the Liangkiang Provinces to Governor Lu of Kiangsu :-
"T
י
by me on the 2nd of May of an urgent despatch I beg to inform your Excellency of the receipt by courier from the Board of War enclosing
known to be non compos mentis. The sentence to proceed to enact legislative changes and copy of an Imperial Decree, dated the 25th of
was confirmed by the Viceroy and carried out on the execution ground on the 6th inst., a few oreigners from Shameen being present to wit- 'ness the scene. The day previous another culprit, by name Tai, was also executed by lingtee for kidnapping and selling his mother to a house of ill-fame.
FROM THE “CHUNG NGOI BAN PO.
A NEW TAX.
The question of imposing a shop-tax as a substitute for all the lekin taxes, recommended by Kang-yi, when he was appointed high Com- missioner and sent to Kwangtung to look into the revenues of the province by the Em- press Dowager, has been completely settled. The leading merchants, Sam-king-yu and others, who have promised to pay to the Government annually 4,000,000 taels as shop tax, have paid advance to the Government 1,000,000 taels collected from the different shops. The 14th June was appointed by the Viceroy and the Governor to open the shop-tax office and the provincial treasurer has been appointed to frame the regulations for collect ing the tax with the leading merchants. It is reported that only one half of the shops are willing to pay the tax. Each shop is required to pay from one hundred to three hundred taels in advance, and the tax is to be collected accord- ing to the business of each shop, large or small, It is said that the lekin offices and stations are not to be abolished at present, for they are still used to collect lekin taxes from the shops failing to pay the tax.
A SUPPOSED ASSASSIN.
age
A young man about twenty-five years of was arrested the other day by the soldiers in Canton, being alleged to be the man who who attacked Lan Hok-san. He will be brought before the Provincial Judge for trial. There is as yet no evidence to show that the lad is the
real offender.
A SWINDLER'S TRICK.
Sometime ago a great swindler went to a gold- smith's shop in Siu-Sz street, Canton, and asked for one hundred taels of gold, saying that he belonged to the Imperial Bank of China. The shop at once sent a foki to go to the bank with him. When they arrived at the bank, the swindler asked the foki for the gold and told him to wait in the front part of the bank, where there was no one else present. The foki, having waited for some time, made enquiries and found that he had been cheated. A heavy reward was offered for the capture of the offender. It is said that he had been arrested the other day
with all the gold in his possession.
THE PRICE OF FIREWOOD.
Firewood is exceedingly dear in Canton and in the surrounding districts, for the junks carrying firewood from the West and East ri- vers have to pay heavy blackmail to the pirates to escape being plundered. A dollar at present can buy only about one hundred and thirty catties against two hundred or more catties in former years. H.E. Li Hung-chang knowing this has sent a weiyuen with fifty thousand taels to buy firewood from the districts where it is pro- duced in great abundance, to be sold in Canton at a low price to the poor.
assume our
"We have full instructions, and extensive powers are given us. We shall not fully exercise these powers until we shall have had ample time to acquire a sufficient knowledge of the situation reforms preliminary to the establishment of a
April, handed to the Grand Council for the stable civil government. The Military Gover-high provincial officials, viz. the Superintendents information and instruction of the following of Trade of the Northern and Southern ports (the Viceroys of Chihli and of the Liangkiang provinces), the Viceroys of the Two Kuang, Hukuang, Szechuan, and Min-Chê provinces; the Governors of Kiangsu, Anhui, Kiangsi, Chekiang, Shantung, Hupeh Hunan, Kuangtung and Kuang provinces, Sheng, President of the cial Treasurer of Kiangsu, the contents of sajd Grand Court of Revision, and Nieh, Provin- Decree being as follows:
nor. General MacArthur, until we full authority, will continue to perform the duties and exercise the general powers here- tofore discharged and wielded by General Otis; and even after we take full active part in the government he will continue to be its executive head until, on our recommendation, it shall seem to the President that the time has arrived for the
A Chinaman was sentenced to six months hard labour at the Magistracy yesterday for attempting to break into a shop in Queen's Road. He had climbed on to the verandah when he missed his footing and fell and was captured by a Chinese constable.
appointment to a civil executive, and the mak- ing of the military forces of the United States merely auxiliary to the carrying on of the civil Government, and available only in cases of emer- goney for the suppression of lawless violence too formidable to be overcome by the regularly organized local police.
For the vacant seat in the Legislative Coun- cil created by Mr. Herbert Smith's departure from the colony, Mr. J. J. Francis, Q.C., pro- poses to offer himself as nominee of the Chamber of Commerce. We understand that Mr. J. Thurburn, Manager of the Mercantile Bank of India, is also a candidate.
