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REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  113
one  of  whom,  if  neglected,  might  have  influence  to  reduce
the  perquisites  of  a  self-seeking  official  or  delay  his  promotion, ­
  and  to  put  a  spoke  in  the  wheel  of  one  who  proposed
measures  to  benefit  his  province.  This  is  the  Chinese
system,  and  while  a  change  may  be  brought  about  by  the
spirit  of  reform  which  is  in  the  air,  this  book  deals  with
the  past  alone  ;  but,  taken  as  it  is,  the  system  obviously
prevents  any,  even  approximate,  statement  of  the  cost  of
government  in  China.
Even  when  we  come  to  what  may  be  called  the  official
budget—the  account  of  collection  officially  reported  and
transferred  to  the  control  of  the  Imperial  Treasury—we  are
bewildered  by  the  confusion  resulting  from  the  absence  of
the  common  purse.  This  is  illustrated  by  a  small  item  of
expenditure,  one  of  Tls.600,000  for  the  Imperial  Household,
which  is  shown  in  the  following  note  by  Mr.  Parker  *  to  be
drawn  from  eight  different  sources  :—
“  Let  us  now  descend  from  generalities  to  a  few
specific  facts.  Let  us  begin  with  the  expenditure
of  the  Emperor  himself.  Beginning  with  the  year
1866,  the  annual  sum  to  be  sent  by  the  various
provincial  Customs  Stations  to  the  Imperial  Household ­
  Office  was  fixed  at  Tls.300,000  (then  about
£100,000,  but  now  only  equal  to  half  that  amount  in
gold).  Two  years  later  it  was  found  that  this
amount  was  insufficient,  and  it  was  raised  to
Tls.600,000.  This  sum  is  annually  ‘  appropriated  ’
by  the  Board  of  Revenue  before  the  beginning  of
the  year  in  which  it  is  due.  Half  has  to  reach
Peking  before  the  middle  of  July,  and  the  balance
a  month  before  the  end  of  the  Chinese  year,  or,
say,  December.  The  appropriations  ordered  by  the
Board  for  the  year  1896  are  as  follows  :—
Tls.
Chekiang  province,  Salt  dues  fund  ..  50,000
Kwangtung  „  „  „  ..  ..  50,000
Fukien  „  Tea  „  ..  ..  50,000
*  “  The  Financial  Capacity  of  China.”