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72
considers the variations of exchange. It is not, in his purview, that silver has been depreciating in value, but that gold has risen to a most unexpected and unexampled height. From his point of view there may be even advantages in this. It acts, he recognises, adversely on imports into China; but from his standpoint, this, which carries distress to Europe and America, is not of itself an evil calling loudly for redress. On the other hand he sees that many articles exported from China are exchangeable in Europe and America for as much gold as before, and for which he can obtain in exchange far more silver. The higher principle of political economy that what distresses trade in one direction must of necessity be a hindrance to wholesome com- merce he has not yet learned, nor does he see any necessity for such a conclusion. This is hardly to be wondered at when we find so advanced an assembly as the Senate of the United States deliberately doing all it can to cripple the import trade of the
States under the same erroneous view that it is thereby promoting the best interests of the country at large. Not the least curious part of the modern financial system of the Great Republic is that more strenuously than any other of the Powers it has heen pre-sing on China the so-called " reform" of her cur. rency; while its own financial measures have a directly reactionary tendency, and are directed, not to the advancement but to the bindiance of trade. Naturally China
and Eastern Asia have much to offer to the
United Stats, and in return are prepared to take many of her productio us and manu- factures. Commerce, however, for wholesome conduct requires some reciprocity, as otherwise the natural course of exchange
its
will bring its own revenges. Such has been
the case between America and East Asia. The States have deliberately hampered the export of goods from China, and in return for this the import of American goods has fallen off; and exchange, to emphasise this, has dropped in sympathy. The manner in which the U. S. Government has sought to rectify this is peculiar. It has been seeking to remedy the loss to itself by inducing the Chinese to adopt a gold standard; there is nothing wrong in this, and we do not sug gest it as a grievance. But failing this, it is now seeking recourse to something very much in the nature of compulsion. Our new American financiers, utterly forgetting the disastrous results of the bimetallic efforts of 1890-93, are seeking to revive the cry; and again appealing to a weak administration in Englaud to join them in their insane policy of seeking by Act of Congress to place an artificial value on silver. The result in the States was the passing of the Bland Act, which bound the Government of the States every month to purchase some twelve million ounces of silver. The end was that, after making the Treasury nearly bankrupt, silver fell lower than ever, and has never recovered the shock. More wise the British Government saved the situation by restricting the coinage of silver in India, and has succeeded in keeping exchange steady ever since. The new old financiers who rule the Senate of to-day, after just passing one of the most reactionary measures ever proposed in the House, would finish up by re-enacting the bungles of the bimetalists of 1890. History is easily for gotten in the United States.
H.B.M.'s Chargé d'Affaires at Bangkok is anxious to meet the desire of British subjects who wish to know their position under the Anglo-Siamese Treaty, and he asked them to meet him collectively at the Legation on July
12th.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
WHAMPOA REDIVIVUS.'
LL
(Daily Press, 22nd July) Hongkong is again threatened." A scheme is on foot to make Whampoa a free port, to dredge its waters, so as to give sufficient depth for ocean-going steamers, and to connect the village with Canton by electric tram. Should this scheme be carried through it is suggested that Hongkong would lose a considerable proportion of its transport trade and its prosperity would be seriously affected. It is not the first time that some such proposal has been mooted, but so far no scheme has taken practical shape. The revival of Whampoa is a kind of bogey which is held up now and then to frighten Hongkong, but though the Kowloon-Canton Railway undertaking has in a measure distracted attention from Whampoa and its possibilities, it is, we learn, certainly not the case that the Whampoa development scheme has been allowed to drop. The Chinese who are concerning then selves at present with a future for Whampoa
are
very sanguine and very ambitious. Although the harbour is now silted up and useless, they believe that dredging operations could ensure its being nade available
an
