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Customs for throughout the provinces of Kuang-tung and
Kuang-hai, wherever there was a Customs station, a tax
collectorate of the Canton Government had also been
established and was collecting the new "consumption and
production taxes" without let or hindrance. The Customs
organization had thus been duplicated with a view to its
eventual elimination. Furthermore, the Canton Soviet
by conting to dispense with the Customs service in
the collection of its new taxes had avoided the obvious
danger of putting more money into the war chest of its
northern enemies than into its own exchequer. Of the
total customs revenue of China about 43% is collected a
Shanghai, which was then under the control of Marshal
Sun Ch'uan-fang, and of the balance more than half was
in October last collected at treaty-ports over which the
Canton Soviet had no control. It was, therefore, a
matter of very great importance to the Canton Soviet
that the Tashington surtaxes should not be granted un-
conditionally all over China or be collected by the
Chinese Maritime Customs: and this danger to them,
inherent in the scheme advocated by the British Foreign
Office, had been successfully obviated by the creation
of special Cantonese collectorates and a special Jan-
tonese "inspection corps". Finally the time necessary for developing the campaign of the Cantonese revolu-
tionary armies in Hunan, Hupeh and Kiangsi provinces
had been gained for in November the military situation
of the Canton Soviet in central China was much less
precarious than it had been in September.
36. During November several important changes took
place.
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