January 18, 1909.]
CANTON.
[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]
January 7th.
OPPOSITION TO NEW TAXATION.
There is trouble brewing at present regarding. a new tax which the Revenue Bureau intends to place on the pawnshops. Hitherto these establishments have been carried on under licenses, and it was distinctly understood that no changes were to be made or any additional taxes to be levied. If the authorities insist there will be serious trouble as the closing of the pawn- shops (which has already been threatened) at this time of the year will provoke a tremendous uproar and a serious conflict between officials and public. There is an opportunity for the Self-Government Society to act up to its motto. This they have not done so far and are not likely to do. It is another case in point which con- clusively proves that the Association's aim is essentially anti-foreign.
The following is at translation of an express circulated by the employees of all the pawnshops in Canton:-
"We beg respectfully to inform the public that the Government Stamp Revenue Bureau has repeatedly insisted upon the pawnshops applying for stamped papers to be used for pawntickets
per
pawn-
and we have been informed that, if we refuse to do so, each pawnshop must pay a royalty of 20 per cent.
annum to the Education Bureau. If we als decline to pay this the Government has decided to demand payment to them of 10 per cent of the interest charged by pawnshops of money, advanced upon certain articles such as wooden ware, iron ware, brass ware, etc., the proceeds to be applied to educational purposes. The employees of the pawnshops beg to say that it would be very inconvenient to use these Go- vernment stamped papers. Moreover the brokers find business to be daily declining and the articles pawned have been depreciating in value. These are our reasons for refusing to pay the royalty demanded. Moreover it is dis- tinctly stated in the pawnshop licenses issued by the Bureau of Local Affairs that no addition will be made to the taxes in future, and, on the face of this, why should the proprietors allow the introduction of new regulations and permit the authorities to introduce whatever taxes they like? We understand that it is the intention of the Stamp Revenue Bureau to use force and take oppressive messures involving us in serious rouble which we cannot avoid. The authorities do not know that the 10 per cent. deducted out of the money advanced to people who pawn articles are given to the employees of the pawnshops as a bonus to make up for the low wages they receive. This custom has been in vogue for over a century. Now the Viceroy has issued a notification to the above effect and Li Tak Po has instituted an action against the Him Tai pawnshop for de- ducting 10 per cent. out of the money advanced to him on articles pawned by him, because it was not stated on the pawntickets that the 10 per cent. is deducted for educational purposes. If we are to be deprived of this bonus of 10 per cent. our wages will be insufficient for the up-keep of our own families. We have all agreed to resign our positions and go into other employment to keep body and soul alive. We respectfully beg to inform our proprietors to engage other people to take up our positions."
This express is issued by all the employees of the pawnshops in Canton.
CANTON-HANKOW RAILWAY,
DISSATISFACTION IN SHANGHAI.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
THE "EASTERN" STOWAWAYS.
H. Kemp, Mr. Gardiner (of Messrs. Brutton At the Magistracy on Jan, 12 before Mr. J.
re-hearing in the case in which his Worship had, and Hett) appeared to make application for a
stowaways to nine months' imprisonment each on the previous day, sentenced 20 Chinese
Mr. Gardiner stated that he made the applica- tion with a view to getting a reduction of the sentence, and he did not think the owners pressed sentence. Nine months seemed a very heavy for such a penalty.
His Worship-It is a very serious offence, you know,
Mr. Gardiner-I don't think the circum-
notice. The Society has recently addressed à; long letter and sent many telegrams to the President and Directors of the Company stating that up to the present time the Company had only furnished the Shanghai shareholders with reports showing the total receipts and payments during the 32nd and 33rd years of Kwong Su, and nothing whatever had been mentioned in, those reports as to the actual amount of work done, how many miles of railway have the value of rolling stock, materials, &c. unused, been completed, the cost of construction per mile, value of land purchased, the amount of cash on hand, when they expect to complete the line and issued of the line no profit and loss account has been now working. Tho Shanghai shareholders say that they have stances were altogether explained to your Wor noticed in the newspapers on several occa- ship. sions that the Central Government has been froin the interior, who were inveigled into going Tho defendants are ignorant persons urging that investigation be made into the financial condition of the Company and it is quite ting there very cheap when they paid a total to Anstralia, and they thought they were get- apparent that it is the intention of the Govern- sum of $800. They were ignorant of the fact ment to obtain foreign loans and itself construct that the owners of the steamer were being de- the Shanghai shareholders that such steps may the line. Great apprehension exists amongst frauded of their proper rights. be taken, and they, blame the Company for it. them with full information before they pay in They now demand that the Company shall supply the money due on the second instalment, and worth 40 per cent. of their original value, and they point out that the shares are now only that, if they were to pay in the 150 due on the second instalment of each share, out of every dollar they pay in, they would get back only 40 cents, if they were to realize their shares in the market the following day.