for large steamers. In that event it would provide more facilities and greater berthing accommodation than is possible on the river at Canton itself, and then ocean-going vessels might go right up the river to the new port without calling at Hongkong. An electric railway would provide an easy and speedy means of transit over the tew miles which separate Whampoa from Canton, and enable Whampoa to become the indirect terminus of the Canton-Hankow Railway. The far-reaching possibilities of such a scheme are apparent, and the question naturally arises--Is it practicable? It is well known that Whampoa formerly afforded anchorage for the ships employed in the foreign trade with Canton, but many circumstances, which we need not now detail, have tended to bring about the decline of Whampoa. The place possesses now only the memory of its former import. unce. More than once projects for railway and other enterprises likely to revive Whampoa to the detriment of Hongkong transport trade have been discussed, but for some reason or other they have come to nought. Still the fact of their cropping up 80 frequently would indicate that the foundation idea is not so impracticable or impossible as some would have us believe, and, apart from Chinese sentiment, the opinion is widely entertained in the Colony an ng Europeans as well as Chinese that with sufficient financial support the experi ment would justify itself. When in the early part of 1905 it was known that Americans were endeavouring to arrange for a deep water port near Whampoa as a terminus for the Canton-Haukow Railway, it was felt to be a powerful reason for urging the British and Chinese Corporation to expedite the Kowloon-Canton Railway. And it certainly bad this effect. Mr. MURRAY STEWART then Secretary and now the President of the local branch of the China Association, writing at the time to the London Committee, said Hongkong had no reasonable ground for objecting to the opening of any such port. But the matter takes on a new hspect now that the railway from Canton to Kowloon is under construction, for the question arises whether, in the circumstances, a rail- way to carry freight between Canton and Whampoa would not be competitive with the Canton-Hankow railway and therefore ад infringement of the terms of the agreement made by the Chinese Government with the British and Chinese Corporation who have provided the
[July 24, 1909.
capital for the construction of the Canton section of the line. A clause of the agreement reads: "It is further understood that the Chinese Government will not build another line competing with this railway to its detriment." To make Whampoa a port connected by a railway with Canton would tend to make the place the indirect terminus of the great trunk line, and would certainly be opposed to the terms of the railway agreement. Therefore, we think we may safely say it follows that for another thirty years at least the scheme will have to remain in abeyance, thirty years being the period covered by the railway agreement Thus the danger of Hongkong losing its pre-eminence as a port and dwindling from its great importance as the distribut- ing centre for South China, may still be considered as very remote, and, as threatened folks are said to live the longer, we may cherish the hope that with the opening of the railway we shall see before us a long shall be mutually beneficial to the Colony career of usefulness for our port which
and the neighbouring Empire.
tafe
RUSSIA AND THE YANGTSZE
REGION.
respect which had
(Daily Press, 23rd July.) Russia has never had a reputation in the Far East for the faithful observance of diplomatic agreements, and the demand she is now making at Peking with the object of extending her influence in the Yangtze region will do nothing to rehabil
ber
that reputation in Accentuating the policy led her to shield the Yangtaze at the t'me of China's dispute with Russia about Kuldja in 1880, during the war with France about Tonkin in 1834, and again during the between China and Japan, Great war Britain obtained from China in 1899 & promise that she "would never alienate any territory in the provinces adjoining the Yangtsze to any other Power, whether under lease, mortgage or any other designation." This provision tended to give to the doctrine of "
spheres of interest," much discussed at that time, a concrete meauing, and it unquestionably conveyed to the public
mind an impression that British interests were politically unassailable in the Yangtsze Region. In the same year, Notes were exchanged at St. Petersburg between the diplomatic representatives of Great Britain and Russia with regard to their respective railway interests in China, the two Powers being animated by the sincere desire to
avid in China all cause of conflict on questions where their interests
meet." Taking into consideration "the economic and geographical gravitation" of certain parts of the Chinese Empire, Russia defini- tively engaged "not to seek for her own account, or on behalf of Russian subjects or of others, any railway concessions in the basin of the Yangtsze." Now ten years after this compact was entered into we see Russia formally communicating to the Waiwapu at Peking a demand that in view of Russian interests at Hankow (where there is a Russian Concession), and also in view of her interests in the tea trade of the Yangtze region, Russian financers, represented by the Russo-Chinese Bank, shall participate in the Hankow railway loans. Strictly speaking, of course, to allow Russia to participate in these loans would not be to "alienate territory either "under lease, mortgage or any other lesignation,” por would it be securing to her a railway concession in the sense the words were understood
doubtless
"
at the time, and it will be argued that so long as
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