156 



CHINA. 



Junks are dragged by men up-stream along the 

 bank, and descend by shooting the rapids. An 

 Englishman named Archibald Little formed a 

 company and built a steamer of special design. 

 When he was ready to make the experimental 

 trip, he applied for permission through the 

 British minister. The Imperial Government 

 advised with the chief provincial officials, who 

 raised objections, both real and fanciful, and 

 pleaded at least for delay, which was grant- 

 ed. Aside from the danger of collision with 

 junks when the steamer is working its way up 

 the swift current, there was a probability that 

 the boating population of Chung-King would 

 attack the steamer and crew in order to dis- 

 courage the competition of a line of steamboats. 



Trade Regulations. The English Government 

 in the late opium convention obtained the con- 

 sent of the Government of Pekin to a provis- 

 ion admitting opium, free to all parts of the 

 empire without its being subjected to transit 

 dues on the payment of 80 taels a chest at the 

 port of entry in addition to the customs duty. 

 This drug is now the only commodity that cir- 

 culates throughout China free from the likin 

 taxes that are levied by the local authorities on 

 goods passing by road, river, or canal through 

 their several jurisdictions. The likin was orig- 

 inally a war tax imposed by the provinces to 

 raise means for the purpose of suppressing the 

 Taiping rebellion. The stations are so near 

 together that the price of goods carried far into 

 the interior is many times enhanced, and trans- 

 portation is delayed to a corresponding extent. 

 Native traders, who compound the taxes with 

 corrupt officials, have an advantage over for- 

 eigners. A clause in the opium convention 

 provides for the commutation of the likin tax 

 by the payment to the imperial revenue officers 

 of a tax equal to half of the duty. This secures 

 a transit pass that carries goods through all 

 the likin barriers to the place of destination. 

 The British merchants, on securing this con- 

 cession, were confident of being able to com- 

 pete successfully with the French in the prov- 

 inces of Yunnan, Quangsi, and Quangtung. Ac- 

 cording to the report of the British consul at 

 Pakhoi, however, it has proved illusive as a 

 means of stimulating trade, because, when the 

 goods reach the declared market they are sub- 

 jected there to a tax approximating the sum of 

 the likin taxes they would otherwise have to 

 pay. The Provincial Government at Canton 

 argues that there are no treaty restrietions 

 against taxing Chinese and property in their 

 possession. The principle here involved was 

 a subject of discussion in connection with the 

 trade of the treaty ports, until it was settled 

 by the Chefoo Convention that the local au- 

 thorities have a right to impose likin in the 

 open ports outside the limits of the foreign 

 settlements. 



The Chinese Government has decided to in- 

 troduce the system of bonded warehouses. A 

 beginning was made in Shanghai on Jan. 1, 

 1888. The privilege of warehousing bonded 



goods was restricted to the China Merchants' 

 Steam Navigation Company, a corporation 

 composed entirely of mandarins and other 

 Chinese. The British merchants of Shanghai 

 raised an outcry against this arrangement, and 

 blamed their Government for not interfering 

 to obtain for them a share in the privilege. 

 They charged the German minister, Herr von 

 Brandt, with bringing about the monopoly for 

 the purpose of injuring them, and declared that 

 the warehouses having the right of storing goods 

 in bond would gain all other business, and that 

 the rows of warehouses and miles of wharves 

 that they had constructed would be deserted. 

 Herr von Brandt explained that the Chinese 

 Government wished to test the system before 

 establishing it permanently, and therefore re- 

 stricted it to the wharves of the native com- 

 pany, and would not listen to a proposition 

 to admit all warehouses that offered sufficient 

 guarantees. 



The Condition of Chinese Abroad. In August, 

 1886, three high officials were sent abroad as 

 an imperial commission to inquire into the 

 treatment and condition of Chinese emigrants 

 in foreign countries. They first visited Manila, 

 in the Philippine Islands, where the Chinese 

 complained bitterly of the wrongs they received 

 at the hands of the Spaniards, and begged for 

 the appointment of consular agents to protect 

 them. Although they are plundered with im- 

 punity by lawless individuals and subjected to 

 extortionate taxes by the authorities, yet their 

 community of 50,000 souls is thriving. At 

 Singapore the Chinese number 150,000, and 

 are the richest of all the inhabitants, owning 

 four fifths of the land and much commercial 

 capital. The British Government has recently 

 consented to the appointment of a Chinese 

 consul, but he has no jurisdiction over the 

 laborers passing through the port in great num- 

 bers. These are looked after by a British regis- 

 trar-general, who does not prevent the perpe- 

 tration of gross frauds by the labor companies. 

 In Malacca and Penang they found the Chinese 

 prosperous in business. There are 100,000 

 Chinamen in Perak and Selangore, mostly en- 

 gaged in mining tin, several of whom are 

 millionaires. The 30,000 Chinese residents in 

 Rangoon are many of them merchants dealing 

 in rice and in precious stones. In Sumatra 

 there are large numbers of Chinese laborers 

 employed on the tobacco plantations. Those 

 who are saving do well, but the majority are 

 addicted to gambling, and in this they are en- 

 couraged by the overseers, who keep those 

 who fall in debt at work beyond the legal 

 term, because they are ignorant of their right 

 to return home at the end of three years. The 

 Dutch authorities promised to have this righted. 

 In Batavia the Chinese are heavily taxed, and 

 gambling is common. In other Dutch colonies, 

 containing more than 200,000 Chinese immi- 

 grants, they are treated " most outrageously " 

 by the authorities. In Australia, the Chinese, 

 who, on landing, are subjected to a tax of from 



