EMPRESS'S HOARD.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1350, 30 January 1912, Page 9

EMPRESS'S HOARD.

lICGE STORE OF GOLD IN PEKING. The fate of the colossal hoard of gold stored in tho Imperial Palace at Poking is being eagerly discussed by the revolutionaries and the supporters of the throne. For thirty years treasure has been poured into Peking, and none has left the palace till now. "Rather more than a fortnight ago," ivrites the Peking correspondent of "The Times," "gold to the weight of 7!),000 taels, and worth nearly £100,090, portion of the Palace treasure, was, through the agency of the Ministry of Finance, offered for sale to the foreign banks. A considerable amount was purchased by the "Deutsche-Asiatische llank and transmitted to Europe by parcel post, registered and insured, as is customary in transmitting money from Peking to London. A portion was also, purchased by the Yokohama Spccie Rank, a small amount by tho Hong-Kong and Shanghai Hank, and a still smaller amount by the Manque do rindo-Chine. .Tlie balance, amounting approximately to nearly .£125,000, has now been purchased by tho liusso-Asiatic Bank. . "Considerable interest attaches to the sale,' because the. amount sold was only a small portion of the large amount I in the palace. The question is, shall the palace be compelled to disgorge' the balance? During tho foreign military occupation of Peking in the year following the Boxer outbreak of 1900, the palace treasure' was guarded by foreign troops. There is strong reason for believing that this hoarded treasure amounted in value to nearly nine millions sterling; the whole of it was restored to the Chinese intact. "THE PALACE LOOTED." "On the return of the Empress Dowager from her flight to Sianfu, the palaco trcasure was largely added to, for the wily 'Old Buddha' displayed no gratitude for the services rendered to her by the foreign Powers in protecting her Treasury,- but, pleading that the palaco had been" looted in the absence of the Court, reaped a rich harvest of money contributions from tho patriotic and from the purchasers of title and office in all parts of tho Empire. It is quite certain that the gold and silver now stored in the palaco must bo sufficient to meet all China's foreign obligations for several years to come. The gold just soli-was packed in scaled boxes, with inscriptions showing that thev had beon remitted by the Canton Hoppo in the seventies. They had never been opened. No treasure remitted to Peking during the past thirty years has vet been touched.

Ihe Tunes correspondent says that surely this is treasure of State, "and he argues that it should bo made available ™ meeting China's foreign obligations. Chinese Government" he concludes, is asking for a suspension of the sinking fund of foreign lornvTrtltlfere is abundance ot money in the palace—that is to say, in tho Imperial Treasury—to meet all its obligations. Thero is greater wealth "i i-.f, a,ace Treasury than was found at lildiz after the fall of Abdul Hamid Is it to be appropriated by the new Government as was the treasure of the deposed Sultan? That is a question which is bound to engage the attention of the foreign legations in the immediate future.