May 11, 1901.1
pen imposing a 10 per cent. ad valorem duty in lien of the existing tariff would mean giving away the only leave we have for obtaining re- dress of existing grievance as to lekin, Inland Navigation, &c., and to commit to the repre- sentatives of eleven Powers, most of which have- no commercial interests worth speaking of, the settlement of commercial questions in which the future trade of Chins is involved, would be, ou the part of Great Britain, simply suicidal
I would suggest to the Committee that we should take immediate action in this matter; we need not commit ourselves to any definite proposals as to how the service of the indemnity should be provided: that, perhaps, would be going beyond our province; we might, however, urge that pressure be brought to bear upon. China to provide for the service of the indem- nity out of existing sources of revenue, distinct from foreign trade, which under more careful and honest administration are known to be capable of adequate expansion; in any case the point upon which we ought to lay stress is that the actual and potential development of British trade should not be jeopardised by any hasty and ill-considered scheme of increase of the Customs' Duties, which would merely aggravate existing anomalies, and deprive us of the only lever for extracting from the Chinese the redress of grievances which hamper both the productivity of the Empire, and the gr wth of foreign trade and shipping. We might add also that the present Conference of Ministers, in which representatives of Powers having hardly any commercial interests in China appear to have an equal voice, cannot be regarded as a satisfactory instrument for con- ducting complicated commercial negotiations, and that the British, Government should there fore make every effort to keep such negotiations apart for future settlement by the leading commercial Powers as soon as normal conditions of Government have been restored in the
country.
The matter is one which, though I think it calls for action as speedily as possible, ought to be considered in full committee meet- ing; a meeting to-day is impossible, and to- morrow, being mail day, is incovenient; will the Committee meet at my office on Thursday at 3 p.m. ?
J. G. DUDGEON,
Chairman.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation,
Hongkong, 20th April, 1901. J. J. FRANCIS, Esq., Chairman,
China Association, Hongkong Branch. DEAR SIR,
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As requested by you to day we have wired our London Office as follows:-
"Following wired at the request of China Association, Hongkong Branch. They fully concur in Shanghai wire 4th April. Urge strongest possible protest against increase tariff except on condition total abolition abuses in- ternal revenue, lekin, &c.”
Yours faithfully,
H. W. FRASER,
p. Sub-Manager. Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 3rd May, 1901.
Sir,
It having been brought to the notice of this Chamber that a movement was in progress at Peking, favoured by certain of the Powers, to settle the question of the payment of the indemnities by China through a loan guaranteed by the Treaty Powers and secured by an in- crease of the Chinese Customs Tariff from 5 per cent, ad valorem to 10 per cent., the Com mittee lost no time in securing corroboration of the report, and then telegraphed to you as follows to-day: "Chamber Commerce, London.
Referring Chinese Indemnity, it is proposed by certain Powers to raise guaranteed Loan secured by doubling Tariff. This Chamber most earnestly submit Government shoud on no account agree any increase existing Tariff unless accompanied by substantial redress grievances connected lekin and other internal taxation and satisfactory settlement question inland waters navigation.
K4
“T. JACKSON, Chairman. Hongkong Chamber Commerce." PRESIDENT,
London Chamber of Commerce.
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come to a premature and disastrous arrange- ment with regard to payment of the indemni. ties. So far as the Treaty Powers interested in the sea-borne commerce with China are concerned, they would prefer to wait inde- finitely for their indemnity rather than barter away the prospects of future trade for the sake of its prompt liquidation.
Trusting that your Committee will fully appreciate the urgency of the onestion and its important bearing on trade with China,
I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
T. JACKSON, Chairman. Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong, 3rd May, 1901.
SIE,TM
I beg to acknowledge recipt of your letter of the 25th ult., transmitting copies of certain letters and telegrams which have passed between the Hongkong and Shanghai Branches of the China Association and the London Branch, relative to the question of the revision of the Chinese Tariff, and express- ing the hope that this Chamber will co-operate with the Association in eudeavouring to pre- vent any settlement of the question in the direction of increasing the Tariff without first securing guarantees for the abolition of the abuses connected with the collection of duties.
In reply, I am instructed to enclose, for the information of your Committee, copy of a telegram despatched to-day to the London Chamber of Commerce and of a letter sent to that body by the following mail.
Trusting that the efforts taken by the Asso- ciation and the Chamber may not prove without influence on the action of His Britannic Majesty's Government in the matter,
I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
R. CHATTESTON WILCOX,
Secretary.
MURRAY STEWart, Esq.,
Hon. Secretary,
China Association, Hongkong.
THE SPECIAL JURY QUESTION.
