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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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October 11, 1902,] debt, through French aid, seems likely to do very apt review of the position. The this. Bussin is therefore confronted with the officials do, sometimes, need a little waking possibility of British and German railways and their representations to the Foreign running from East and West to meet on the Office are often greatly assisted when hacked Persian Gulf The embarrassment of up by statements or protests from a comemr- Turkey at this juncture cannot but affect cial body like the China Association. More- the German scheme. Russia always has over, the Association has an advantage over it in her power to embarrass her southern a body such as the Chamber of Commerce, neighbour in Europe and she has not failed in being entirely British. Matters that to do so now. No valid reason for Russia's could hardly be submitted to a cosmopolitan anxiety to establish a vice-consulate at body like the Hongkong General Chamber Mitrovitza, a small town on the Albanian-of Commerce can be and are laid before the Bosnian border, can be discovered, and still | Association confidentially for their opinion less for the despatch of a Cavass party to and advice. These opinions are not only the proposed vice consulate, in spite of sought but they are listened to. Mr. Albanian protest and without waiting for PLAYFAIR, at the meeting on Monday, gave the Porte's exequatur. The Dardanelles an instance of this. Quoting from a letter I incident is still less explicable except as received that morning from the London part of an aggressive movement against the Branch of the Association, he read the peace of Turkey and of all concerned in the following passage :- Not only have your Turkish question. The Treaty of Paris, by protests leen promptly forwarded to the which the Sultan is bound to probibit dur- | Foreign Office, but we have evidence that ing times of peace the entrance of foreign they have been acted upon." This state- warships intothe Bosphorus or Dardanelles, ment evoked a sharp round of applause, and is an international agreement. Yielding to is indeed an encouragement not always pressure, the Porte has just permitted the vouchsafed to voluntary unofficial effort. passage of several Russian torpedo-boats through the Dardanelles. It is true that it was specified that the torpedo-boats | were to be unarmed, but this makes them none the less warships, and moreover, as our London correspondent telegraphed, the vessels made 1:0. unustentatious passages, while at the same time a Russian ironclad paid a visit to Constantinople with a mem- ber of the Royal Family on board, and festivities were held at the famous Shipka Pass in Bulgaria, also attended by high Russian representatives. When there is added the request of Russia for two coaling-stations, one in the Aegean and one on the Turkish side of the Black Sca, it will be seen that there is good ground for suspecting Russia's designs in the neigh bourhood of the Bosphorus. The matter does not rest in the hauds of Turkey alone, or it might be considered already settled in favour of the aggressors. The Treaty of Paris cannot be abrogated at the desire of Russia, and the other Powers have no reason for tolerating its violation. Once more Russia is threatening to run amuck among treaty engagements, and menaces the peace of the world.
THE CHINA ASSOCIATION
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A perusal of the correspondence appended to the Report, comprising some thirty-six pages, shows that the local Branch of the China Association has fully recovered from the moribund condition into which it was at one time thought to have sunk, and is now very much alive. The energetic Chairman has evidently put his back into it, and with gratifying results. The Branch is able to make its voice heard, and it is now consulted, its advice acted upon, and its protests heeded. The Committee now contains a good deal of fresh blood, and with a Chairman like Mr. PLAYFAIR there is little danger of questions growing cold before they are grappled with, or of their being tackled so tamely that the protests for- warded to London fail to arouse interest or to enlist support. We are pleased to note this change in the Association, and are also gratified to find its influence steadily in- creasing. There is need for such a body in all conscience, In these days of excessive competition we must keep on the alert to see that no exceptional advantages are conceded in China to our foreign rivals, and, if need be, to prod the British manufacturer into action instead of resting on his laurels and allowing others to reap where he has sown but not held the field effectively. Yet more necessary still is it that the unofficial watch-dog should remain sleeplessly on duty to guard the concession for which such a The annual meeting of the local Brauch of heavy price has been demanded. We refer the China Association, held at the City to the abolition of lekin on imports into Hall on Monday afternoon, was zot very China. If the agreement negotiated by largely attended, but the proceedings were Sir JAMES MACKAY be faithfully observed, interesting and harmonious, and the ac- it cannot fail to prove beneficial by giving count of the work done was very satisfac-a great impetus to trade and ridding China tory. No doubt there would have been a larger attendance had the hour of meeting been fixed a little later, say five o'clock, when the commercial offices would have been closed and opportunity afforded to all the members to turn up. We trust this will be done on the next occasion, for this is emphatically a body to encourage, and it will be well to show that its work is being strongly supported. The Hon. G. W. F. PLAYFAIR, who presided, made a breezy, spirited speech, in which, after reviewing the work done by the Committee during the past year and commenting on some of the more important questions dealt with, he termed the Consuls the official watch dogs of British interests in China, and the Association the unofficial watch-dog, whose business it is to sound the air in case the official watch-dogs have been asleep or have been unable to make the warnings sufficiently heard in London. This is a
MEETING.
