408
HANKOW.
(Daily Press, December 23rd). It has been so constantly drummed in that Hankow is the coming model settlement of China that we cannot afford to iguore any of its entrances upon the stage of publicity. Lately, it would seem by the columas of the Hankow Daily News, it has been demanding public interest in its municipal manage- ment; that is to say, for the municipal affairs of the British concession at Hankow. Que very able correspondent criticises the rental assessment, as the basis of the amount of hou-e tax each ratepayer is called up n to It appears to have been raised lately, pay. but the criticism referred to appears to be somewhat more coherent than the inevitable grumble following such incident. Demand- ing as bare justice a generally equitable to the ratio, the critic calls attention unfairnesses evident when comparing rating on values and ou rentals, Instances are
given which would not be informative if reproduced here, and it may be sufficient if the gist of the complaint be deduced from the following quotation :
Broadly speaking the rule «ppears to be that if it is a fine building on the band, or other leading thoroughfare, belonging to some wealthy firm or corporation then it sh∙ll be assessed at a mere fraction of what the resident to a rented
house in a back street has to pay proportionately. Since more money is wanted the best method would be to obtain it from those who can best spare it Let the hengs and godowns be assessed at the same rate proportionate to value as the smaller houses and the revenue problem would be immediately solved, while an act of simple justice would be done which has been too long delayed. But the members of the cognoil live in bongs.
What looks very like an inspired argu- ment appears in our Hankow contemporary ou this point. It goes over, patiently and thoroughly, the wellknown theories or processes of assessing real values. Prime cost is easily shown to be no fair criterion, but the argument that rental value is an absolutely true index fails, as might be expected.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
allowance for the difficulty of their duty. It is not for us or anyone else to criticise in
We cannot accept prime cost as any index of real value, but contend that ental value is an fader, as it includes all element of value and this we would demonstrate by the following illustrations. Suppose, for the sake of argu- ment, that by some early rights one bad been permitted to erect in a convenient position on the band a small hut or shed which would be of extreme value to some shipping or other firm The original cost of that hat might be 100 taels and for it one would perhaps receive 100 taels a month. On the other band one might build a
house at the back of the Concession which would cost 2,000 taels and yet only ressive 100 taels a month. Taking the taxation at 10 per cent., it would be obviously based on false pri: ciples; for one man to pay one tenth of whit the other man paid when their rental value was the same would be absurd, Take another oase; man with very luxurious and suppose a
house extravagant ideas were to build a of marble and other oly materials at a cost of 103,000 taels, and he died insolvent, and the house was sold for 10, 00 taels, it would be obriously unfair to tax the new occupant on the original cost. The practice of selling property on the basis of 10, 15, or 20 years purchase of the rental value with modifications governed by the condition of repair is another demonstra- tion of the principle.
such a matter.
There is another point raised by our contemporary's correspondent with which, as residents in a Colony that has profited greatly by encouraging the settlement of Chiuese amongst us, we are IDore in sympathy. It appears that the British Municipal Council of Hankow discourages Chinese settlers.
When the extension was obtained it was understood that this would be allowed. Uuder article XXI of the Land Regulations it is unicipal Council is provided that: "The empowered to issue, subject to the approval permits to build houses and shops for Chinese ooc patiou upon the lots West of the Poyang road. At the outset the Council of the day took advantage of this emp werment, and Chinese shops and bouses are to be found at eacb end of the Poyang road in consequence, But the present Council refuses to grant such permits and thereby inflicts a serious injury on Several sections of the community First, on those who bought land on the extension, and had it raised at great expense, ou the 1aith that it could be utilized for this purpose. They sunk their capital in what was origin lly a series of water boles, and there it promises to remain indefinitely as long as tuis attitude of the be a wise policy to keep this land vacant for It may, or may not, the benefit of the British merchant of the good time coming which never seems to arrive. fair, however, that this should be done at the expense of the deladed investor in back conces- sion lots ? I think not. A similar injury is infisted every ratepayer by the Council's policy. It is evident that if money is take from the ratepayer which the Council could readily obtain from other sources, the ratepayer is to that extent the loser. ow, were more" of | the extension occupied with Chinese houses the
be vastly ingressed.
f H: B: M's Consul- eneral in each oase,
In the case of railway stations, for in- stance, where there can be no gauge of rental, one method seen to be as useless as the other, though their initial cost is taken into account. Always, however, the' community has to fall back upou the busi- ness acumen and public spirit and integrity of its assessors; and Hankow, like every other place in the ratepaying world, must trust these important officials, and make due
Council is maintained.
revenue
would
the band...
