(Translation.)
Sir,
2
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Consul Hughes to Tuotai Chu Yen-hsi.
May 20, 1907. I RECEIVED yesterday a letter from the agent of the British-American Tobacco Company complaining that cigarettes which he had that day sent into the city for sale were refused admittance at the city gate. I thereupon gave the agent my official card, which was produced when the goods were again sent to the city. The latter were again refused admittance, the soldiers at the gate stating that they did not know my card.
I handed my card to the agent of the Tobacco Company in order that it might be produced as evidence that the goods were what they purported to be. The li-kin station at the gate nevertheless a second time refused them admittance, with the statement that they did not know my card. The Tobacco Company has been trading in Changsha for the past three months, and this sudden refusal to admit their goods into the city is a serious interference with their business.
I have the honour, therefore, to request you to give orders to the li-kin station in question that they must not interfere with this trade. I have the honour also to inform you that I have directed the Tobacco Company to send their goods into the city again to-morrow morning.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
M. HUGHES.
3
In reply, I have the honour, therefore, to request you to order the Li-kin Office
to act accordingly, and I trust the trade of British merchants will not be further inter- fered with.
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
I have, &c. (Signed)
M. HUGHES.
Tastai Chu Yen-hsi to Consul Hughes.
(Translation.) Sir,
May 22, 1907. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of this day's date, in which, in reply to my request that the British-American Tobacco Company should be ordered to pay the "lo ti" tax, you say that when goods have, on arrival at a port, paid the customs duties, they are not liable to any further hi-kin or impost whatsoever within the Innits of the Treaty ports.
When Changsha was opened as a port, a site outside the North Gate was fixed upon as the foreign Settlement, and a site outside the West Gate for the wharves for the steamers. It was not admitted that the city was included in the Treaty port. The goods of foreign merchants may be sold within the city, but they are liable to the "lo ti"
I have therefore the honour to request you again to order the Tobacco Company to pay the tax.
(Card of Taotai Chu Yen-hsi.)
tax.
(Translation.) Sir,
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Taotai Chu Yen-hsi to Consul Hughes.
May 20, 1907. I BEG to acknowledge receipt of your letter of to-day's date stating that the cigarettes of the British-American Tobacco Company had been refused admittance into the city yesterday, and requesting me to send orders to the li-kin station at the gate that they must not prevent the cigarettes from being sent into the city and sold. You inform me also that you have directed the Tobacco Company to send their goods into the city to-morrow morning.
On receipt of your letter I sent for and questioned the official in charge of the river Li-kin Office, who has informed me that the cigarettes of the Tobacco Company were not prevented from entering the city, but as goods entering the city are obliged to "lo ti" tax, and the Tobacco Company did not pay it, the cigarettes were in conse- quences topped in the interim.
pay
By Treaty the Tobacco Company has the right to send its cigarettes into the city to be sold by native traders, but the Company should be ordered to pay the "lo ti" tax according to the Regulations,
I have the honour, therefore, to request you to order the Tobacco Company to act accordingly.
(Card of Taotai Chu Yen-hsi.)
(Translation.) Sir,
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Consul Hughes to Tuotai Chu Yen-hsi.
May 22, 1907. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 20th instant.
[Letter quoted.]
By Treaty, when foreign goods have, on arrival at a port, paid the customs duties they are not liable to any further li-kin or impost whatsoever within the limits of the Treaty port.
(Translation.)
Sir.
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Taotai Chu Yen-hsi to Consul Hughes.
May 27, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that on the 25th instant I received the following communication from the Li-kin Head Office :---
On the 21st instant we received a report from Mr. Yeh, the official in charge of the river li-kin station, to the effect that the Chinese firm of Yuan Tai, of Po-tzu Street, inside the city, had bought six cases of cigarettes from the British-American Tobacco Company, and producing the Chinese card of Mr. Williams, which bore the chop" of the Tobacco Company, had brought the goods into the city by the Little West Gate without paying hi-kin. The amount of li-kin due on the six cases is 6,720 cash.
With reference to this report, we have to remark that when foreign goods are sold to native merchants, li-kin ought to be paid according to the general regulations, and the payment of it does not concern the foreign merchant. On this occasion, when the British-American Tobacco Company sold the six cases of cigarettes to the native merchants Yuan T'ai, the Tobacco Company undertook to bring the goods into the city in their own name, on behalf of Yuan T'ai, and refused to pay li-kin. This is certainly contrary to the regulations, and we therefore request you to ask the British Consul to forbid the Tobacco Company to bring goods into the city on behalf of native merchants without paying li-kin. The Tobacco Company should also be held accountable for the payment of the li-kin due on this occasion."
With reference to this communication from the Li-kin Head Office, I have the honour to request you to order the Tobacco Company to act accordingly, and to favour me with a reply to be transmitted to the Li-kin Office.
(Seal of Superintendent of Customs.)
[2652 -7]
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247