CO129-491 - Public Offices - 1925 — Page 240

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increase which have been applied to counteract the effesta of changes in the value of currency.

Information as to the general or average rate of incidense of the transit duty is seanty, but according to figures furnished by the British Consulate General at saigon, the total transit duties ressived by the Custome authorities during the first half of 1922 was $368,000 (or at 6 franes to the g – 8,190,000 francs) excluding droit de statistique, taxe de circulation, taxa de consommation, etc., to which transit goods appear to be liable also. The total value of the transit trade in that year was 144,902,364 franca, of which 74,486,549 franos were gooda exported from China excluding, of course, Hongkong. Thus assuming that the duties during the second half of the year were not markedly different from those during the first half, and bearing in mind that the rate of the transit duty on Chinese goods cannot be more than 2% ad valorem it follows that the duties on the rest of the tariff must have been at least 45 ad valorem, This then may be taken as a sufficient indieation of the heavy burden placed on British trade, a burden which must be much greater than is necessary to cover necessary expenses of any supervision and administration entailed by such traffic; indeed the latter might, it seems very likely, be covered by the minor taxes enumerated above, droit de statistique, eta. It will, of course, be understood that all expenses of handling, opening, storing and the like are a charge upon the consignee or consignor.

In addition to the general high level of these transit duties, British traders have had to face sudden

increases in these due to changes in the so-efficients of

/increase

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