Customs during the same period. It was admitted by the Taotai Hsü Chio to Mr. J. Scott that the annual import of native opium into the Canton Province was believed to be 12,000 piculs (see Mr. Scott's No. 25 of the 18th March to yourself); but there is nothing to show that, if the Viceroy's new scheme were accepted, this 12,000 piculs would be taxed, and no one believes that one-quarter of it could be reached by revenue officers of the Provincial Government. Even supposing that the Canton revenue collectors could take official cognizance of this native opium, I consider that their present methods are so far short of those of the Imperial Maritime Customs—that, in fact, abuses are so much the rule and not the exception—that we should be justified in resisting a new opium tax until it was clear that native and foreign opium would in reality be treated on an equal basis.
There is a further objection which applies to foreign opium consumed in Canton. At the close of a controversy over li-kin and local levies, a former Viceroy admitted in a despatch of the 29th July, 1902 (inclosed in Mr. J. Scott's No. 64 of the 1st August, 1902, to you), that steamer-imported foreign goods which had paid duty at the Imperial Maritime Customs, and were then disposed of within the Treaty port area, were not liable to pay li-kin. This specific admission of a Treaty right long contended for appears to me to preclude the imposition within the port limits of a tax on foreign opium such as the Viceroy now proposes.
I have, &c. (Signed)
C. W. CAMPBELL
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Proposed Agreement to Farm out to the Yung-an-tang the Prepared Opium Licence Fees in the Province of Kwangtung.
The system of levying the fees on foreign and native prepared opium in the Province of Kwangtung varies with the districts; in some places the collection is in the hands of the local officials; elsewhere they are assisted by a deputy of the higher authorities; in many parts it has not been found worth while to levy the fees at all. The present Syndicate is prepared to pay 120,000 taels a-year to the Provincial Government for the privilege of collecting these fees throughout the province at the fixed rate of 3 candareens per tael weight of prepared opium, thereby introducing a universal system of levy.
2. The fees will be calculated on the weight of the prepared article; the original weight of the raw material will not be taken into consideration.
3. The fees will be levied solely from the dealers by whom the opium is prepared; the consumers will not be taxed in any way.
4. Should the monopoly be granted, the Syndicate will deposit with the Provincial Government the sum of 60,000 taels, payable in two equal instalments; the first as soon as the official approval of the arrangement is signified, and the second on the issue of the usual official Proclamations in connection therewith. The Syndicate will then fix a date for commencing operations, and report the same to the authorities. The preliminary deposit of 60,000 taels will be deducted from the yearly contribution at the expiration of the agreement.
5. The area within which the Syndicate proposes to operate being very extensive, some time must necessarily elapse at the outset before the money begins to flow in. It is therefore proposed to pay the first instalment of the regular yearly contributions at the end of the first quarter; all subsequent payments to be made monthly.
6. The Hsin-ho Bank, which is situated in the western suburb of Canton City, and is known as a substantial concern, is prepared to guarantee the full amount of all payments due by the Syndicate, thus securing the public funds against loss.
7. It is understood that the Syndicate is not entitled to levy anything beyond the fixed rate of 3 tael cents per tael weight of opium. Should it be found to have done so, this Agreement is to be cancelled.
8. In the years in which an intercalary moon occurs, the fixed contribution of 120,000 taels shall be proportionately increased. All sums paid in by the Syndicate shall be assessed by the official weights. The Syndicate shall hold the farm for a period of six years; during that term the authorities shall not be at liberty to accept any other offer, even a higher one, for the farm.
9. Should the proposed arrangement be approved by the authorities, an official Proclamation to that effect shall be posted in the Syndicate's premises, and copies thereof, duly sealed, shall be distributed to all the branch offices for the information of the public. The civil and military officials throughout the province shall also be duly notified, and instructed to render the Syndicate every assistance in cases of refusal to pay the fees, or disturbance or of an organized boycott.
10. An experienced deputy shall be appointed to visit and inspect all the Syndicate's branch establishments, and to keep order generally; his salary and expenses to be met by the Syndicate. Should dishonest dealers or local rowdies anywhere make trouble, or should yamen runners or soldiers endeavour to extort money, they shall, on the matter being reported to the proper authorities, be duly punished.
11. The Syndicate shall issue licences to the various dealers in prepared opium, and these shall then pay to the Syndicate the fixed levy of 3 tael cents for every tael weight of opium sold by them. None shall be exempted from procuring such a licence; if any fail to do so and retail opium in secret, they shall be liable to be punished and to have their premises sealed up.
12. It is understood that the privilege of levying and collecting the prepared opium licence fees throughout the whole province will be vested in the Syndicate. Consequently, in those cases where the authorities have been accustomed to credit their official account with such fees, they should be instructed to refrain from doing so in future.
13. Opium dealers who, being in possession of a licence, wish to wind up their business, should apply to the Syndicate, and if their application appears to be bona fide, their licence will be duly cancelled, and they will be permitted to discontinue their remittances. If they neglect to get their licence cancelled, they will be required to remit as usual. Should any, after their licence has been cancelled, carry on business in secret, they shall on proof of the same being adduced, be liable to pay the licence fees in full.
