of representation to the Peking Authorities by the United States Minister, and I shall be glad to urge the Authorities to have done the needful here for the interests of the people.
I consider their welfare should be taken care of by mitigating the excessive taxation on the necessities of life.
Up to the date of the Chefoo Convention coming into force, I certainly always held that the levy of additional import duties at the Port of Entry was distinctly contrary to, if not the positive wording of the Treaties. But by that Convention, it is agreed that the area within which foreign imports shall be free from likin shall be confined to be the foreign Settlements.
If likin is levied outside those limits on the native consumer, I should probably not be supported in any protest I should make.
There can however be no justification for the levy by Hongkong of any tax or duty whatever, and it would apparently be very easy for the Colonial Authorities to put a stop to it now it is brought very clearly to their notice.
I had also understood that when the Customs Stations at the entrances to the Port were made over to the foreign Customs...