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poured into the interior, matters have since much improved. This is shown by the following table of Japanese piece goods, specially mentioned as such in the Customs returns, imported through the Customs and forwarded into the interior by rail for the first half of 1908 and 1909 respectively.
Shirtings
Sheetings
Drills
Table cloths
Cotton cloth
Handkerchiefs
Towels.. Yerus
Article.
1908.
1909.
(pieces)
107.560 16,042 16,845
169,962
24,509
21,794
61
4,800
(yards) (dozens)
1,099,470 1,314
2,522,707 7,828
2,788
(piculs) 2,494
19,052 9,411
According to the Government returns, the value of the imports of all classes of cotton goods up to the end of May of this year was not very much greater than that for the same period of 1908, and I believe that it will be found that the increase in imports is due to the much larger quantities brought in from Shanghae. The heavy increases in the quantities of goods sent into the interior by rail may be assumed therefore to have come from the stocks held over at the end of 1908.
Flour ---The small quantity of flour that found its way up-country may be ascribed to the steadily decreasing value of silver during 1908, and to the competition of the Tiebling and Harbin flour mills. The trade appears to be a dying one.
Cigarettes. The statistics relating to cigarettes refer to values only, and conse. quently, for the reasons given further on, must be treated with suspicion. There are wo other reasons for the small quantity sent into Manchuria. One is that the average Japanese is a far greater consumer of cigarettes than the Chinese, so that it is quite possible that over half the total quantity imported is consumed in the leased territory. Secondly, of the total value of 648,965 taels imported during 1908, 306,181 taels represented cigarettes other than Japanese-chiefly Egyptian. Dairen there are several foreign cigarette dealers who hold sole agencies for Manchuria, Corea, and Japan for various brands of Egyptian cigarettes, and I have reason to believe that these find their way to the last two countries rather than to the former.
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Sugar. The agent of the Taikoo sugar refinery paid a special visit to this port last year, and, after a thorough investigation, was satisfied that no smuggling of this article was carried on to any appreciable extent.
The foregoing will tend to explain to a great extent the disproportion between the imports into the leased territory and those into Manchuria through Dairen. Still it is not absolutely satisfying, but as I have said before it is impossible to explain fully any general charges.
The attention of the inspector-general of Customs at Peking was drawn to the question, and instructions were sent by him to the commissioner of Customs here to furnish a full report on the Customs procedure in the leased territory, and on the measures that can be taken under the agreement, or any modification thereof to prevent the passing of the frontier by uncertificated goods whether by rail or other- wise. The required report has been completed, and will be forwarded shortly.
Mr. Tachibana points out, in the first place, that merchandise imported into the leised territory is not "passed at the custom house," as is generally understood by the phrase.
Importers of cargo merely send in reports to the Customs, stating the quantity and value of their goods, and these reports have to be accepted by the Customs which prepare their table of the "values of trade" for the year on them. As an instance of how arbitrary a value is sometimes placed on goods in these "reports," Mr. Tachibana mentions that last year application was made for the import into Manchuria of certain goods, the "c.f.i." value of which proved to be 4,000 taels. By chance, however, it was discovered that these were the same goods which, at the time of their landing, had been reported at a value of 7,000 taels.
Attention is next drawn to the enterprises carried on in the leased territory. The materials for the erection of a cement factory and machinery therefore cost some 583,000 yen,
while the South Manchuria Railway Company's outlay in 1908 for materials. &c., exclusively for use in the leased territory amounted to over
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15,000,000 yen. The Yokohama Specie Bank estimated the value of building material consumed at 6,401,000 yen, and put the total consumption in the leased territory during last year at 72.6 per cent. of the total imports for the year.
The Commissioner then touches on the question of supplies for the Japanese garrison and railway guards in Kwantung and Manchuria, there being six battalions of the former, and one division of the latter. It appears that when the Customs were first opened in 1907, the military authorities did not permit them to "meddle with military matters," as they termed it, and used to load the supplies without having them passed at the Customs, and that this practice was followed up to the end of 1908.
From this year on, however, Mr. Tachibana has succeeded in getting reports of the supplies forwarded by the Kwantung Army Supply Department. By this amount the imports into Manchuria appear less than what they ought to have been.
Taking next the connection of the railway company, it is pointed out in the first place that the specific tariff which applies to goods sent from Dairen and Newchwang stations only, offers such reduced rate as not to make it worth the while the carrying away of merchandise secretly from Dairen, and loading it for the interior at a station at or near the boundary. Further, all railway station masters have instructions from head-quarters that no cargo intended for beyond the leased territory should be loaded unless passed by the Customs. It cannot be asserted positively that these orders are obeyed to the letter, but as the head Customs officer is often requested by telephone to send a man to pass goods at a station where no Customs officer is stationed, it appears that the instructions are well observed. As a further check against irregu- larity, an outdoor man is allowed to travel with a free pass up and down the line, and constantly travels as far as Wafangtien to watch the movement of goods. In view of the willing co-operation of the railway authorities, Mr. Tachibana deprecates any such proposal as the placing of Customs seals on the cars, or the checking of the goods on the cars at Pulantien, thereby delaying all trains by some thirty minutes, as this would be construed as doubting their sincerity, and the relations between the railway people and the Customs would at once return to its former state.
As regards the smuggling of goods across the frontier by cart, this may be carried on to a limited extent, but there is no means of stopping it. It is impossible to watchi the whole coast line of the peninsula, so that if there be any smuggling of foreign imports, it should be by junks. The commissioner is trying to find out if there are any traces of this, and if so, will submit a full report. The work at Pitsewo appears to be satisfactory.
There is an unsatisfactory article in the present Customs regulations under which articles the produce of or manufactured from the produce of the leased territory may pass into the interior free of duty. Such articles at present consist of cement, fish, and ground nuts. Of these, cement is passed free of duty, but all importers of ground nuts and some importers of fish are in the habit of paying the general tariff duty before the goods are sent into the interior.
Mr. Tachibana recommends--
(a.) A fundamental change in the Customs agreement abolishing the free area, and the placing of the Customs on the same footing as that at Kiaochow.
Or, since no agreement has yet been made regarding the procedure to be observed in case of frauds against the Customs, or contravention of their rules, at least
(6.) The insertion of clauses similar to those in the Kiaochow agreement, such as-
"The Customs procedure is guided by the principles and follows the practice in force at the Chinese maritime custom-houses at the various treaty ports, and customs control, wherever necessary, is exercised by its officers."
"Confiscation and fines will be imposed according to the principles laid down in the treaties, and which are in force at the maritime custom-house
At present the commissioner's authority is in a crippled condition, his right to inflict a fine or to confiscate goods being confined, according to the Japanese authorities, to three cases only (article 4, inland waters steam navigation in the agreements, articles 3 and 22 of the provisional regulations).
The Japanese authorities do not interpret article 12 of the agreement, "The Customs tariff in force in the Chinese treaty ports shall be applied likewise by the
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