14. All locally grown and prepared opium shall, in common fairness, pay the same levy as the rest.
15. Owing to the great extent of Kwangtung, the Syndicate would find great difficulty in collecting the licence fees throughout the province, and would, consequently, ask to be allowed to sublet the branch establishments in the more remote parts of the country, in the same way as the Wei-hsing Lottery Syndicate sublets its branch establishments.
16. Any dealer taking over a business which has been wound up and for which the licence has been cancelled shall be obliged to take out a fresh licence, whether he carries on the business under the old style or not.
17. Merchants who engage in other lines of business, in addition to dealing in prepared opium, cannot on that account be exempted from paying the regular fees.
18. Under the old system, whenever the deputy appointed to collect the licence fees handed over charge to his successor, the dishonest dealers bribed the clerks to alter the books, reducing the sums shown as payable by them, thereby defrauding the revenue to a considerable extent. In order to prevent such malpractices when the Syndicate takes over the collection, it should be enabled to ascertain beforehand the exact amounts due, and empowered to collect these amounts in full with custom.
19. The Syndicate will engage its own men to patrol the various districts within its sphere of operations, to collect the licence fees and to search for smuggled opium. The Syndicate will provide flags and uniforms for these employés, and would ask to be excused from furnishing a list of the men. It also wishes to be excused from furnishing an account of the profits made after all expenses have been met, including hire of launches and boats and payment of salaries and wages, such exemption being strictly in accordance with any other.
20. In order to minimize the losses that may result from carelessness or from any other cause, the Syndicate wishes to hire its own steam-launches for the purpose of carrying the remittances and of patrolling the various districts. For this purpose official papers would be required, as well as dragon flags; also Customs passes and log-books, to enable the launches to pass the various Customs stations with the minimum of delay. The Syndicate will of course meet all expenses in connection with these launches, including the supply of the necessary weapons when armed expeditions are fitted up for the purpose of seizing smuggled opium. When these launches have been chartered, a complete list of them will be furnished to the authorities.
21. No unreasonable claims will be paid by the Syndicate. With the exception of the deputy detailed to assist the Syndicate, nobody will be entitled to gratuities or presents of any kind whatsoever. If the yamen-runners attempt to extort money, they shall be duly punished.
The Regulations suggested above do not claim to be final, and shall be amended from time to time as shall be found necessary.
1
6
Customs during the same period. It was admitted by the Taotai Hsü Chio to Mr. J. Scott that the annual import of native opium into the Canton Province was believed to be 12,000 piculs (see Mr. Scott's No. 25 of the 18th March to yourself); but there is nothing to show that, if the Viceroy's new scheme were accepted, this !2,000 piculs would be taxed, and no one believes that one-quarter of it could be reached by revenue officers of the Provincial Government. Even supposing that the Canton revenue collectors could take official cognizance of this native opium, I consider that their present methods are so far short of those of the Imperial Maritime Customs-that, in fact, abuses are so much the rule and not the exception-that we should be justified in resisting a new opium tax until it was clear that native and foreign opium would in reality be treated on an equal basis.
There is a further objection which applies to foreign opium consumed in Canton. At the close of a controversy over li-kin and local levies, a former Viceroy admitted in a despatch of the 29th July, 1902 (inclosed in Mr. J. Scott's No. 64 of the 1st August, 1902, to you), that steamer-imported foreign goods which had paid duty at the Imperial Maritime Customs, and were then disposed of within the Treaty port area, were not liable to pay hi-kin. This specific admission of a Treaty right long contended for appears to me to preclude the imposition within the port limits of a tax on foreign opium such as the Viceroy now proposes.
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
C. W. CAMPBELL.
Proposed Agreement to Farm out to the Yung-an-tang the Prepared Opium Licence Fees in the Province of Kwangtung.
THE system of levying the fees on foreign and native prepared opium in the Province of Kwangtung varies with the districts; in some places the collection is in the hands of the local officials; elsewhere they are assisted by a deputy of the higher authorities; in many parts it has not been found worth while to levy the fees at all. The present Syndicate is prepared to pay 120,000 tacls a-year to the Provincial Government for the privilege of collecting these fees throughout the province at the fixed rate of 3 candareens per tael weight of prepared opium, thereby introducing a universal system of levy.
2. The fees will be calculated on the weight of the prepared article; the original weight of the raw material will not be taken into consideration."
3. The fees will be levied solely from the dealers by whom the opium is prepared; the consumers will not be taxed in any way.
4. Should the monopoly be granted, the Syndicate will deposit with the Provincial Government the sum of 60,000 taels, payable in two equal instalments; the first as soon as the official approval of the arrangement is signified, and the second on the issue of the usual official Proclamations in connection therewith. The Syndicate will then fix a date for commencing operations, and report the same to the authorities. The preliminary deposit of 60,000 taels will be deducted from the yearly contribution at the expiration of the agreement.
