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Inclosure 8 in No. 1.
(F.)" Li-kin" Case: A. R. Burkill and Sons.
ON the 23rd February, 1905, application was made to export twenty bags of foreign sugar on steam-launch "Tong Hing" to Tungehow.
"F
Tung Hing" is owned by the Cheang Mow Steam-ship Company (Limited)- agents and managers, A. R. Burkill and Sons, Shanghae. Company registered in Hong Kong under Companies Ordinances.
The sugar was duly passed by the custom-house, and duty paid; the goods were then on Tung Yue Wharf, on Chinese bund, waiting to be put on the "Tung Hing," and they were then seized by the Li-kin authorities and carried to the li-kin barrier, and one of our Chinese clerks was seized and imprisoned in the Chinese police-station; and the same night the clerk was taken to the city and imprisoned in a latrine, and to secure a decent room for the clerk we had to pay 55 dollars in four days.
The Commissioner of Customs wrote to us, and we requested him to have the sugar examined, and the examiner reported examining four bags containing native sugar.
Being sure of our ground, we asked for re-examination, and it was found that native sugar had been substituted in four bags for our foreign sugar, while the other sixteen bags were not forthcoming. Same, however, were concealed on the premises of the li-kin station, and were examined and found to contain foreign sagar-the four bags, of course, being changed by the Li-kin authorities to help them to win their case.
(Examiner's Report appended.)
The matter is now the subject of much correspondence between His Britannic Majesty's Consul and the Taotai and Viceroy, and up to the present (24th May) we have not received any compensation for our twenty bags of sugar or for expenses. As this is one of the most flagrant cases possible, we hoped for a prompt settlement, and in the interval the business of the Steam-ship Company is hampered, as shippers are afraid of a recurrence of this extortion.
Sir,
Inclosure 9 in No. 1.
Examiner's Report to Commissioner of Customs.
ON receipt of your instructions I went to the li-kin station to re-examine the sugar. On my arrival there I only saw the same four bags I had previously examined, and on my asking to see the other sixteen bags I was told they had not come, and was requested to wait. Whilst I waited I noticed some bags of sugar in one of the inner rooms; same were covered over with Chinese bed boards and old clothing. I approached and inspected the bags, and found they were the very things I was told by the Li-kin man to wait for. I instantly took some samples from each of the sixteen bags, and carefully examined both the marks and the mode the bags were made up. The result is
C the sugar is foreign sugar. Some of the bags are marked some B, and on some the
X' marks have been washed off. I conclude that the sugar that was shown to me, and which I had previously examined, was native sugar, but probably put into the bags of the lot marked and B.
(No. 46.) Sir,
C X
Inclosure 10 in No. 1.
Consul-General Sir P. Warren to Sir E. Sutow.
Shanghae, June 16, 1905.
I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith a letter addressed to you by Mr. E. S. Little, dated the 12th instant and received to-day, forwarding a letter to Lord Lansdowne in amplification of the telegram sent to his Lordship on the 3rd May by certain British merchants at this port.
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As instructed by your telegram No. 33 of the 19th ultimo, I have the honour to make the following observations on the original telegram and its amplification -
1. The original telegram is so worded that it might be supposed that it was sent through me, whereas it was sent direct to Lord Lansdowne by Mr. E. S. Little, acting on behalf of the signatories, a list of whom as handed to me by Mr. Little I inclose herewith.
2. Currency. The remarks made in the letter to Lord Lansdowne on the subject of currency are, as far as my information goes, borne out by facts. I had the honour to forward to you in my despatch No. 40 of the 5th June a copy of a letter addressed by the Shanghae Chamber of Commerce to the doyen of the Diplomatic Body at Peking, which deals with this subject, in reference to the recent coinage of 10-cash pieces. It is a matter of common knowledge that nearly every Viceroyalty has its own mint, and that the coins turned out are not, as a rule, accepted at face value beyond the limits of the Viceroyalty in which they are minted.
3. Mining-Mining Regulations have been drawn up by Mr. Broad, a mining expert in the employ of the Chinese Government, and liave been submitted to his Excellency Chang Chih-tung. Mr. Broad has been occupied for over twelve months in drawing up these Regulations, which have been shown to me and are those in force in Mexico, Spain, and South Africa.
The provincial authorities generally appear inclined to place obstacles in the way of the opening up of mines. In many instances the opposition is from motives of self- interest, and may be overcome by extra expenditure on the part of the Mining Syndicates and individuals interested.
4. Taxation.--There is an apparent tendency on the part of local officials in this district to levy -kin under other names. The first case of the kind was reported to me by Messrs. George McBain and Co. on the 25th May, 1908, These gentlemen complained that cargo-boats carrying kerosene oil and matches, their property, and covered by transit pass, had been stopped at Tsao O while on their way to Shaohsing, and li-kin had been deinanded. On inquiry into the case the plea was raised by the Chinese authorities that the tax sought to be levied was not li-kin, but destination tax. I pointed out that destination tax was not leviable en route, and the attempted levy was illegal. A somewhat lengthy correspondence ensued between the Governor of Chekiang Province and myself, with the result that the officer in fault was superseded and the li-kin station at Tsao O no longer collects destination tax. The Governor has farther promised that the levy en route of destination tax shall not be permitted in future.
The second case is that of Messrs. Ilbert and Co., given in Inclosure (D) of the letter to Lord Lansdowne. In this instance the tax sought to be levied was called Fungchuan, or general tax; but this general tax, besides grower's tax, evidently included some li-kin, and on the 14th January I wrote to the officer administering the Government at Soochow pointing this out, and asking whether I was right in my conclusions as to the nature of tungchuan. I inclose copy and translation of my despatch, to which I have not succeeded in obtaining a definite reply.
On the 7th April I sent Mr. Twyman to Haimen to inquire into the case, and it was fully established that the Li-kin officials were in the wrong, and it is now merely a question of the amount of compensation to be paid to Messrs. Ilbert and Co.
The third case is that of Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co. (Limited), forming fuclosure (C) in the letter to Lord Lansdowne,
These are the only cases that have been brought to my notice since my return to Shanghae in October 1903, and I have not referred them to you, as I hoped, and still hope, to be able to settle them locally.
The li-kin case given in Inclosure (F) comes as much under the head of inland navigation as of taxation. The contention raised by the Chinese authorities is that the wharf on the Chinese bund, being outside the foreign Settlement, must be considered as inland, and that, in consequence, li-kin is leviable on goods before they are shipped. I contend that the wharf is within the Treaty port and that, the goods being foreigu goods and having paid duty at the native custom-house in accordance with the Inland Water Regulations, no further li-kin or duty is leviable until they arrive at Tungchow, their destination. Li kin has always been paid hitherto on arrival at Tungchow, and the attempt to levy it at this end in addition to duty is certainly illegal. I am discussing the question with the Viceroy at Nangking and hope to be able to settle it satisfactorily. There has been one similar case in which mangrove bark shipped in a launch belonging
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