Evening star., 1900-08-11
Methods Pursued in Collection of the
Public Revenues.
SALT MONOPOLY An IMPORTANT item
A Vast Amount of PecuIation b,
the Officials.
THE MARITIME CUSTOMS

|
arrive at anything but an approximate es-
| innate of the revenues which are at the
| disposal of the central and provincial gov
| ernments. The board of revenue, which
| nominally superintends the financial ad-
| ministration of the empire, simply makes
| an estimate of the sums required for the
| ensuing year. and then apportions them
among the various provinces.
The money is collected by the agents of
| the provincial governments. and paid by
| them into the provincial treasures the ex-
| act amount required by the central gov
| ernment being then forwarded by the vice
| roy or governor to the board at Pekin. The
| balance Of taxation remaining after this
| payment has been made to the imperial ex-
| chequer belongs, apparently, to the local
| authorities, who do not seem to render any
account of the manner in which it has been
expended. An exception is. of course
formed in the matter of foreign maritime
customs, which are collected directly by
| the agents of the imperial government
| there being also a few of the native Gus
tom houses which pay their levies without
intermediary into the Pekin treasury
The sources of revenue may be grouped
under the following headings: Land tax
grain tax, salt monopoly, foreign maritime
customs, lkin Gnland transit dues), native
customs and land transfer fees licenses
special levieS etc. A vast amount of pee
ulation is said to go on in the Yang-tse
provinces which show a greatly diminish
ed revenue from this source. The officials
pretend that the land is still suffering from
the devastation created by the Taiping re-
bellion whereas almost the whole of it has
| been reclaimed and is yielding abundant
crops. That is, of course a more serious
form of embezzlement than that tacitIv en-
couraged by the central authorities as II
deprlNeS the imperial government of the le-
Ultimate tax.
Tribute Paid in Rice.
Two provinces, Kiangsu and Chekiang
pay tribute in rice. The local officials. how
ever, in order to make as good a thing ont
OF 1t as possible, collect the tax in copper
cash and then purchase the rice in the
open market as advantageously as they
can. The profit on the transaction finds its
way of course, into the pockets of the
mandarins. The unfortunate farmers are
the people who suffer by this method of
collecting the tax, as they are made to pay
not only the price of the grain, but the
eXtravagant cost of transit to the capital
ana the fees incidental to it's expedition
A large sum of money is, in fact squan-
uered by these provinces in transporting
the rice to Pekin, everybody being con-
cerned in making as much out of it as pos
sible The total amount of grain tax paid
into the provincial treasures is estimated
at 6.562,ooo taels, of which sum four-fifths
reach Pekin.
1t has often been suggested that China
should raise additional funds by permitting
the importation of foreign salt, but the
government has not seen its way clear 10
interfere with the enormous vested inter-
ests IN the present monopoly. The salt sup
ply Is administered by the division of the
country INTO seven principal districts each
OF Whlch possesses the sole MONOPOLY with
IN Its boundaries, and il is not Permissible
to dispose of any salt outside of the dis
trict in which 1t has been produced except
under special circumstances. Everybody
Is at liberty to manufacture as much salt
as ne pleases, but he is obliged to sell II
either to government officials or to licensed
salt merchants. The general system is how
ever. for the officials of the salt depart-
ment TO purchase the salt from the pro-
ducers and sell 1t to the licensed merchants
at remunerative price.
Inc consumer is made to pay for his salt
nearly nine times the price at which the
government purchases II from the producer
yet no more than a quarter of this enor-
nous profit Is stated as revenue-that is
to say, three-quarters Of the gross nrof,ta
on the sale of salt are swallowed IN hv
the expenses of administration etc a nro-
portion which, like everything else con
nected with Chinese finance can only be
explained by the colossal dishonesty of the
officials. The total revenue from salt 60
stated to be 136J9,0O0 taels
Maritime Customs.
Very little need be said about the foreign
maritime customs. which, being placed un-
der the able administration Of Sir Robert
Hart, is made to produce the utmost of
winch honest and economical MANAGEMENT
is capable The duties accruing from this
source are divided into tenths, of which
four go toward the support Of the centraI
government. The balance is used for a
variety of imperial and provincial purposes
such as the cost of keeping up the foreign
embassies. naval expenditure. interest on
foreign loans, etc, including, of course the
payment of salaries and other expenses
connected with the department The aver
age revenue from the maritime customs
may be set down roughly at 22.W0,O0O taels
The tax which is most abominated by
the foreign merchant, and which was prob
ably invented for his special edification less
than half a century ago, is that which is
known by the name of lkin. Its aggravat-
ing qualities are so far recognized bv the
Chinese government that in making Off
cial notice of it they usually add the words
Wan-pu-te-i, or positively no help for it,
Wherever traffic is most numerous and
trade is most ffourishng, likn barriers
are erected by the local authorities for the
purpose of bleeding commerce to the ut
most extent
The term likin signifies one-tenth per cent,
which would not be very oppressive tx
on merchandise in transit were IL not COL
lected afresh about every twenty miles,
and on the principle that one-tenth per cent
means such percentage as will enable the
likin officials to make comfortable live
lihood out Of squeezing and bribery. There
is. however, fortunate circumstance that
sometimes comes to the aid of the unhappy
merchant; that is, when alternate routes
present themselves. The rival likin bar
riers will then compete with each other to
obtain the pleasure of mulcting him, thus
enabling the merchant to compound for
advantageous terms. The total yield Ct
likin is just under 13,OOO,O00 taels.
The Junk System.
Merchandise carried in native junks, as
distinct from the cargoes of foreign-built
ships, is controlled by the native custom
houses. The latter are to be found at the
treaty ports. and everywhere else, in addi-
ton to the foreign customs. but possess
their own tariff and distinctive native ad-
ministration. One of the wealthiest and
best known collectorates is that of Canton,
which is placed under the supervision of an
official known the Hoppe, who contrives
to amass enormous fortune during his
tenure of office.
The returns Of the native customs are, IN
fact significantly low in comparison with
the immense trade from which they are
derived, and there is no question that the
sum total of pecuiation in this department
of state amply counterbalances the good
which is derived from Sir Robert Hart's
administra ton. The revenue from native
customs is set down at the ridiculously
low average of 100000 taels. To this
l, a Of N