5. The area within which the Syndicate proposes to operate being very extensive, some time must necessarily elapse at the outset before the money begins to flow in. It is therefore proposed to pay the first instalment of the regular yearly contributions at the end of the first quarter; all subsequent payments to be made monthly.
6. The Hsin-ho Bank, which is situated in the western suburb of Canton City, and is known as a substantial concern, is prepared to guarantee the full amount of all payments due by the Syndicate, thus securing the public funds against loss.
7. It is understood that the Syndicate is not entitled to levy anything beyond the fixed rate of $ tael cents per tael weight of opium. Should it be found to have done so, this Agreement is to be cancelled.
8. In the years in which an intercalary moon occurs, the fixed contribution of 120,000 taels shall be proportionately increased. All sums paid in by the Syndicate shall be assessed by the official weights. The Syndicate shall hold the farm for a period of six years; during that term the authorities shall not be at liberty to accept any other offer, even a higher one, for the farm.
9. Should the proposed arrangement be approved by the authorities, an official Proclamation to that effect shall be posted in the Syndicate's premises, and copies thereof,
7
duly sealed, shall be distributed to all the branch offices for the information of the public. The civil and military officials throughout the province shall also be duly notified, and instructed to render the Syndicate every assistance in cases of refusal to pay the fees, or
or disturbance. of an organized boycott
10. An experienced deputy shall be appointed to visit and inspect all the Syndicate's branch establishments, and to keep order generally; his salary and expenses to be met by the Syndicate. Should dishonest dealers or local rowdies anywhere make trouble, or should yamen runners or soldiers endeavour to extort money, they shall, on the matter being reported to the proper authorities, be duly punished.
11. The Syndicate shall issue licences to the various dealers in prepared opium, and these shall then pay to the Syndicate the fixed levy of 3 tael cents for every tael weight of opium sold by them. None shall be exempted from procuring such a licence; if any fail to do so and retail opium in secret, they shall be liable to be punished and to have their premises sealed up.
12. It is understood that the privilege of levying and collecting the prepared opium licence fees throughout the whole province will be vested in the Syndicate. Consequently, in those cases where the authorities have been accustomed to credit their official account with such fees, they should be instructed to refrain from doing so in future.
13. Opium dealers who, being in possession of a licence, wish to wind up their business, should apply to the Syndicate, and if their application appears to be bond fide, their licence will be duly cancelled, and they will be permitted to discontinue their remit- tances. If they neglect to get their licence cancelled, they will be required to remit as usual. Should any, after their licence has been cancelled, carry on business in secret, they shall on proof of the same being adduced, be liable to pay the licence fees in full.
14. All locally grown and prepared opium shall, in common fairness, pay the same levy as the rest.
15. Owing to the great extent of Kwangtung, the Syndicate would find great difficulty in collecting the licence fees throughout the province, and would, consequently, ask to be allowed to sublet the branch establishments in the more remote parts of the country, in the same way as the Wei-hsing Lottery Syndicate sublets its branch establishments.
16. Any dealer taking over a business which has been wound up and for which the licence has been cancelled shall be obliged to take out a fresh licence, whether he carries on the business under the old style or not.
17. Merchants who engage in other lines of business, in addition to dealing in pre- pared opium, cannot on that account be exempted from paying the regular fees.
18. Under the old system, whenever the deputy appointed to collect the licence fees handed over-charge to his successor, the dishonest dealers bribed the clerks to alter the books, reducing the sums shown as payable by them, thereby defrauding the revenue to a considerable extent. In order to prevent such malpractices when the Syndicate takes over the collection, it should be enabled to ascertain beforehand the exact amounts due, and empowered to collect these amounts in full.
with custom.
19. The Syndicate will engage its own men to patrol the various districts within its sphere of operations, to collect the licence fees and to search for smuggled opium. The Syndicate will provide flags and uniforms for these employés, and would ask to be excused from furnishing a list of the men. It also wishes to be excused from furnishing an account of the profits made after all expenses bave been met, including hire of launches and boats and payment of salaries and wages, such exemption being strictly in accordance any other 20. In order to minimize the losses that may result from carelessness or from cause, the Syndicate wishes to hire its own steam-launches for the purpose of carrying the remittances and of patrolling the various districts. For this purpose official papers would be required, as well as dragon flags; also Customs passes and log-books, to enable the launches to pass the various Customs stations with the minimum of delay. The Syndicate will of course meet all expenses in connection with these launches, including the supply of the necessary weapons when armed expeditions are fitted up for the purpose of seizing smuggled opium. When these launches have been chartered, a complete list of them will be furnished to the authorities.
21. No unreasonable claims will be paid by the Syndicate. With the exception of the deputy detailed to assist the Syndicate, nobody will be entitled to gratuities or presents kind whatsoever. If the yamen-runners attempt to extort money, they shall be duly punished.
of
any
The Regulations suggested above do not claim to be final, and shall be amended from
time to time as shall be found necessary.
475,
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