CO129-501-8 General policy in China 30-11-1926 - 30-11-1926 — Page 74

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their money and their goods and industry are, in

short, at the mercy, not merely of "Government" and of recognized surtaxes and likins; but of local

soldiery, of Chambers of Commerce, and of self

constituted committees of all sorts for the levy

of tithes and subscriptions innumerable upon this

plea and that.

It may be said that the system of the

payment of Customs dues (and the surtax is,

of course, nothing else) is probably the most

convenient and the fairest form of general taxation

for a land in the state of development of China;

and almost any weight of Duty and of Surtax on

Imports or Exports that could be looked to to

remain stable would be welcome did it but free

the consumer or producer of Imports and Exports

respectively from these other endless applications

of leeches upon the trade of the country.

Unfortunately the trend of events of

late has been far otherwise, and the note of

uncertainty and distrust has now spread from the

region of purely native and internal taxation, a

ground where it could not be resisted or opposed

by foreigners, and has in the last few months been

allowed to reach that field where foreign trade had

been considered secure from at least sudden surprise.

Foreigners are now about to realize, as the Chinese

have always known, what uncertainty of this kind

means to trade. For that element has invaded a

ground