May 10, 1909.]
in the end suffer little, as they will simply est- ablish themselves where the business is to be had, the Colony will feel the effect of losing its former position as the distributing centre for South China. Formosa, and the Philippine Islands.
CHINA'S FINANCES.
THE VIEWS OF THE CHINA ASSOCIATION.
The following extracts are from the report of the London Committee of the China Asso- ciation :--
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It is on the rock of finance that China seems to be aimlessly drifting, threatening grave danger to all schemes for her advancement and reform. It has been aptly said of China that although she has finances she has no finance; and, apart from her domestic financial difficulties, the truth of the aphorism has illustration in her seeming indifference towards her foreign indebtedness. China's foreign debt. contracted almost entirely in the last thirteen years. now amounts to some £125.000,000. for the service of which an annual sum of between seven and eight mil lions sterling is required. Towards this service it is estimated that about £1.000.000 is provided by returns from productive work. leaving, say, £6.500,000, or. at present exchange, about Hai- kwan Tæls 50,000,000, to he provided from other sources; The method of meeting this annual obligation is as delightfully simple, as it is start- lingly suggestive of threatened danger. There is, first, the hypothecation of the revenues of the Imperial Maritime Customs, officially estima- fed for last year (less cost of collection) at Tls. 29,000,000, the balance of Tls. 21,000.000. being secured upon the provincial revenues. The annual provincial remittances to the Capital are estimated, under normal conditions, at about Tls. 70,000,000, an amount now apparently reduced to (say) Tls. 50,000,000 by the above mentioned hypothecation of provincial revenues for foreign loan purposes, It would appear, then, that the revenue of the Central Govern ment is reduced to this Tls. 50,000,000, plus such local sources of revenue as Peking may possess. It is impossible to believe that the expenses of the Metropolitan Government cau be met by any such sum, and the conclusion is unavoidable that the deficit is made up more Sinico, in other ways. It may be doubted. for instance, whether the amount of the provincial revenues hypothecated for foreign loan purposes is credited to the provincial exchequers in respect of their remittances to Peking that, in fact, the full quota is still exacted from them. leaving them to make good their loss by such methods as their necessities and ingenuity may enable them to devise: and, indeed, there is good ground for such suggestion in the ex- perience of the past few years, during which have been witnessed new forms of raising the wind," in the shape of increased burden ou trade public lotteries, sales of office.. issues of debased coinage and of unsecured paper money. Such expedients. if persisted in. can but end in dis aster, and it is most earnestly to be hoped that China will take in hand the reform of her financial chaos, and that without delay.
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CURRENCY.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT..
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The obligation of currency reform-accepted by the Chinese Government in the second article of the Shanghai Treaty of 1902--has not only remained unfulfilled during the six intervening years, but the necessity for such reform has been emphasised by the bewildering conditions of currency which have since been created. By the Treaty of 1902. China undertork to provide for uniform national coinage which shall be legal tender in payment of all duties, taxes other obligations throughout the Empire: but so far from the creation of such uniform national coinage. there has been witnessed during the past two or three years the coinage by the provincial mints of enormous quantities of debased copper coins, and on such coinage becoming unprofitable, the expedient has been resorted to by the provincial authorities. and by private native banks, of issues of rast amounts of paper money, seemingly altogether uncontrolled by the central authorities, and cer- tainly insufficiently secured. with the inevitable result of the creation of a currency chaos infinitely more confounded than that which already existed.
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It is urged, with evident reason that the present unsatisfactory state of trade in China is in large measure due to this juggling with the currency. and indeed, no further evidence is needed in proof of this contention than is contained in the fact that the copper. money-themoney of the people-has become depreciated in terms of silver, by 50 per cent. and even more, as compared with the exchange of a few years ago.
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The Currency Decree issued on October the 5th is an indication that the situation has at last stirred the Central Government to the necessity of action. The Decree opens with the statement that. A standard currency is the fundamental principle of public finance, and proceeds to the admission that The finances of China are in confusion, and the standarding of the currency is an urgent necessity": it is. consequently. ordained that there shall be introduced a uniform silver currency throughout the Empire, of which a coin weighing one Kuping or Treasury Tael is to be the unit. The Decree must be received with satisfaction, as indicating an intention to comply with Treaty obligations, though there will, doubtless, be differences of opinion as to the convenience of the unit coin which it is proposed to adopt. There are two points, however, which have been! remarked in connection with the Decree, the first that no reference is made to the question of a ratio between copper currency and the new Tael coinage, and, secondly, no indication is given whether the new coins are to be issued solely from Mints under the direct control of the Board of Finance.
