Sir,
Sub-enclosure.
577
24263
Rec'd 11 SEP 99
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce,
Hong Kong, 5th August, 1899.
Page 24263
The attention of this Chamber has been drawn by the Amoy Chamber of Commerce to a notification issued by the Government of Formosa announcing the imposition of a duty of Yen 1.60 per picul on Tea exported from Formosa to foreign countries, whilst the tea if exported to Japan is exempted from duty and can be shipped thence to foreign ports free of imposts. This of course amounts to the imposition of a discriminating duty, specially designed to divert the tea trade of Formosa from its accustomed channels, and to compel shippers to send it in the Japanese subsidised steamers to Japan instead of, as at present, via Amoy and Hong Kong. As the vast bulk of these teas go by way of the Suez Canal to the United States, Great Britain, and the Continent of Europe, it would be obviously most inconvenient to ship them via Japan.
The imposition of a discriminatory duty on an article of export in a Japanese possession in order to divert traffic is