76A
(2.)
met first and last, and where, that tells against confidence in trade. Probably the Chinese
Government is not far wrong in its belief that trade can bear a lot of taxing. But it is in the inefficiency of their exactions and in the want of any consideration for the original wholesale dealer, that it destroys the goose that should be
laying the golden eggs.
If Likin is really about to be
abolished there is no doubt but that trade in
China, both Import and Export, can stand considerably higher taxation in other forms as compensation for
its loss. Can this abolition be looked for?
On the whole there is better prospect
of Likin being done away with in Kwangtung than in any other of the provinces. It should in fairness be granted to the credit of the Southern Administration that not a few changes and improvements have been successfully effected in those centres where the Government has full power. The system of Likin-paid Receipts for instance has given evidence of some real control in Kwangtung over the
Likin Administration that would be hard to find in
There is, indeed, some parts of China. comparatively not much complaint against the likin collector in Kwangtung. The amount of the annua 1 collection is given as only 4 million dollars out of the 63 million dollars estimated for all China;
-
speaking
which