At best, however, considerable time must clapse before practical effect can be given to the Decree; and meantime, the perils threatened through the "currency juggling" of the provinces are grave and imminent. The General Committee has, in consequence, addressed His Majesty's Government, expressing the hope that through the Diplomatic Pody at Peking strong representations and remonstrances be made to the Chinese Government on the subject and has, in reply, been informed that His Majesty's Minister in Peking is fully alive to the importance of the question, and has re- peatedly made representations regarding it.
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Y.M.C.A. CONCERT.
MACAO.
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT]
385
May, 4th.
EXAGGERATED REPORTS OF PLAGUE, A circular printed in Chinese has been issued inviting the public to attend a meeting at the Chinese Hospital to consider the desirability of erecting a matshed on the Chinese side of the boundary for the reception of patients suffering from plague. This alarm is quite unjustified. Plague is not epidemic in the city, and the calling of a. meet- ting to provide special accommodation for plague patients seems to be the work of some irresponsible busy bodies.
GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER THE OPIUM
MONOPOLY
At noon yesterday Senhor Joao M. Garcia, the Administrator, took possession of tho Opium Farm; and the Government is now conducting the business, with expert Chinese assistance. Mr. Basto, the solicitor representing the Opiam Farm, formally protested against the action of the Government.
MISCELLANEOUS.
As a result of the meeting that took place on Saturday last at the Leal Senado the telegrams of which I furnished a summary have been sent
to Lisbon.
When will the postage rate be reduced from here to Hongkong and Canton?
It is rumoured that a young man named Hilario has been mutilated in Chinese tereitory!
Our river Gunboat (which has been overhauled in the Kowloon Dock) will soon be ready for service in our water.
The Kermesse for the benefit of the Italian Convent yielded over one thousand dollars.
THE DELIMITATION OF MACAO.
Commissioner appointed to take part in the It is stated that Mandarin Ko, the Chinese
delimitation of Macao, will shortly come down from the North and will stay some time in Hongkong before proceeding to Macao.
An interesting report in connection with this event is that the. Hague Tribunal has selected a Hollander to assist in the delibera- tions of the two commissioners and act as arbitrator.
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ANTI-OPIUM MEASURES IN HONAN
A correspondent writing to the Tientsin Times from Changte ho, Honan, says :--
The annual concert held on behalf of the
the 1st instant at the City Hall. A programme library fund of the Y.M.C.A. was given ou
of more than average merit was submitted to an audience which might have been more numerous but which could not have been more appreciative. Apart from the small attendance the evening was a decided success. It showed For the first time in this region we observe our local artistes. who are ever ready an effective blow being dealt at the opium evil. to gire their services for
deser. Sporadic and fitful efforts at closing up opium ring object, to great advantage and it gave the divans have been made, but now the cultivation music lovers a treat such as they could enjoy.
of the poppy is being vigoroulý suppressed. One informant reports that not a single plant can this year be found throughout a considerable region which was formerly being devoted more and more exclusively to opium growing.
any
The mixed quartette composed of Mrs. Clark. Mrs. Goldsmith. Mr. E. B. Ayris and Mr. C. E. H. Beavis were very effective in their two appearances,
On the banks of Allan Water and Sleep gentle lady," being most tunefully rendered. Mr. G. P. Lammert, who was in excellent voice, sang Kashmiri Song" (from the Garden of Kama) and "For
alone," for both
he of which
me
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was
encored, and appreciation was not lacking for the brilliantly executed violin solos contributed by Professor Gonzales. That accomplished soloist, Mrs. Belilios, delighted her anditors with
Valse Song her interpretation of Gounod's and Lord Henry Somerset's A Song of her rich clear May, in both of which voice of remarkable compass was
heard with great effect. A refined humorous element was supplied by Mr. J. Cochrane, who was encored for his entertaining sougs and in answer to one recall gave a burlesque recitation. The promoters of the concert are to be congra- tulated on having arranged such an excellent
programme.
The Bank of Formosa, which has branches in Hongkong. Foochow, Swatow, Amoy, Shanghai and Singapore, now proposes, says the Tokio correspondent of the N.-C. Daily News, to establish branches in Canton and Bangkok and to increase its capital to ten million yen from five million yen.
none
The district magistrate says he has been making trips incognito through every part of his country and that he knows there is In being produced there this year. another large and fertile valley, forty miles west of here, the inhabitants have been especially defiant towards official proclamations on the subject. but a deputy and a force of soldiers sufficient to over-awe them have been sent in, and everywhere the poppy is being plowed up.
Imported opium is beyond the reach of the majority of smokers, and even the native pro- duct has greatly increased in price, so there is a great rush for the mission hospital and for opium refuges which magistrates are opening in different cities. One country official claims that there are two hundred patients in his refuge. A Chinese doctor is in charge, and
treatment is free.
Between the 1st and the 26th April no fewer than 120 cases have been filed in the Court of First Instance at Manila against Filipinos and Chinamen for illegal possession and use of Of this number 16 were Filipinos, opium. three being women, and the remainder China-
men.
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