(Daily Press, 8th October.)
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of a legion of official harpies who devour the revenue while engaged in collecting it. But there is great danger of the treaty not being kept in the spirit even if it is carried out in the letter. The Chinese Government has, during the entire period of its intercourse with foreign states, proved so entirely lacking in good faith, so blind to its moral obligations, that it would be erassest folly to imagine that on this occasion it is likely to undergo any sudden conversion to truth and duty. It will be more than ever necessary to watch ceaselessly, jealously, And with Argus eyes for
infractions
of treaty stipulations having for their object the imposition of some new illegal impost on imports, which is calculated to check the development or in some cases actually to destroy the promising trade laboriously built up. Meanwhile it is only fair to observe, en passant, that the watch duties of the
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Association would be inade pleasant indeed and would be materially lightened were every British consular official as energetic and as zealous for British commercial interests as Mr. JAMES Scort, His Majesty's present representative at Canton.
THE ILLEGAL OPIUM FARM.
(Daily Press, 8th October). In a leading article in our issue of the 23rd September we gave some particulars of an illegal opium-farm at Canton, working in defiance of the Chefoo Convention of 1876, and stated that we had every reason to believe that the existence of this venture would shortly. terminate. We have now to put before our readers some documents dealing with the question, including one putting an end to the illegal farin. We must state, to begin with, that our informa tion is derived through a Chinese source and that there is in consequence no claim to the verbal accuracy of the documents now published, the first being a retranslation from the Chinese, whereas the other two are confessedly only paraphrases.
The first document is addressed by Mr. JAMES SCOTT, British Consul-General, to the Viceroy at Canton, and runs ng follows:---
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"With reference to Your Excellency's despatch of the thirtieth day of the first " moou, wherein you propose to send Hu
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"Yux taotai to consult with me on the 'subject of the tax ou prepared opium: "Hu Tuotai has called upon me, when "I asked him to inform you that I
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firmly opposed the tix оп prepared opium on account of its being a violation of "the Treaty. In former cases where the Commissioners and the taotai have pro- posed the establishment of a new tax, no interference has been made; but on this "occasion I have reported the tax to the "British Minister at Peking, who has in "turn reported it to the British Government. The Government has replied, ordering strong opposition to the tax, as being against Additional Article No. 3 of the Chefoo Convention, which stipulates that "such [transit] certifiente shall free the opium to which it applies from the im- position of any further tax or duty whilst in transport in the interior, provided that "the package has not been opened, and that the Customs seals, marks, and numbers on the packages have not been effaced or tampered with. With regard to the claim of the Kwong Hing Company that opium shall pay the new tax on the pre- pared drug before its arrival, whether it be repacked or not, it is evident that this is a breach of the Chefoo Convention. I "therefore beg that you will give your "careful consideration to the matter and "order that the aforesaid tax be stopped; "and that you will issue notice to iner- chants, letting them know that the old regulations with regard to opium are in "force."
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Next comes a telegram from the Wai Wu-pu to the at of the Canton, which is as follows:-
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This is to inform you that Minister Hu "bas left Peking and that a despatch has "been received from the British Minister, "Sir E. SATOW, in reply to our telegrams on the subject of the new opium tax. The British Minister states that this tax "is a violation of the Chefoo Convention, which says that when the tax has been properly levied ou opiun before its "arrival at its destination, it shall be free "from the imposition of any further tax "whatever, even though it is repacked "under Customs supervision. The British
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