c.
July 5, 1909.]
H.E. TANG SHAO-YI ON QURRENCY.
H. E. Tang Shao-yi, in a conversation at Shanghai, denied emphatically that he had ever sent any telegram to Peking advocating a dollar unit throughout the Empire, as had been as serted with much assurance by the native Press at the end of last, February. His Excellency said that he adhered to the views expressed in his memorial (embodied in the Imperial Decree on Currency Reform of October 5), that the standard unit should be the Kuping tael. In order to avoid the inconvenience of so large a coin, he also wished to have a half tael, a mace, and a half-mace. The four coins would preserve a fixed ratio to each other. His reason for pre- ferring the tael to the dollar was that the latter coin entered comparatively little into the nation's ideas and business practice. The dollar. His Excellency thought, scarcely ex- tended beyond the Treaty ports, and though there Was a large number of dollars in circulation he could see little difficulty in gradually calling them in. Finally, it must be remembered that, the tael corresponded to the Chinese decimal system.
H.E. Tang admitted frankly that the great evil of the moment was the unrestricted insue of paper money, the beginning of which he attributed to the days of the Provisional Government in 1901, when solid old firms went bankrupt and new firms without capital or responsibility started up in all directions. On this subject he was understood to say that the law might be made more strict, and he assented to the suggestion that an Imperial Bank of China, working in relation with select provincial banks, would supply the remedy.-N.C. Daily
News.
GERMANS V. JAPANESE AT
HANKOW.
A few days ago we published a telegram from our correspondent at Tokyo stating that the Foreign Office had received a report from the Japanese Consul at Hankow relating to the obstruction of Japanese trading in the interior of China, due, it is alleged, to the unwarrantable interference of the German Consul at Hankow on behalf of his nationals. The following, which is taken from the Japan Herald, supplies an explanation of the trouble:-
Chinese middlemen of German export firms at Hankow. which undertake the purchase of sesame in the interior of Honan--where German
traders are forbidden to establish branches or
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ADMIRAL LAMBTON AND THE
BACON LETTERS.
A MEMORANDUM TO THE SQUADRON,
Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton, Commander- in-Chief of the China Squadron, writes:-
Sir.-The honour of the Admiral approved by the King to command the British Fleet in the China Seas cannot be a matter of indifference to His Most Gracious Majesty's loyal subjects re- siding in the Far East, therefore I trust you will be able to find space to pablish the subjoined Memorandum which I have felt it my duty to issue.
Your obedient servant.
HEDWORTH LAMBTON.
King Alfred at Weihaiwei,
June 19th, 1909. Memorandum.
I have the honour to draw the attention of Captains, Officers and Ships' Companies to the following question and answer in the House of Commons on May 10, which enabled the Admiralty to accode promptly, justly, and honourably to my telegraphic request May 7 that my honour should be publicly vindicated:--
of
'Mr. Brooke (L.. Tower Hamlets, Bow and Bromley) asked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, having regard to the statements alleged to have been quoted from a private letter of three years ago to the First Sea Lord, the Admiralty have ever regarded Vice- Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton as an agitator in the Naval Service."
Mr. McKenna replied that the Admiralty have never regarded Admiral Lambton as an agitator. His record is most distinguished, and the high appreciation in which his service, both in peace and war, have been held by successivo Boards is shown by his rapid advancement and loug succession of important appointments. No statement in the private letter can be reason- ably interpreted as an allegation that Admiral Lambton was an agitator.“
The Times newspaper reported Sir George
speech Armstrong's
concerning Captain Bacon's letter to Sir Jolin Fisher con- taining the offensive phrase I objected | to, viz. :-" Service agitation headed by Lord Charles Beresford and Admiral Lambton," and also published Mr. McKenna's explanations in the House of Commons on the subject, but for reasons best known to itself, although the matter is of great interest to all those who cherish respect for the time-honoured traditions of the Navy, has omitted the above vindication of myself by the Admiralty.
to travel for business purposes--have demon strated the fact that Japanese firms have founded This unfortunate omission on the part of The stores contrary to Treaty provisions in Honan. Times, to which journal many people trust for Since they saw their business threatened by their Parliamentary intelligence, necessitates these illegal proceedings they denounced them my issuing this Memorandum, which is to to the Viceroy of Wuchang. In order to give remain on the notice boards of each vessel in the more weight to their representation they associ-China Fleet for one week after receipt on board. ated themselves in their matter with the export firms with which they are related to persuade them to make simultaneous representations to the To the Commodore, the respective Captains Viceroy. To guarantee the interests of German merchants against injurious actions in violation of treaties, the German Consul demanded of the Viceroy the withdrawal of the illegal Japanese trading-stations in the interior of Honan
Thus it is ascertained :—--
(1) That Japan and Germany both follow the policy of Equal Rights and the Open Door in China.
That there has been a transgression of Treaty right by the Japanese, since it is not a question of travelling merchants but of the foundation of Japanese branch stores outside of Treaty
limits.