3rd May, 1901. The Committee are not opposed to the idea of raising the Chinese Tariff per se, but they
MEETING IN CITY HALL. entertain invincible objections to making such
The question of the indiscriminate summon. a concession without obtaining simultaneously ing of special jurors to serve in civil cases the most absolute guarantees for the redress of whose importance does not justify the retaining It will, I think, be desirable to invite the existing mercantile grievances and the abolition of their services is one that has of late aroused Hongkong Committee to co-operate with us, of irregular inland taxation. The increase of
very active interest in the colony. The matter and perhaps the Committee will agree in my the Tariff should be regarded as the quid pro has reached an acute stage, and on the 6th inst. sending a copy of this Memorandum to Hong-quo for the abolition of lekin, the merging of
a special meeting of jurors was held in the City kong by the out-going mail.
the native-managed into the Foreign Customs Hall at noon to consider the following resolu and their collection by the staff of the Imperial tion:-"That in the opinion of this meeting. Maritime Customs, together with the per- the jury system as applied to civil cases con- manent removal of the numerous inland bar-stitutes an unnecessary hardship upon jurors, rier stations at which such duties are now collected on imports until they reach the point where the burden of taxation renders them | unsaleable. If any increase of the Tariff is concerted before the questions connected with collection are satisfactorily settled, there will be no chance of obtaining such settlement later Confirming my letter of 3rd instant, Ion, for we shall have parted with our most now beg to inform you that at a meeting of this Committee, held on 4th instant, it was decided to send the following telegram to the London Committee:-
Shanghai, 2nd April, 1901,
China Association, Shanghai Branch, 8th April, 1901. J. J. FRANCIS, Esq., K.C., Chairman, Hongkong. DEAR SIR,
"With reference to the indemnity there is every reason to believe that certain powers propose an international guaranteed loan secured by the simple process of a drastic tariff increase strongest possible protest should be made as although increase tariff is admissible such hasty action in the treatment of the tariff destroys the only available lever for the redress of present grievances, besides menacing trade expansion; pressure should be brought to bear upon China to provide service indemnity from existing sources of native re- venue, which, honestly collected, are known to be capable of adequate expansion; the present conference of Ministers of eleven Powers, several of whom have no commercial interests, is eminently unsuited to settle complex commercial questions which should be reserved for future settlement later by the leading commercial Powers. Every effort should be made to this end.
39
Trusting that your committes will see its way to co-operate in this important matter,
I am, dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
LEONARD KEE, Secretary.
cogent argument in advance. The difficul- ties in the way of the realisation of our demands are already sufficiently great; the pro- vincial officials will strenuously oppose the abolition of lekin and the barrier dnes, which have for many years been their main sources of revenue, and they will only yield on its being shown that this loss will be made good to them out of the increased Customs revenue.
The danger that now menaces commercial interests is that those Powers whose sen-borne commerce is on a very limited scale are dis- tinctly inclined to support any scheme which will serve to secure the prompt payment of the indemnity claimed by them from China. They can view with something more than equanimity the diversion of some of this traffic overland in consequence of the enhanced duties, especially if it passes through their territory, and this equanimity will not be disturbed by the con- sid ration that the bulk of the increase in the Chinese Tariff will have to come out of the pockets of Anglo-Saxon and German merchants and manufacturers.
In view of these facts, therefore, and the certainty that any reforms in the Chinese methods of taxation must be made prior to the increase of their Tariff, I beg to urge upon your Committee the necessity of an early and energetic appeal to the Foreign Office to
attempts
and that the Government be asked to legislate for its total abolition in such cases.”
The meeting was a representative and fairly large one, and included Captain G. U. Ander son and Messrs. A. Babington, J. W. Bolles, R. Cook, D. W. Craddock, W. Danby, A. Denison, W. H. Gaskell, J. N. Goosmann, W. D. Graham, S. Hancock, A. Haupt, Ho Fook, B. Layton, R. K. Leigh, Liso Tze San, J. A. Mackay, H. N. Mody, A. G. Morris, D. M. Moses, J. Orange, E. Osborne, D. E. Brown, J. C. Peter, G. W. F. Playfair, W. Poate, W. H. Potts, W. H. Ray, T. J. Raymond, F. J. Rose, E. W. Rutter, W. H. Saunders, R. G Shewan, J. G. Smith, C. H. Thompson, G. Ls. Tomlin, A. Turner, R. C. Wilcox, and P. Witkowski.
On the proposal of Mr. W. POATE, Mr. R. G. Shewan was elected to the chair.
Addressing the meeting, Mr. SHEWAN Said---- Gentlemen, we have met here to-day to see if something cannot be done to improve the pre- sent law as to summoning special jurors for civil cases which on the face of them could be better settled by a judge alone. I hope that no one is running away with the idea that we want to abolish juries altogether or do away with the time-honoured right of a man to be tried by his peers. Trial by jury in civil cases is a good safeguard against a weak or partial judge, and I would not for a moment ge as far as some of you and advocate its total abolition in all civil suits. However, I might now read you a memo, landed me just now on this point:--“In the Straits Settlements, throughout Penang, Singapore, and Mal the law lays down that a civil suit shall be heard and determined without
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