Our Canton correspondent writes :- There has been much dissatisfaction amongst the shareholders of the anton-Hankow Railway Company. They have formed an association called the Yeut-Han Railway Rescue Society, This Society has recently had several held meetings in Chang Men (Chang Gardens) at which the members, claiming to repre- sent 300,000 shares, have denounced the management of affairs by the ompany's Head Office here. They also complained that the Company had threatened to confiscate their shares without giving them due and proper
In conclusion the Shanghai shareholders culars they ask for, so that they may cause the request the Company to cable them the parti- real position of affairs to be made known to the public and allay the anxiety of all the share- holders who, they say, are facing a typhoon and crying." Liang Shing to the Association in Shanghai a The last telegram sent by Sir Chan Tung few days ago ran as follows:-
[4
now at sea in a boat
note that you are paying great attention to this Contents of your (last) telegram noted. I matter. Many false telegrams are in circulation that it is not safe to place too much reliance on concerning affairs of the railway. I advise you such telegrams. My reply is on its way to Shanghai. I have collected over $8,000,000 due on second instalment. You can ease your mind (Signed) SHING. regarding the construction of trunk line.
BURGLARY AT MADAME FLINTS.
thief is
hand it behoves residents to
Now that Chinese New Your is so close at see to the security of their premises, for the Chinese burglary has to be added to the long list very busy at present. Another which has been chronicled of late, and the robbers would have made a substantial haul had not the police arrived on the scene at the opportune moment. At about three o'clock yes. terday morning as Indian Police Sergeant, No. 576, was patrolling Queen's Road Central, he ob- served two natives coming out of Madame Flint millinery establishment. When the men saw him they attempted to escape, but the Sergeant secured one of them and blowing his whistle another Indian constable appeared on the scene and the second fugitive was captured.
The policemen then returned to Madame Flint's shop, and there, after a search, found a third man concealed behind a dresser and he also was arrested. The thieves had evidently been premikes for sometime for the show cases were rifled of all their finery which was tied up in bundles ready for removal. latest fashion was not overlooked by the bur- Even her large assortment of ladies hats of the glars, who had found time to remove all the costly trimmings therefrom. The opportune arrival of the police, however, saved Madame Flint stock to the value of over $900, for there can be no doubt that if the thieves had got away clear with the articles they had packed up, a quantity of the stolen property would not have been recovered.
On the
The three men arrested were charged before Mr. J. H. Kemp at the Magistracy and sentenced to six months' imprisonment,
full penalty.
His Worship-The owners pressed for the
are rather sorry these people got such a heavy Mr. Gardiner-My instructions are that they sentence. The circumstances must have they would not have attempted the journey. been misrepresented to the defendants, otherwise
matter without granting & re-hearing, together 1. Worship said he would consider the with any letter which Mr. Gardiner might be able to obtain from the agents.
A CONTRADICTION.
Mr. H. G. . Bailey (of the firm of Messrs. Kemp at the Magistracy yesterday that he had Johnson, Stokes and Master) informed Mr. been instructed by Messrs. Gibb, Livingston & Co., Agents of the E. & A. Steamship. Co., to contradict certain statements reported to have been made by Mr. Gardiner to the Court the previous day when applying for a rehearing of the charge against the persons convicted of being stowaways on the steamer Eastern. It the proceedings that Mr. Gardiner had stated appeared from the newspaper reports of that the ship's agents had not desired to press the case, and in fact were rather sorry for the stowaways. Mr. Bailey said he was instructed by Messrs. Gibb, Livingston & Co. to state that they had given no instructions to the effect mentioned by Mr. Gardiner, and so far from. desiring any reduction of the penalty imposed, they applied for the maximum penalty provided by the Ordinance. Unless the statements re- ported to have been made by Mr. Gardiner were contradicted, Mr. Bailey said, considerable harm would be done.
his application he was astonished to hear that Mr. Kemp said that when Mr. Gardiner made the shipping agents, who the previous day had pressed for the full penalty, desired a mitigation of the sentence the next day.
DISAPPEARANCE OF A CHINESE MERCHANT AT -YOKOHAMA.
३
HEAVY LIABILITIES.
A Tokyo dispatch to the Osaka Mainichi reports that the proprietor of a Chinese firm called Kwong Man-tai, of Yokohama, has absconded. of the oldest Chinese concerns in Yokohama The firm, adds the dispatch, is one engaged in the export of cotton and silk fabrics and marine produce, and at one time enjoyed China seriously affected the business of the firm, great credit. The hinese boycott in South
Bank refused to accept its drafts. On the 27th and recently the Specie Bank and the Seda ultimo the firm shipped all its goods previously purchased and held in the godown and the pro-* prietor disappeared the following day. His
Japanese merchants who had business con- absence from the office became known generally on the 29th ultimo. More than a score of nections with the firm laid a charge of fraud against him with the police, as he left unpaid bills amounting to about Y280,000 in all. It is believed he has made his way to America, and there is little hope that the money will be recovered.
The Portuguese Lilliputians are clever little artistes and they deserved all the praise they re ceived on Saturday night for their performances of "The Geisha "
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