(3) That the stimulus to this charge of viola- tion of Treaty rights was given by Chinese traders.
(4) That German merchants, as being the only foreigners injured, or at least being those most injured, by this violation by Japan of commercial policy in China recognised both by Japan and Germany, have insisted on the guar- anteeing of Treaty rights and have hence demanded the withdrawal of the Japanese establishements.
(5) That a German Consulate would never have undertaken to support this demand in the name of the German mercantile community had there not been an obvious violation of Treaty rights.
|
HEDWORTH LAMBTON, Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief
and all concerned on the China Station.
CHINESE POST OFFICE AND THE FOREIGN ADMINISTRATIONS.
The following is extracted from the Report on the working of the Imperial Chinese Post Office for the 34th year of Kwang Hau (1908):-
19
Russia, stponed from last year owing to the lamented des h of the late Minister to Peking, Mr. Pokotiloff, has been happily concluded, and others are similarly contemplated with Japan for exchange of all classes of mail matter and of postal parcels, and with Hongkong for a parcel post. All foreign Agencies open at various places have been maintained: they are par ticulary numerous in Manchuria. The Russians have regular Post Offices at Harbin and.. Kwanchengtze, and at certain stations on the Chinese Eastern Railway.. A Russian courier conveys Russian Government despatches bo- tween Peking and Harbin, and the Russo-Chinese Bank has a special service between Kwan-* chengtze and Kirin. Japanese Post Offices are found at Mukden, Antung, and the most im- portant of the trade marts in Manchuria; also along the South Manchuria and Antung lines, where railway employés act as postal agents. A British Agency, under Hongkong, opened at Tientsin in 1906, was to have been closed in autumn 1907, owing to the heavy loss entailed in its working; but the British Muni- cipal Council came to its rescue and guaranteed the estimated loss ($7,500 until October 1908.
Relations with Foreign Administrations have been friendly, cordial reciprocity being the aim and object of the Chiness Post Office in all its international dealings. During the year the Chinese Post Office at Shanghai has been constituted into a Central Office, to deal with the withrawal of international correspondence and correction of addresses, at the request of the Union Administrations. The procedure is in conformity with that prescribed in Article XXX. of the Detailed Regulations of the Uni- versal Convention of Rome, and proper notice of this further improvement in I.P.O. practice has been given to all administrations through the intermediary of the International bureau of Berne. As will be found further on explained, the colours of certain Chinese stamps have been changed in order to bring them in accord with those conventionally adopted throughout the Union. A long-pending Agreement with
Last September it was again on the verge of being closed, but once more the British Muni- cipal Council, assisted by the British Govern- ment, gave a guarantee to the Hongkong Government to furnish half the estimated deficit (8.800), and so it has a new lease of life until September 1909. In October 1908 the Germans at Tientsin ceased to send a special military mail between Tientsin and their military camp at Tangku, and now exclusively use the Chinese Post Office. The Chief Superintendent of the
British field post office left for India in 1908, and the base office was moved from Tangku to Tientsin, the offices at Lutai, Tangshan, and Shanhaikwan being closed. At Chefoo the Japanese Post Office maintains a savings bank, which is well patronised; and the Germans, 8 telephone and telegraph service, which is said to do well. At Chungking the French Post Office is reported to be about to close, for want of any business to do. At Shanghai the local delivery carried for some years by the
од
Chinese Post Office of international mail matter
arriving by foreign mail boats having developed into a complicated and costly service, revised arrangements have been made with the German,
French, and Russian Post Offices, and it is
expected that the American will also at a later date agree to the same arrangement. The Japanese prefer to undertake their own de- livery both at Shanghai and other places.
THE SOUTH MANCHURIAN
RAILWAY.
RESULT OF HALF-YEAR'S WORKING.
The
The result of the working of the South Manchurian Railway Company for the half- year ending March 31 last was very satisfactory. The gross receipts for the period amounted to Y10,656,340 and the expenses to Y9,314,552, leaving a net profit of Y1,341,789. It is noted in the accounts that the gross profit of the rail- way department amounted to Y5,590,072 against Y2,331,393 for the corresponding period of the preceding year, while the profit of the colliery department amounted to Y520,979 against Y254,192.
The principal item of expenditure for the half- year under review was the amount of Y2,110,000, set aside to balance the difference between the face value of the debentures and the actual amount received for them. For the correspond- ing period of last year, the expenditure under this head amounted to not more than Y58,500. The interest paid on the debentures amounted to Y1,820,000, against Y97,000. Despite these increases in expenditure, 8 net profit of Y1,341,788 was left, as stated. The large in. crease in profit was chiefly due to the large amount of beans and bean cake handled. Owing to the increased transport capacity of the line with the broad gauge, the total quantity of freight carried during the period amounted to 672,000 tons, an increase of 420,000 tons on the figures for the corresponding period last year. The revenue from passenger traffic showed a decrease of £209,000, which was due to a decline in the number of passengers travelling short distances and also to an alteration in the fares.
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