Is it
[December 28, 1907. have quoted and said enough to give an inkling of the position of affairs at the river port, which is all we set out to do.
FINANCE.
(Daily Press, December 24th.) In his new book, "American Banking," Mr. EMIL S. FISCHER makes reference to
"the financial disasters in the United States of America at the end of 1907." The articles are reprinted from the Peking and Tientsin Times. Mr. FISCHER, who has been actively engaged with Financial Associations in South America, Shanghai, and New York since 1900, au is now doing business under bis own name in North China, is from bis wide experience admirably equipped to give an intelligent account of the causes which have led up to the recent fuaucial capsize in New York. It is, of course, in a pamph- let extending over only 17 pages impossible to give more than the merest sketch of the financial conditions prevailing at New York, but considering the small space at his disposal he has given an admirable sum- mary. The causes were not altogether local, but were the outcome of conflicting laws, as well as the sequela of a long period during finance were but indifferently comprehended which the fundamental principles of national in the States.
National finance as a science is a plant of but slow growth, and it reflects no discredit on the States that the principles of the Higher Finance can hardly be said to have taken root in America prior to the con- clusion of the great Civil War half a century It is therefore a subject of little ago. wonder that some of the old prejudices
remain in For should still
ex mple: on the Taiping Road there are two adjacent lots Nos 80 and 90, occupied by Chinese. Their united area amount to no more than that of one lot on the old concession, and yet they yield a house tax revenue equal to that derived from all the hongs and godowns on half The Chinese xclusion policy is further detrimental to the trade of the place. The common saying has it that the trade follows the flag: that is, it follows the people who carry the sag. At present the people are going down to German town, but were the British extensing open its superior advantages would lead them t congregate there. Supposing then that it could be Alled with the batter class of Chinese shops, houses and warehouses--and it is only the large establishments and the well to do who could afford to come the volume of trade carried on from the British concession would be vastly increased. The import dase,nother item of revenue, would also rapidly expand. the outery against the presence of Chinese in foreign settlements is, from the business point of view, an exceedingly foolish one. Each party benefits from the presence of the other. The Chinese prosper on account of the foreign protection, and the foreigners thrive on the business they bring.
a semi-dormant
condition. Conformably with the original conception of the United States as a group of separate and independent republics with little more bond of connection than was actually necessary for mutual protection against outside attack, each State was left free to form its own interual administration, and make its own laws; and the thought of a federal bank for the control of the financial
affairs of the Union generally never entered the thoughts, even, of the earlier admini- strators. It was not, indee l, till the Civil War forced on the country generally the necessity of establishing some system of financial control extending over the entire Union, that any such want was experienced. This was sufficiently for the needs of the period, accomplished by strengthening the hands, and increasing the responsibilities of the Secretary to the Treasury. The close of the war found the country flooded with paper money, which had been issued in practically unlimited amount towards the end, and this had rapidly deteriorated in ex-value, and was becoming a menace to the To effect a well being of the entire Union. return to cash payments, without further rising suspicions on the part of the State Governments was the difficult problem that faced the Secretary to the Treasury. To suggest a State Bank on the model of the Bank of England or Banque de Franc, was in the condition of public feeling not to be thought of, and such was the jealousy of the State administrations that no project to render State Banks amenable to Federal control from Washington could hope to pass Congress. Still all felt that something, must be done, and the cʊnclusion arrive | at was to authorise the establishment in the Stiles of banks to be known as Nationa? Banks alongside the State Bank,—that i‹• the banks chartered by the various States within their own territory, and subject only to State laws and State control. These
The position could not be better pressed, if argument on argument were multiplied. The Council, evidently suffi- ciently cautious already, could encourage rapid extension without permitting con- gested areas to occur as they occurred in Hougkong. We need not waste sympathy on the speculators who reckoned on a line of policy that has not been followed, but on public grounds, the enhancement of needed revenue, the cultivation of tra 'e, and the keeping in the van of what should be the premier settlement, it s emis to us that the Municipal Councillors might do worse than reconsider their attitude toward this ques- tion,
Our contemporary does not deal with this part of the criticism, so fr as we have observe!; but if the Municipal Council has further arguments we have overlooked, so also have they who believe in encouraging native settlers.
But we
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