525
•
picul on salt imported and exported, which is expected to bring in 11,800 in 1921-1922. I submit that if the
Goverment of China were to claim that all these dues are customs duties and that the proceeds should, according to promise, be handed over to China, it would be impossible to resist the clain.
It is somewhat surprising that the Commission. -er of China Customs at Chefoo has not already taken the point and, in view of the appreciable sums involved, I think he is certain to do so sooner or later. Meanwhile it seems
to me to be undignified, and, frankly, not quite honest to evade the undertaking given in 1899 by calling customs duties "Shipping Dues" and "Extra Dues on Salt".
35.
If these levies can be regularised by
agreement with China it is quite possible that they will be found to afford the means of making Weihaiwei self-supporting They could probably be doubled without affecting trade and an extra $60,000 would go far to cover the deficit of a normal year.
In any case, with the increase of trade which
may be expected to follow on the establishment of security
of tenure, a considerable expansion of this head of revere
may be anticipated, even if the present rates are maintained,
36. If further it is found possible to make, as
I have suggested above, an arrangement with the Salt Gabelle
for the purchase of the out-put of the Weihaiwei salt-pans,
it is not too much to hope that the necessity for a grant-
in-aid will cease to exist in the near future.
37.
Apart from these two possibilities, I do not
think that the prospects of obtaining a largely increased revenue can be regarded as good. Security of tenure would
certainly lead to the erection of further buildings with a
consequent increase in the receipts from the house-tax, and
the revenue from various licences would no doubt grow with growing prosperity. It is possible that the new stamp-tax
may bring in more than is anticipated and experience of its
working