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Rest 25 JUN 03 CHINESE LEGATION,
June 17th, 1903.
My Lord Marquess:-
Sir Robert Hart, Inspector General of Chinese Maritime Customs and Director General of the Postal Department in China, has called the attention of the Imperial Government to a serious loss of revenue arising from irregularities in the manner in which the British and other Foreign Post Offices at the Treaty Ports are conducted.
On the 21st of February last, the consignee of 4 registered packets from India applied to the Chinese Post Office in Shanghai for them, and on being informed that, as they contained Jewellery of the value of Tls. 36,000, the effective 5% ad valorem duty payable on them would amount to the sum of Taels 1750, he expressed surprise and stated that had they come through the British or the German Post Office in Shanghai he would have received the goods without paying any duty whatever on them, a statement which, on applying
The Marquess of Lansdowne.K.G.,
&c., &C.,
&C.,