186
VAILS AT PEKING.
21
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[ March 6, 1909. unfairly attacked, added what little support was in our power to that government by pointing out the true source of these damaging reports. We, however, cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that while that Government is still reaping a dishonourable profit from the misdeeds which it is so pro- minent in deprecating in public, it says not one word of those reforma within, without which its whole programme of "Reform but an empty sound. Without the con- nivance, and, in many cases, the direct suggestion of the Peking, many of the worst of these abuses under which the Empire is groaning could not have come into existence; and without the removal of the slough of corruption at head quarters, cleaning out the depositories in the provinces can not be of the slightest avail. This is the part of the story that the Ministers, foreign as well as native, on the spot wilfully and persistently shut their eyes to, as too unpleasant a topic to drag into the light of day; yet on its removal depends the future of the Administration, and whether or not China is to be once more thrust back to wallow in the old puddle of contempt. The fountain has been poisoned at the source, and the attempt to correct it by applying paliatives to the effluent must ever, as before, prove futile The real want of China before any reform in the provincial administrations is possible is to clarify the relations towards them of the Government itself, and the first step to be taken towards this is to abolish, once and for all, all per- sonal contribution from the high officials of whatever nature, and to substitute for these regular provincial payments, duly published and accounted for. Until something like this be accomplished Imperial promises of reforms, provincial or metropolitan, are of as little store as the nicely printed bank notes which, with no backing of reserve capital, can only render the financial con- dition of China more hopeless than ever.
as those of the Hongkong and Shang- hai Bank itself, that institution and other foreign banks, taking their clue there from, have been refusing to recognise the Chinese notes, while the Chinese found themselves compelled to accept the foreign paper money. Here was a clue that even Mr. REDMOND himself, with all his skill in diccovering mare's nests, might well take a hint from. Well! recently the Chambers of Commerce have been making the continued issuing of these banknotes without any apparent backing of reserve funds, a subject of complaint, as already beginning to injure the stability of the financial centres, already sufficiently depressed; and drew the atten- tion of the Ministers at Peking to the last ing evils that have resulted from the recent over issue of copper coins by the various governments, Provincial and Metropolitan Prince KUNG, on behalf of the Government of the Regency returns a sympathetic reply, in which he feelingly acknowledges the weight of the evil, but says it was all the fault of those Provincials, and that he was preparing to issue edicts forbidding the issue except under stringent regulations. Peking has not been issuing notes itself, and so it struck him that he could safely say all this without exposing the Government to obliquy. Unfortunately the reason why Peking has not being issuing notes "payable on demand" is the very effective one that it dare not. History records two or three instances where Peking took to issuing notes payable on demand, and the nation at large has had too good reason to appreciate the promise at its full value, which was exactly nothing; so Peking notes are effectively Taboo, as effectively as Hienfeag hundred-cash-pieces which used to litter the streets of the capital, not being worth the trouble even of picking up. But, as with the issue of the now discredited ten-cash pieces of four years ago, Peking has really had much, if not most, to say to the issue of these unbacked notes. The suggestion seems at all events to have come from the Capital, and reasoning from what occurred HONGKONG'S OPIUM QUESTION. with regard to the expensive fasco of the ten-cash issue, we are fairly well entitled to say that Peking has already secured pay.
