CO129-501-8 General policy in China 30-11-1926 - 30-11-1926 — Page 78

83

freight steamers which remain many weeks absent from

China ports. There may well be a loss of much

of this income to China and it is curious that

while imposing these high charges Canton proposes a

deep-sea port at Whampoa and invites the direct

trade of the world! It is not improbable that

due to such causes transport of cargo will pass

even back to junk carriage. By such channels undoubtedly a large illicit trade is destined to grow up. When we leave the days of a Five per cent

Tariff: (N.E. in the case of junks under

Native Customs the tariff is very much smaller

than 5% Is this to be increased pro-rata also?)

when we approach higher tariffs and speak of 30 % and probably more to follow, the bootlegger and the rum runner is bound to appear in many branches

of trade. For as taxation rises everywhere there is no corresponding attempt in the direction of Preventive measures. As matters tend to-day an

early future of trade with China whether in imports

or exports may well be one carried on to a large extent by smuggling, just as the trade in Opium is being carried on throughout China to-day. In

this, it is plain that Japan and other foreign

countries and dependencies near to China are bound

to play a part. The motor junks of the

Japanese already make considerable inroads into

the legal duty collections of treaty ports by landing cargoes along the wild coasts of China.

It