508 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 
left in which to do justice to the queries set forth in your letter. To 
reply as fully as I would wish means writing a hook. As that is not 
possible, I jot down here a few items which have come to ray know- 
ledge during my stay in Corea ; and if of use to you in compiling the 
Eeport and Paper on Corea for Brisbane, you are welcome to them. 
1. Land Tenure and the Trice of Land. — All land primarily 
belongs to the King. Subjects acquire it in two ways: (a) by pur- 
chasing from previous owners, who may have acquired it originally 
through inheritance, by building on it, or by cultivating it; and (b) 
by “squatting” on Crown land — i.e., land not occupied by a grave, nor 
a house, and not under cultivation. JN r o official notice is taken of this 
“ squatting” until the fourth year, or rather until the fourth crop is 
gathered, when an officer is deputed to measure the extent of ground 
under cultivation and assess the amount of taxes payable yearly. The 
size, class, and situation of the ground is then entered on the Yamen’s 
land registers, and is given a number merely ; the owner’s name is not 
recorded. All newly cultivated land is free from taxes for the first 
three years — hence taxes are collected on the fourth and subsequent 
years’ crops only. The occupant or owner of land thus acquired (and 
in these parts this appears to be the only method of acquiring it) gets 
no document from the Government, and should he or his heir at any 
time wish to sell the land he merely makes out a deed of sale which 
he hands (with the original acquirer’s deed, in the case of an heir) to 
the purchaser on payment of the price mutually agreed upon before- 
hand. This deed is not registered by the local official, nor is it 
necessary to bring the transaction to the official’s notice to make it 
binding or legal. (Last year the Government issued an order that in 
future the sale of land must be reported to the local official, who is to 
register same and issue a deed of transfer or a title deed to the 
purchaser. This new order has, I learn, already fallen into disuse, 
and the people have reverted to the old system mentioned above.) 
The law does not permit the land on the hillside, above what is 
termed by Coreans the “ loins,” to be tilled, but this law is extensively 
evaded, and, except for growing cotton and vegetables, land inside the 
Soul city cannot be tilled. 
Taxes are paid in kind and in copper cash. The former goes to 
the Central Government (granary), and the latter to the local official 
for “ office expenses.” 
The fields are divided into six classes for taxing, with so many 
pu (a “load”), according to situation and the computed yielding 
qualities of the ground. A field of the first class is rated at 10 pu, a 
second class at 8%pu, and so on, deducting H pw for each class down 
to the sixth class, which is rated at 2\ pu. 
Measurements in Corea are not very precise. Four pu of rice 
land is roughly an area measuring 100 feet square — or as much ground 
as will require 1 official tu ( #u bushel” — called by the people mal) to 
sow it. For barley, wheat, rye, <fcc., 50 feet square equal 4 pu or 
1 tu. For each pu of ricefield the owner pays to the Government a 
* 10 Kuan-sing = 1 Kuan-tu. 1 Kuan-tu weighs 1(>§ lb. English. The “ market ” 
sing (to?) is nearly three times as large as the kuan-sing. The taxes are supposed to 
be paid in kuan-sing , but I learn from the people that the native official collects them 
according to the market-sing , while he remits them to the Government in kuan-sing . 
