War are these opium ships in front of the Bund at all? is a question suggested by the proceedings of the last meeting of the general Chamber of Commerce. The answer is only one in accordance with the whole story of our intercourse with China; they are there, simply because they have been there, and the reason why they first came to be there is connected with a state of affairs in China long antecedent to the last treaty. Before the treaty of Tientsin, the trade in opium, though openly carried on, was so under a pretended veil of illegality, and as it was not legal to land the drag, it was sold from on board ship. Presently these ships came to be anchored in special localities, and finally degenerated into mere receiving ships; so the opium ship became an iustitution along the coast of China, The treaty of Tientsin, by logalising the lauding and sale of opium on shore, might uaturally'bave led to the rain of the ships, were it not that their anomalous position in former days had practically exempted them from paying daty onthe drag on board, and this exemption, continued from' old custom, prevails to the present day. Port and trade regulations have, however, provided special vales,. so that the opium ship is in th times practically a bonded wa house, with the disadvantage to ow: and importer, of the extra cost which the maintenance of a floating godown with its crew and other expenses entails, Old custom, as we have stated, originated the opium ship; like Topsy, it grow, and has for many years been a recognised institution, It simply on this accoun so long, and has so long outlived the circumstances which gave it birth. I certainly not sightly; land think it obstructs their view and inter-fores with the navigation of the river, and even seamen begin to have doubts of its usefaliess. It has its captain, officers, and qudvtermasters, yet some quaint tales are tuid of their ability seamanship, and old' custom is agai responsible for their continuance in office. Checking opium tallies and maling oat accounts current, is hardly good school for seamanship, yot it comprises the whole marine instruction of the officers and crew. he old ship isin fact an anomaly, and much as wa. would regret the connection with the past which her removal would rodely break, we would still be disposed to turn our old friend to some more practical use, The Chamber mildly suggests she should be sent to Pootang; we would be so iconoclastic as to hint at her removal altogether. The same rales which relate to the storage and the delivery of opium from on boned, could be applied on shore. ship is simply a bonded warehouse why not as well have the bonded warehouse on the mad, as afloat in the water? There is certainly, no more, probably much less risk of smuggling, and this is really all that concerns the Superintendent of Customs. Let slip the old craft's moorings and let her go high and dry on some patch of soft mud. She would be a ship still, bat might have a brick wall built round her, and so by degrees, aided by Yangtsze mud, she might easily grow into bonded shore-going warehouse, as legitimately as the smart opium clipper of former days grew into the unwieldy opium bulk of to-day. Who could
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.