We are aware that here are several issues of deep interest to the people of these islands upon which it will probably be our duty to take some action. Part of these will involve merely judi- cial investigation and decision of purely legal rights, while the remainder will require the careful exercise of political power to reach a just and equitable result. Upon these issues we cannot be expected at this time to say any thing in advance of our final and deliberate conclusions.
Representing the sovereignty of the United States in these islands which it is the purpose of our government to maintain, we are here to do justice to the Philippine people, and to secure to them the best government in our power, and such a measure of popular control as will be consistent with stability and the security, of law, order and property.
"We have received a joint report from the Tsungli Yamen in response to our commands Board of Revenue and the Ministers of the concerning the memorials of Shêng Hsuan-huai Tariff. Now a large proportion of the annual and others recommending the increase of the income of the Government is derived from the Customs from foreign goods, etc., and because duties collected by the Imperial Maritime the country has not sufficient funds to pay for the maintenance of its armies we specially kuei (Provincial Treasurer of Kiangsu) to con- appointed Shêng Hsuan-huai and Nieb, Chih- sult with (Sir Robert) Hart concerning
the
question of increasing the Tariff Treaties. The said Sheng and his colleagues with due regard to the existing recommend that the duties on imports and ex- ports be increased by making a readjustment of the market values of said goods and that im- ported wines, spirits, cigars, tobacco, etc., be also duly taxed. These suggestions appear to be beneficial and harmless. As the time has We are civil agents. We are men of peace.
arrived for the reconsideration of the Treaties, The field of our work must of course be con-
we hereby command Sheng Hsuan-huai, Nieh fined to regions in which the armed enemy has
Chih-knei, in conjunction with (Sir Robert) ceased operations. We cannot deal with men
Hart, to communicate with the Ministers of the in arms. They are to be dealt with by the
various countries, giving the reasons which United States Army and the General Command formulating the proposed revision of the Tariff, have actuated the Imperial Government for ing. When those now in arms shall have laid and to begin at once on the discussion of the them down, relying, as they certainly may, on the justice, generosity and clemency of the
two points mentioned in the above-named re- commendations in order that there United States, we shall give them as full a hear- ing upon the policy to be pursued and the re-
time lost. Furthermore with regard to the sug- forms to be begun, as to anyone having an in-gested increase of the Tariff, combining there- terest in the matter.
with the likin tax, it should be explained that this has reference solely to foreign goods and has no connection with the likin on native pro. duce.
"This is not a manifesto or proclamation; but anticipating that we might be called upon at various times by the Press and others entitled to know, we have deemed it best to say this much. may add that we mean to inaugurate as comprehensive a school system throughout the Islands as circumstances will permit, and we have already invited Mr. Fred T. Atkinson, of
Springfield, Mass., a gentleman of high profes- sional standing as an educator, to come to the islands to become the General Superintendent of Education in the Philippines. We hope that he will reach here by the first of August. He is highly recommended to us by leading educators of the country.”
Despatches received from Tientsin, says the N.-C. Daily News, state that Brigadier-General Yang, who was ambushed and murdered by Boxers at Laishui near Paotingfa recently, while en route to investigate a case of reported murder of Christians at Kaoli, is to be cashier- ed for disobedience of orders, in that he had been ordered 'to investigate' and not to come to blows with the mob." This was the same officer whom the Daily News correspondent at Tient- sin eulogised as a fine old soldier." By rights Brigadier-General Yangs's family should have been compensated by a grant of money and posthumous honours for him for having died doing his duty, but for the fact that he had disobeyed orders." That the Boxers are secretly favoured by the powers that be in Peking has been again and again insisted upon, and what clearer proof can there be of this than this censure of Brigadier Yang?
66
may
be no
the
As a matter of fact, the present question practicable will bring an increase of several is one of grave responsibility and if made
millions of taels to the annual revenue and be of considerable benefit to the country at large.
by there will be danger of losing a grand It is important that there be no shirking of responsibilities or delay in this matter where- opportunity, and we hereby command Superintendents of the Northern and Southern port; the Viceroys of the Two Kuang, Hakuang, Szechuan, and Min-Cuê; and the Governors of Kiangsu, Anhui, Kiangsi, Chêkiang, Shan- tuug, Hupeh, Hunan, Kuangtung, and Kuang- si, to consider well the memorials of Sheng Hsuan-huai and his colleagues and those of the Board of Revenue and the Tsungli Yamên in regard to the above, using them as a basis in connection with the conditions and capabilities of the province or provinces under the jurisdic- tion of each. They should consider the question from all points of view, comparing the con- ditions of their country with the foreign influences at work, and find out (from their own points of view) how the question should be conducted by which the country may be benefitted and freed from harm, or how a result may be attained in which the advan- tages may be great, while the harm is reduced to a minimum. They (the said provincial high authorities) are commanded to be decided in their judgment and beware of hesitancy, while they should be liberal in treating the question and refrain from conservatism. Above all they must be prompt in arriving at a result. We,
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