BOXER INDEMNITY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1638, 3 January 1913, Page 5

BOXER INDEMNITY.

/ CHINA UNABLE TO PAY., '■ ; V- 1 fey TeletraDi—Press Ajsoolatlofl-Coiiyrislil ' ' Peking, January 1. . m As the Powers havo liot replied: to tho togntot for-an > extension :ot* time, China ■ (a unable to pay the Boxer indemnity, flue lo*day. '' ' ..'Russia, threatens:viomilmnr.<m Source of revenue. ' 1 " CHINA'S BURDEN OS 1 DEBT. , •' "In connection with 'tie aWe it. is In* foresting to note that the outstanding debt ' : cf China consisted:at'the end of 1911 of ■ :>' fcboufr JMSO.OOO.OOO, - made tip Of •' JBIO6<- * : f53,000i of .general loans,, and £$2,645,000 railway, loons, There wan a further loan, i of .J810,000,000 entered into by .the FourPower Group in April, lflll, in connection with the currency reform sflheme, but the outbreak of the revolution has pre* ■ ' Vented any part of it being issued bo far. i . trhflrd are also a few private loans, such i /: ns one of i&400,000 advanced by the HongKong and Shanghai Bank ito 'the Vice-1 joy, of Nankin, in order t<).relieve the i • -jfinanolal crisis >whlch, it may bo tottiem-1 :j botwl)', took place in 1010 i... Again,- it is I nifflcult to ■aMortaift: how much of tbe I Boxer. Indemnity of 1001, WhieJi originally :■' amounted to .£67,000,000,' is still oiltstand- ' - ing.,, ;But, generally ( : the Chinese : ; iional Debt- may be takon at • which, of course, ia attriflo for ft ooun- -.• try of the slsso and resourcesiof China. ' .Tho Cudoma revenue (iolledtedin IDIO amounts to £1,789,234, and-tho Bndgot estimate ol: 1911 wnsover £5,000,000, viz.,: ,K2,139,287 Boning taels, which (ire of much . ■.the samo value as Haikuah tielg," which In turn, averaged 2a. S 5-16 d, eiioh in 1910. Prom. this source olono it will bo s6en thd interest on th© debt, Which- averages less than 5 per cent. all •-round,' • Mrtkl ■ -. almost bo met, apart from tho proceeds of liking .land tax,' and salt and tea. taxes, : which . wore estimated to produce between them over >620,000,000 , for '1011, China (say« the London "Telegraph") has al- ■ ways-been scrupulously honest in her business transactions With foreigners. and has consequently don 6 credit to hor finan; v. PW.'POjJISrs. Given sound management in the difficult situation which hns now ... ' to .„ bo mot,, there is na dotibt that she ■ Will enjoy ; a yet higher reputation for . commercial.;,probity and an undreamed •■of, era of: prosperity, But .she must not forsako the substance foftho. Shadow, or , she, may find European capitalists less tho way out of hw