September 13, 1909.]
There are in addition to the above the Can- ton Arsenal, smokeless powder factory, the provincial mint, a paper mill, a cigarette factory, several small shipbuilding and ship
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
ANNUAL REPORT ON WEI- HAI-WEI.
Sir James Stuart Lockhart
Commissioner of
235
The harvests have been good, the people appear to be contented, and there has been but little crime. The number of visitors. during the summer months was the largest on record, and
repairing yards; the railway works at the ter the Territory of Wei-hai-wei in his annual there is every indication that it will continue to
mini of the Canton-Kowloon, Canton-Hankow and Canton-Samshui railways, and the new river bunding, now in course of construction, which requires steel bridges and landing stages.
Lest, however, any British firm should have its attention called to this page and take the trouble to send out illustrated catalogues and circulars and make enquiries with regard to the openings, for machinery above indicated, I take this opportunity of repeating what my predecessor wrote last year, that catalogues, more especially of railway material, are useless, and that the only way to obtain orders is to follow the German and American example and send out competent men who will find out exact-
ly what the Chinese want, tell them exactly what they can supply and for how much, and in short be prepared to exercise that patience, tact and business acumen without which in these days big orders are not obtained in China. British manufacturers are too often content to be represented by merchants in China, who, however willing they may be to push their wares, have not the time to devote to the busi-
ness and are without with the necessary expert knowledge.
I am convinced that it is for this reason that so many large orders for railway material have, during the past year, gone to German and
American firms.
CHINESE RAILWAY FRAUDS.
report for 1908, says .----
The revenue
results
amounted to $83,277, as compared with $80,331 collected during the year during the previous year. The expenditure during the year amounted to $168,740, as com- pared $173,340, the expenditure of the previous year. There are no capitalists resident in this Territory, and wealthy merchants at Shanghai are not inclined under existing conditions to invest their capital here. This is illustrated by the attitude of the Shanghai public in regard to the question of starting a fruit-growing company here. The of the fruit-growing experiments made by fruit could be successsfully and profitably pro Government have proved conclusively that duced in this Territory, and certain persons were very anxious to form a company, buy or rent ground, and start business, but owing to the uncertainty of tenure it was found impossible It cannot, to raise the small capital required. however, be said that trade is either stagnant or diminishing, though owing to the place being returns of imports, as there are no Customs a free port it is not possible to give accurate
returns.
ment.'
to
A general report on the growing of fruit, trees, shrubs, flowers, and vegetables at Wei-hai-wei from 1905 to 1909 has been prepared by Mr. Gibbons, horticul- turist specially appointed to superintend the growing of fruit in this Territory. Mr. Gibbons states that "the result of four years' The Times published the following note from its special correspondent lately in the experiment has been to demonstrate very clearly that the culture of fruit can be engaged in as a Far East:
As the Cologne Gazette challenges the state-commercial proposition," and that "the experi- ments made by your Peking Correspondentment has proved to my satisfaction that fruit culture at Wei-hai-wei would be a safe invest- in his telegram of August 4, and the German Foreign Office denies that there is the smallest undertake fruit culture and tree planting a In order to encourage the Chinese to ground for associating Germans with the
small pamphlet prepared by Mr. Gibbons has charges of fraud in connection with the nor-
been translated into simple Chinese and widely thern, or German, section of the Tientsin-Pu- kau Railway, it may be well to quote the distributed in the Territory. The pamphlet following charges, made in the articles of gives general elementary instructions as impeachment submitted by Vice-President Yen- pruning, mauuring, propagating, &c., and sui, one of the representatives of the gentry should prove of benefit to the Chinese. of Chibli in Peking, which were made public fully occupied with the litigation which is so Both of the Magistrates' Courts have been in Chinese newspapers whilst I was in Peking:-
That Li-te-shuu, director of the northern marked a feature of Chinese village life in section of the Tientsin-Pu-kau Railway, who. Wei-hai-wei. The magistrates endeavour, as far as possible, to decide the civil cases which is married to a German, appointed Germans on
arise in accordance with Chinese law and cus- high salaries to nominal functions on the
toms, and the fact that the villagers seek the railway.
assistance of the courts more and more every year shows that these efforts are appreciated. The system of having duly authorised petition writers has been abolished at the suggestion of the district officer, because it was found that these petition writers grossly abused their positions, charged extortionate fees, and stirred up litigation on their own account. Every possible phase of Chinese life is revealed in the cases which come to court, and the people, and without B sympathetic understanding of knowledge of their lag guage and customs, it would be impossible to administer justice in a manner that would give satisfaction to those who seek redress. Evidence is apt to be extremely conflicting, and the puzzles and conundrums which the rustics desire frequently very magistrates to solve are bewildering. Documents are produced often hundreds of years old in proof of rights of ownership or cultivation, division of family property, &c., and many cases are fought out generation after generation.
That in return for a pecuniary consideration he agreed to bring the Tientsin terminus of the railway near the German settlement, though for reasons of economy it was originally intended to have the terminus in the vicinity of the Japanese settlement.
