g6

THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

this  sum  between  them.”  *  There  are,  besides,  recurring
payments  for  “  repairs  ”  to  imaginary  cargo-boats.
To  get  at  the  sum  received  by  the  Government  fro#
tribute  is  not  easy,  and  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  conjecture
the  amounts  paid  by  the  taxpayer.  One  thing  seems
certain,  that  the  “  accretions  ”  to  the  tribute  payable  m
kind  must  approximate  closely  to  those  on  the  tribute
commuted  ;  otherwise,  with  the  weakness  of  the  central
government  fifty  years  ago,  it  would  have  been  to  the
advantage  of  the  officials,  metropolitan  and  provincial
alike,  to  commute  in  all  the  provinces.  We  may,  therefore,
take  Mr.  Parker’s  figures  f  for  the  revenue  from  tribute
and  apply  to  them  the  same  principle  of  accretion  as  f° r
the  land  tax,  but  with  no  allowance  for  remoteness  fro#
the  capital.

Province.

Basic
Collection.

aio  per  cent.

Accretion

Collection
Expenses
io  per  cent.

Total  paid  by
Taxpayers-Tls.

  Tls.  Tls.

Shantung
Honan  \
Hunan  f
Hupeh  X
Kiangsi  f
Anhwei..
Kiangsu
Chekiang
Kansu  §..
Kwangsi  §

2.500.000  5,250,000  775,000
1.100.000  2,310,000  342,000

500.000  1,050,000  155,000
300.000  630,000  93,000
175.000  367,500  54,250
420.000  882,000  130,200
800.000  1,680,000  248,000
900.000  1,890,000  279,000

275.000  577,500  85,250
150.000  315,000  46,500
50,000  105,000  15,500
250.000  525,000  77,500

Szechwan  §
Yunnan  §

Total

7,420,000  15,582,000  2,300,200

In  the  above  table,  for  the  province  of  Kiangsu,  th e

*  “  The  Chinese  Revenue,”  by  E.  H.  Parker.  Journal,  N° f ^

China  Branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1895-96.
t  “  China  :  Past  and  Present.”
X  Commuted.
§  Always  kept  for  local  administration.