Abolition of all Does on Coals.
Negal exactions levied un Goods in excess of Ta-
generally accepted, the Chamber advocates that, on the revision of the Treaty, all Textile Fabrics and Metals be henceforth admitted at one half the rates chargeable under the existing Tariff, that is, reducing the charge originally computed at about Five
per cent (5%) ad valorem to Two and a half per cent (24%).
(24.)
And further, in view of the probability that a decline in the value of Cotton during the next few years will render the rates of the existing Tariff a charge of more than Five per cent (5) upon the value of Cottou Manufactures, Your Memorialists trust that the proposed concession will receive Your Grace's favorable consideration.
(25.)
The means of providing expeditious carriage is so greatly beneficial to com- merce that entire abolition of all charges on Coals, both Foreign and Chinese, is earnestly sought for, whether under the Tariff or imposed as Coast Dues; the fact that heavy Dues were laid upon the article seems to have escaped the notice of the compilers of the existing Tariff; it is however confidently expected that this fuel will be freed from all imposts, as refusal to do so would be diametrically opposed to Chinese interests. In proof of the above an extract is here given from Mr. Commissioner FITZROY's last Report of the Trade of Shangliae:
"The duty levied on Foreign Coals imported into China is fixed by Treaty at 5 candarins per ton. The duty charged upon Native Coals exported is 4 candarins per pecul; and therefore under the Coast Trade Regulations the duty on Coals passing from one Chinese Port to another "amounts to six candarins a pecul. The disadvantage under which the "native product labors is so evident that it scarcely needs the proof "communicated to me by a foreign merchant during the last summer, being "the result of two operations in which his firm had engaged as an experiment, "and which I subjoin.
"1.-Duty paid in Formosa and Shanghai on peculs 7,196. "Tls. 480.9.6, or 23", on value Tls. 1,997.1.7.
"2.-Duty paid in Formosa and Shanghai on peculs 10,000, "Tls. 668.4.0, or 23°, on actual market value Tls. 2,910.
"Thus the carriage by Sea in foreign bottoms from one port to another "of the produce of Chinese Coal Fields is at present virtually prohibited."
(26.)
ARTICLE XXVIII--contains direct allusion to irregularities in the imposition of Transit Duties, which, at the close of a period of ten years, still continue to be a great source of annoyance to native purchasers of foreign Imports and indirectly to the British Merchant.
(27.)
Not only does cach Province of the Chinese Empire levy Dues on foreign Goods in transit, but it is almost universal that Dues are exacted by the Prefect exercising authority over the Foo or first subdivisions of a Province. In the Pro- vince of Fokien and the Western district of the Canton Province a systematic im- position is practised, detrimental to commercial interests, and producing constant finc- tuations in Markets, which, if uninfluenced by these illegal acts, would be ruled by the ordinary effects of supply and demand. To quote the text of Her Majesty's Treaty under revision is to express the existing state of affairs "charges are suddenly and arbitrarily imposed" and to a greater or less extent this irregularity prevails throughout the Empire.
(28.)
The remedy for this evil may be found in an extension of the Foreign Inspec- torate, which, inaugurated to regulate and systematise the payment of Tariff Dues, is now, apparently, the only method which could be devised to correct and adjust the multifarious excesses of the Inland Revenue Department. The benefits con- ferred upon the Maritime Customs by calling in the aid of a Foreign Inspectorate
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