That coal contracts for the railway were placed by him for similar considerations at an excessive rate with collieries in which Germans had a controlling interest.
That Li-te-shun was engaged in corrupt transactions with regard to the purchase and sale of lands for the railway. the profits of which he shared with his German friends.
It may have been only a coincidence that at the time when these charges were made public, the German Minister hurried back to Peking from his summer quarters at Pei-ta-ho, which he very rarely leaves except for reasons of special urgency. But I was told by well-informed Chinese that the object of his journey was to induce the Waiwupu to stifle the inquiry for which the province of Chihli was then pressing. If, on the other hand, the Germans were not privy to the nefarious practices for which Li-te- shun has been cashiered and other higher officials punished, what is the value, it may be asked, of the much vaunted "Pu-kau terms " which form
the basis of the railway loan contract recently concluded by the international financial " com- bine" with the Chinese Government, since they failed altogether to prevent such gross financial frauds on the German section of the Tientsin- Pu-kau Railway?
P.S.-I would take this opportunity to correct a telegraphic error in the message sent by me from Ottawa which appeared in The Times of July 29. My reference to the Tientsin-Han- kou Railway should of course read. Tientsin- Pu-kau Railway.
Constitutional reform is being introduced in the Province of Shantung, as in the other pro- vinces of China. Representatives of the Chinese Government, at the request of that Government, were allowed to come to this Territory to prepare a register of such electors as are entitled to become, or to vote for, members of the Provin: cial Assembly to be held at Chinan, the capital of Shantung. The register has been completed, and the first election of members of the Provin cial Assembly is now taking place.
The general condition of the affairs of this Territory during the past year may be con- sidered as satisfactory as circumstances permit. Whilst trade has not increased appreciably, the general standard of living among the Chinese population appears to be steadily improving.'
increase.
PHILIPPINE MINERALS.
A pamphlet entited "The Mineral Resources of the Philippine Islands" has been issued by Mr. Warren D. Smith, chief of the division of geology and mines, Bureau of Science pamphlet
contains
The
a number of articles
by scientific men, the results of special research into the various matters treated. The table of contents shows the follow- ing list: The Non-metallic Minerals, by Warren D. Smith: The Metallic Minerals, by Materials, by V. J. Cox; The Gold Fields of H; G. Ferguson; Philippine Raw Cement Surigan Peninsula. Mindanao, by Maurice Goodman;
The Production of Structual Material, by George I. Adams.
From the introduction to the pamphlet we take the following interesting data : ---
In 1907 the gold production for the Philip- pine Islands amounted to only $78,000, which beginning of the industry. We who were on was indeed small; however, it marked only the
the ground had faith in the country and what it could produce. It was a different matter with those outside the Philippines, to whose ears there came, year after year, reports of failure. Be- sides, we had inherited a host of troubles from the days of the Spanish régime. The man to whom we appealed asked not for opinions, nor for excuses. He wanted results. We could not point to them then. Therefore, it is with extreme satisfaction that we can
now show
these results; point to the facts. In 1908 the gold production amounted to over $200,000, & gain of over 100
per cent.
Before our coal deposits were opened up there were many who predicted many difficulties, both in mining and in using the coal. The fact remains, however, that the coal is being mined, cheaply, and is being used by over a score of inter-island trading vessels. The production at the beginning of 1907 was almost nil, toward the end of the year it amounted to 25 tons a day, at the present time in is 50, and it is planned very soon to increase the output to 150 tons, owing to the fact that a large amount of development work has been done in one of the mines. The Government coal mine is producing at the present time 80 tons a day.
One very regrettable feature about the min- ing situation in these Islands is the fact that so few of the better class of Filipino's take any interest in the development of the mineral
resources of their own country. It is true the semi-wild Igorots of north-central Luzon mine and smelt copper on a small scale, and hundreds of natives in various parts of the Islands are en- gaged in desultory panning for gold. It is also true that the only iron furnace in operation in the Philippines is owned and run by a Filipino woman. With these exceptions, the Filipino people are almost absolutely ignorant about mining and, what is worse, seem to be apathetic in regard to it.
It would be far better for the country politi- cally and industrially if some of the bright Filipino youths who are sent to the United States for education could be induced to take up a course in mining and engineering chemis- try, and on their return place themselves as apprentices in some company, beginning with the most menial work. We cannot expect the Filipino, with his peculiar Malay temperament and past education, to take kindly to this sort of work at first, but we are not without hope that some day he will demonstrate that he can do it.
1.
Many surprises in regard to the Filipino as a labourer have been afforded us. be protected from the unscrupulous labour If he can only leader, he will get along very well.
Mr. F. J. Pigott has been appointed Colonial Engineer and Surveyor General of the Straits Settlements in succession to Col. Murray. Mr. Pigott had been Deputy Colonial Engineer in the service of the Straits Government. To the position he vacates Mr. C. G. May has been appointed.
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