Extract from Mr. Dick's Report on the Trade of Tientsin (1867).
Concerning the Tribute Rice, there is reason to think that the transport of it, as at present performed by junks, is a very expon-Five business, The loss by leakage aut wreck on the sea voyage is considerable; and the junks, coming here early in the year, because they are dependent on the monsoons, all ive at about the same time, crowding the causing collisions in which they are generally the euferer, A portion of the eight ix paid by allosving the junks to carry goods free of duty, 0 that it is impossible to ascertain exactly what the service costs. It seems, however, that the quantity of goods carried under the exemption referred to is not great, as Chinese merchants prefer the safety-and speed of Foreign vessels, for the carriage of their property. The Government is beginning to take the same view in regard to the Rice, and about a tenth of this year's tribute is to be carried in Foreign vessels. As there are no granaries at Tientsin for the reception of the Rice, it has to be sent to Tang Chow as soon as it is taken from the junks, and the officials therefore press into the service all the lighters in the neighborhood, thus seriously interfering for a time with' all other trafic. This evil might be mitigated if the transport were distributed throughout the year, It is not only however the expensiveness of the whole transport—Ly sex as well as by river=as at present conducted, which is open to criticism. The necessity of bringing such a large quantity of Rice for the Government is, in the first place, very doubtful, Most of it is intended ostensibly for the Peking garrison, and is issued to the officers and men, by orders on the granaries for so much Rice to each, A soldier never obtains the quantity named in his order. It is said that he does not get more than seven-tenths, and that what he gets has been damaged by the watering to which much of the Rice is subjected to make it appear up to the right quantity when placed in the granaries. The discount on the soldies's allowance represents the charge which the officials and itermen engaged in ser: ing the Rice from Tientsin to Peking, and the officials who manage the granaries, think proper to extract irom the business. The soldiers are in the habit (liable only to occasional check) of selling their orders on the granaries to Rice shops, the proceeds being more than sufficient to buy a quantity of the coarser grain equal to the Rice they have sold. The Peking Wee shops are almost entirely supplied in this way, as the soldier, provided he gote something more than the price of coarse grain, can exclude the mercantile importer by selling the Rice for less than has been expended on its purchase in' the South and its transport to Peking. The tribute becomes thus to some extent simply a trade in Rice carried on by officials at a great cost to the country. It would be better for the Government to draw from the Central provinees only so much Rice as is really required for the Peking garrison, and, by commuting the remainder of the tribute into money, to obtain the benefit of the difference between the price of Rice and that of the coarser grains {produced abundantly in Manchuria) which might be issued instead of the Rice commuted. If the entrance to the port were deepened, and the tax on the coast can of grain—lately suspended—were out abolished, ea that the services of Fo vessels of all sizes could be brought freely into play, the Government might rely upon obtaining' its supplies through Native merchants and Foreign carriers, at a smaller cost to the country than is incurred under the present system, and the food supply of the Petter footing. evince generally would find itself on a Memorial by Chen Hung-yi, translated from Peking Gazette Lith december, 1872.
Chen Hung-yi, memorializes the Throne complaining of the abuses connected with the system of levying the land-tax in kind rather Shan fo money, ad prays that the system may be changed in a portion at least of the Fungtien (Moukden) prefecture, The evi cousplained of may be briefly enumerated ax follows 2—Tho magistrates, instead of at once purchasing the grain required, and storing it in the granaries ready for transhipment. to Tungchow at the proper time, wait till they can get it cheap and thereby delay the junk, {3.—Junks employed in the transport service, have to leave for Fengtien in the 4th Moon, and do not get away from there till the 10th Moon. The cost of such a long delay enormous, The magistrates excuse th selves by saying that all the junks not having ved, the loading cannot commence. Thus time is wasted, winter arrives, and the june have sometimes to go away unroaded after all.
4.—The grain having arrived at Tientsi has to be transhipped &c., and during this process it is stolen right and left; this cannot well be prevented.
5.—In the granaries the grain is 90 adult terated with chaff and rubbish, that itis unfit, or nearly s0, for human food. This ws keenly felt last year by all the charities in the capital.
this proposal, however, it will probably bbe objected that the price of grain being very low in Fengtien, the sum Tecoived by the Goverment, would be " very paltry, ove; This may be true; but it must be remembered that the Government, by levying the tax in money, would save the beary outlay now incurred for transport, official salaries, &c., and this would go far to make up the difference between the price of grain in Fengtien and at Tangchow. In some of the provinces, as Shantung, this plan has been already adopted, and the memo hopes the Throne will be pleased to louk favourably on the present proposal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.