國民政府時期地方水利事業資金之籌集與管理：以湖北堤工經費為例（1926-1938）

河工水利向為中國的一項重要公共事業。明清時期素稱「千湖之省」的湖北，在堤防管理與修護層面已有重要進步；而籌集修堤經費仍不外乎官帑、民力兩大類，且以民力為主，並普遍遵循「受益」的基本原則。惟1926年北伐軍攻克武漢之後，此種情形發生顯著變化。新政權為保障湖北全境安全，經召開數次會議並與時任海關總稅務司安格聯協商，最終議定從湘鄂兩省關稅、鄂省特稅、釐金和田賦附加中，劃出固定比例，作為修護堤防之專項經費。嗣後又建立專門機構對該項資金進行管理。然歷時日久，堤費之徵收與保管逐漸衍生弊端。為此，湖北省政府於1931年進行改革，令此前積弊叢生的局面有所改觀，但配套措施仍未盡完善。1932年「湖北堤工專款保管委員會」成立，通過實行預算制度，並將堤費之徵收、保管與支付，責付不同機關，同時制定一套嚴謹的徵管支銷等規範，讓堤費的收支與管理有了相對完備的制度。湖北堤工自1926年起獲得穩定的經費來源，且堤費管理日上軌道，堤費支出在湖北財政總支出中也占據重要地位。凡此種種，皆揭示了傳統的公共事業進入了新的發展階段。

關鍵字

水利；「受益」原則；湖北；堤工；專款

並列摘要

River engineering and water conservancy had always been an important public project in China. During the Ming-Qing period, Hupeh, known as the ＂province of thousands of lakes,＂ saw important advances in the management and maintenance of dikes. As for the sources of funds for embankment repair, they basically came from two categories: government revenues and public contributions. Public contributions were in fact the main sources and they generally followed the principle of ＂benefit＂. However, after the Northern Expeditionary Army captured Wuhan in 1926, this situation changed significantly. In order to ensure the safety of Hupeh province, the new regime held several meetings and negotiated with Francis Aglen, then Inspector-General of the Chinese Maritime Customs, for new sources of funds. It was finally decided that a fixed portion of Hupeh's special taxes, Likin, and surcharges of land tax, as well as that of tariffs of Hunan and Hupeh provinces, to be used as specific funds for the maintenance of the embankment. A special agency was subsequently established to manage the funds. However, as years went by the collection and custody of the embankment funds gradually developed disadvantages. To solve this problem, the Hupeh Provincial Government carried out reforms in 1931 which eliminated certain abuses and improved the situation, but the supporting measures were still not in place. In 1932, the Hupeh Embankment Special Fund Custody Committee was established; revenues, expenditures and the management of embankment funds were integrated into a relatively complete system. A budget system was set up, and responsibilities for collection, storage and payment of embankment funds were assigned to different agencies with rigorous regulations governing these operations. Hupeh's river engineering and dike construction obtained a stable source of funding after 1926. As the management of embankment funds became more institutionalized, the project occupied an important position in the total fiscal budget of the province. All of these indicated that traditional public projects in China had entered a new stage of development.