392
THE RICE TRIBUTE.
A PLEA FOR ITS COMMUTATION,
The Shanghai Mercury translates the follow- ing from the Universal Gazette:
It is difficult to find anything more useless and at the same time mora expensive to the Chinese Government than the existing system of the transportation to Peking through the Grand Canal of the Government tribute rice from South China, Everything in connection with the system is at fault. The rice is not properly collected at Shanghai. It is not pro- perly transported from Shanghai to Peking. And on arrival at Péking it is not properly stored there. The system is universally con- demned; and yet the Chinese Government cannot 100 its way to abolish it, though it has been repeatedly suggested that the rice tribute be commuted to money and that the money thus secured be employed to buy rice in the North whenever it is needed. The Chinese Govern- ment refuses to do away with this faulty system, because it is prejudiced by the absurd notion that its abolition would lead to the starvation of the Manchus in Peking.
that it is rotten.
Now, since the Chinese Government considers it indispensable that the transportation of tribute rice to Peking should be continued, it should devise some good measures to improve the system. The authorities of the Govern ment granary in Peking occasionally reject the rice on its arrival at the capital on the ground In the present year more than ten thousand piculs from Kiangsu and Chekiang have been sent back on that account. But it must be borne in mind that the rotten- ness of the rice is entirely due to the manner in which it is sent North. When the rice is sent in to the local officials in Kiangsu and Chekiang by the farmers, it is perfectly sound. It takes so long a time for this to come to Shanghai in the native junks specially employed for the purpose that it is half rotten by the time it reach this port. Though the rice is in such a bad state, the authorities appointed to receive it in Shanghai feel obliged to accept it, as they know that in sending the rice to this place the local officials Kiangsu and Chekiang must have spent an enormous sum of money. After the rice has reached Shanghai, it is generally stored in the Government godowns for some time before it is transported to the North. And its transportation from Shanghai to Peking occupies no less than eight or nine months, during which it is subjected to all conditions of weather. Little wonder then that the rice is scarcely fit for human food when it finally
in
arrives at Peking.
From the above fact it is evident that it is not the rice but the system of its transporta tion which is at fault; and in our opinion, the only remedy lies in the commutation of the rice
to money.
GOLD AND COAL ON THE SIAMESE FRONTIER.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
those ports than any Indian or Australian colliery. Lieut. Colonel Foss has an engineer on the property and another is now expected to open up the gold reef; all the adjacent and available within British territory has been acquired. It is probable that an iron industry may also arise close to the coal-field, which could supply Siam and the Straits with that metal. Excellent iron stone and flux are procurable close by. Lieut.-Colonel Foss has started for England to see about sending out machinery forthwith.
Lt. Colonel K. M. Foss, who has been travelling during the winter and spring in Ceylon, the Nicobar Islands, and along the Siamese frontier, on behalf of a former Member of the Viceroy's Council, the Rangoon Gazette says, has come on very rich auriferous quartz- reefs and coal, just on the border line of Siam, near Victoria Point. | Colonel Foss has studied in a school of mines and was accompanied by a well-known gold-mining engineer. Assays from wholly unpicked quartz gave over seven ounces of gold per ton, and there seems to be plenty of quartz in sight. The engineer has also verified the known existence of a coal deposit which will yield well over one million tons of good steam-coal, and a license for this has been granted, the coal mine is on the Tenasserim River, to the north-west of the gold deposits near Victoris Point; the quan- fity mentioned has been verified already by Government reports and tested by close Govern mont borings; one splendid seam is 23 feet thick; and the steaming properties' of the coal had previously been teled on Government boats, with very satisfactory results. When this depost is worked it will cheapen coal in Penang which is only 300 miles off, in Singapore, and in Bangoon, as the mine is so much nearer to
AMERICAN MISCONDUCT IN THE PHILIPPINES.
CANTON.
(June 1, 1903.
[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.}}
Canton, 27th May.
AN ITAL'AN STEAMER.
►
On Monday some of your Italian re- sidents came up to Canton for a very pleasant ceremony: the hoisting, for the first time on the Canton river, of the Italian flag on a steamer built for the river trade. The pur- obaser took possession of the vessel at twelve, and the Italian Consul-General authorised the hoisting of the national flag, while Mme. Volpicelli named the steamer Lucia after the name of the owner, Mme. Musso, widow of the late Consul.