(Daily Press, March 1st.) The very worst of the many abuses, poli- tical and financial, which batten in Peking is the system of universal vails. A high officer on appointment has to present himself before the Emperor to receive his final instructions, and pay his homage: this is all fair and proper, and in fact is a necessary formula in all properly conducted govern ments in the world. In Peking, practically alone now of all governments professing to civilisation, the entrance to the Court is barred, unless the appoint-e give a heavy vail to each and every doorkeeper and ser. vant in the mysterious "Forbidden City that surrounds the person of the Emperor or bis representative. No one knows the amount that may be expected of him till he has to run the gauntlet, and no one in the palace or out of it keeps any account of the sums thus exacted, nor of the purposes to which they are applied. It is known in a general way that they are enormous, and that the favourite at Court who has once gained the ear of the T'ientse, or one of his favourite wives or concubines, is able not only to indulge in unseemly extravagances within the Palace, but to remit outside for his private pelf enormous sums, such as betimes burden heavily the resources of the State. It is true enough that these irregular and oppressive vails have been from time immemorial looked upon as the privilege of the Oriental irresponsibility of rulers, the only responsibility being presumed to rest with the commonalty. This has been the publicly accepted rule in every Asiatic State, with the one exception, that of China. China differs here toto coelo from her neighbours in that the responsibility of rulers has ever formed the foundation of her political creed, even if from want of proper upkeep the traditious have, from disuse, become betimes rusty. It is therefore by no means out of order that China has been steadily and quietly but none the less effectively, pressing for such an alteration in present ways as shall permit of more ready intercommunication of views, between rulers and ruled, and of all the present abuses of the existing regime,|ment in advance for shutting its eyes. the mismanagement of the finances and the false system under which Imperial adminis- tration is administered, are universally felt to be the most pressing.
It is allowed on all sides that the present style of Provincial administration is respon- sible for many of the worst of these abuses, and the Government of the Regency is quite justified in directing public attention to provincial shortcomings, and suggesting the necessity of central control on some well understood and fixed principle, instead of the irregular and empiric methods resorted to under momentary pressure. China of all Asiatic nations is the richest and most homegeneous, and under proper control could not fail to make her influence far- reaching in the affairs of the world at large. Owing to her financial blunderings, she for the last balf century has been little better than a football kicked about from one European nation to another. Now it is characteristic of Peking, as seen in its every day dealings, that the Government, and that of the Regency is here at one with that of the late regime, is always ready to take up any stone to throw at the provincial admin. istrations. The most recent example of this was sufficiently, characteristic: the Chinese nearly as ingenious as the Irish in discover ing imaginary grievances, have been recently complaining of the implied hardship, that, while they turned out bank notes quite as handsome, and as well printed
Now one of the remarkable things about the present ministry of the Regency in Peking, is that, although it is always quite ready to fling the stone at the provinces, the hint is not permitted to escape that, after all, the suggestion has in the first instance proceeded from the entourage of the Regent. We know, for instance, that the suggestion to the province to issue the recent copper currency came directly from Peking, and was put forward as the first step in a pro- gramme of financial reform. There is every reason to believe that the privilege of issu- ing the coins was made a matter of open barter between Peking and the provinces; and that Peking finding that the scheme was developing more profitably than it had at first calculated, increased its demands on the provincials, and this was the real reason why the issue went to the disastrous lengths that it did. Now, review. ing the situation as between Capital and Provinces it is, to say the least of it, remark- able that in all the paraded coming "reform" it is always the provinces, and the provincial government that are to be reformed, while a discreet (?) silence is invariably maintained as to the reform of that Augean stable of corruption, Peking itself.
We feel ourselves all the more entitled to speak plainly on this topic that we have from the beginning, where we saw that the Government of the Regency was being
(Daily Press, 2nd March.) We announce in another column the fact that twenty-six opium divans were closed in Hongkong yesterday in accordance with an arrangment made some time ago by the Government with the Opium Farmer. It is ten months since the Secretary of State for the Colonies communicated to the Governor by telegram the decision of His Majesty's Government that steps must be immediate- ly taken to close the so-called opium dens in the Colony, as the Government felt that they must act up to the standard set in this matter by the Chinese Government. The disorganisation of the finances of the Colony which such action would entail naturally aroused strong opposition in the Colony. From statements made in the House of Commons we know that in the interval His Excellency the Governor has represent- ed to the Government the difficulties in the way of any immediate compliance with the in- structions received, and mention has been made in Parliament also of certain recom- uendations on the subject by the Governor which have apparently been engaging the attention of the Colonial Office for months past. What those recommendations are have not yet been disclosed, nor is it necessary to conclude from the fact that twenty-six divans were closed yesterday that the Governor's recommendations have been rejected, for, as we have said, the arrangement which came into force yesterday appears to have been concluded several months ago. The closing of twenty-six divans in the Colony, out of
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