1
GENERAL MIles's reporT.,
After the toast of the King of Italy, the The New York correspondent of the London Consul said a few words, expressing his belief Times telegraphed on the 27th ult, the follow.
that the event was not only important for the ing:-
small Italian cɔmmunity, but would be of It is a shameful story which is contained in interest to all. the report made public to-day by Lieutenant-bably based on timidity and indolence to suppose It was a narrow view pro- General Miles, the highest officer in the United that the commercial development of one nation States Army, on the subject of the misconduct must injure others. It might be so occasionally, of officers and soldiers in the Philippines. The but generally the progress of one nation was sensational nature of the report is certainly not beneficial to the rest, either by increasing its lessened by the fact that the War Department purchasing power, or by the discovery of new houitated a long time before giving it to the public. The department sent General Miles to of activity which all could share.
articles of exchange, thus creating new fields the Philippines to inspect and report, and when it received his statement apparently attempted to say press it, calling it "confidential." It was only after General Miles said he had no objec- tion to its publication that the report was made public.
The report is a long one, but perhaps a single item will suffice to give an idea of its nature. When General Miles was going from Calamba to Batangas he says he noticed that the country appeared devastated and the people were very much depressed. As he was stopping at Lipa a party of citizens, headed by the presidente, met him and complained of harsh treatment. Fifteen of their people had been tortured by, the "water cure," and one old man, a highly respected citizen, while unconscious from the effects of the torture, was dragged into his house, which had been set on fire, and burned to death. The people had been crowded into the towns, 600 being confined in one building. A physician said he was ready to testify that some of the 600 died from suffocation. General Miles says that the statement regarding the man said to have been burned to death is confirmed by other reports, and that he has no reason to disbelieve the o' her atatements. Many other atrocities committed by direction of American officers are alleged, including the whipping of natives to death, the shooting of prisoners, and the torturing and robbing of priests.
I believe that the Times was the first to suggest that the behaviour of American officers in the Philippines might be the result of climatic conditions. This is an explanation which, curiously enough, has a good des! more weight in Europe than here, where people cannot understand how Americans can develope the savagery of Turke.
THE CONQUEST OF MANCHURIA.
The following is taken from the N.-C. Daily News :-
Mr. Plancon, the Russian Chargé d'Affaires at Peking, has denied, as we are informed, that he ever told the correspondent of the Japanese vernacular paper, the Jiji, "that Russia, weary of the troubles resulting from her present un- defined status in Manchuria, had determined to add the three provinces definitely to her empire"; and we are quite ready to believe that Mr. Plancon never told the Jiji man this for publication. Facts, however, are stronger than words, and the following memorandum, sen to a foreign official in Shanghai from the offlct of the Imperial Chinese Telegraphs in Shanghai is so significant that it requires no comment at present:-
In regard to the charge to Newchwang, in the old time it was 88 cents a word, but since the Russians have occupied Manchuria the charge has been increased to one dollar and ten cents, as they treat Manchuria the same as Russia-in-Asia."
|
remarking that he thus showed himself a worthy He eulogised the enterprise of the purchs er,
trade, and hoped that his undertakings would son of his father, the pioneer in the Borneo
●ver increase in prosperity.
YUNNAN REBELLION.
The difficulty of inland communications and the consequent slow spread of news in China is clearly illustrated by the general ignorance of the serious insurrection in the province of Yunnan. To be able to capture an important prefectural town like Linanfu the rebels must be numerous and the outbreak must have commenced some time before, yet nothing was mentioned about it ap to a day or two ago, while an hypothetical war between Russia and Japan was a of conversation among
common subject the Chinese. The Chinese authorities declare that no foreigners have suffered they will certainly take great care to defend by the insurrection, and them as they must by this time have a whole- some horror of indemnities, private as well as public.
FATSHAN RAILWAY. This short line, which will probably be a very successful and paying one, is progressing rapid- ly. The embankment is almost completed, and the bridgework and laying of the rails will soon be commenced, as the Americans declare the railway will be open to traffic by the end of the year. The passenger traffic between the two large cities separated by such a short distance is already enormous aud will certainly grow when there will be a quicker route. Most foreigners who only know Canton and its teeming population will be surprised to hear that at a distance of about ten miles in a straight line there is another city almost as large and as orowded. The Americans have shown great judgment in choosing these two large centres for the terminus of their short pioneer line.
SINGAPORE AND SHIPS" DOCTORS.
an
At a meeting of the Legislative Council at Singapore on the 15th ult, the Attorney- General in introducing the Chinese Immigrants Ordinance Amendment Bill said the object was to obviate the difficulty found in providing Chinese immigrant ships with doctors. The alterations in this amendment pat European, American and Japanese qualifications on equal footing and made all except British qualifiations subject to the approval of the Governor in Council. The Bill also made some verbal alterations in section 19 these having been suggested by the Protector of Chinese. The amendment add d something to the diff. gulties of the Governor in Council, bat he believed it was a fair working definition.
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The Acting Colonial Secretary having seconded the motion, the Bill was read a first time and moved for the second reading at next meeting.
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