Tas question of Transit Dues so far as they affect cargo purchased in the interior, has recently acquired renewed importance owing to the action of the United States Consul at Chinkiang. That firms should be started in that port whose sole occupation seems to be taking out outward transit passes for natives, is, if nothing more, a proof of the detrimental effect of the present fiscal' administration of the Empire. Although as outsiders we have little or nothing-to do with the internal trade Tegulations of a country, it would, Practically speaking, be a case of evasion of what is right, did we fail to point out how detrimental to the interests of good government is the present capricious and oppressive system of barrier dues. Mall discussion on the system of transit dues, this port must occupy a more or less important place; and it certainly adds point to our argument to be able to show that, in demanding an honest.fulfilment of treaty stipulations, we are at the same time conferring a distinct benefit on the Government whom we are compelling to a strict carrying out of its own engagements. We are not, any more than Lord Elgin, advocates of system of terrorism. Wee dislike to see the occasion for force; and it is because of our dislike to this ceeasion that we feel the greater jealousy at any apparent yielding of a point which at one time may become of real importance. The history of the Transit Pass and the Tonnage Dues controversy, affords many instances of the difficulty of gaining back without at least the threat of force, points once given up under a complacent idea of their practical inutility. It is after the wearisome iteration of glosses and supposed intentions, a pleasure in some instances to turn back to the plain reading of the Treaties under which foreign trade is carried on, The attempt to render null the inward transit clauses by the suggestion of ownership, was an economical mistake that for years practically interfered with a system, which subsequent experience proved to be profitable to the Chinese Government; the similar attempt with regard to goods intended for foreign trade is economically a still greater error, as it not only diminishes the Imperial revenue, but interferes with the most profitable use being made of the soil or the mineral productions of the Empire. Looking back to the Treaty of Tientsin, both stipulations, as to internal or external commutations, are made to rest on the same grounds, namely, the injury done to foreign trade by excessiveandirregular exactions, "British Merchants have constantly complained that charges are suddenly and arbitrarily imposed by the provincial authorities, as transit duties, upon produce on its way to the foreign market, and on imports on their way to the interior, to the detriment of trade." The remedy was, first, to be a publication of the real transit dues to be levied along each trade route; any increase of which, it was expressly stipulated in the French Treaty, would be iVegal, and any attempt on the part of agents of the Chinese Government would render those agents liable to punishment for infringing the Jaws of the Empire. Secondly, however, a. commutation was to be permitted; produce purchased inland was to be conveyed to a port, or goods imponed to be taken to the interior on payment of dues not exceeding half that stipulated for, on imports or exports. Without ing too strictly the actual words which seem to give a cover to the attempt made by Consul Flint to lega-lise the practical right of transit passes to cover goods merely intended for the native markets, it is plain that the intention was that goods inwards and outwards should be genuine constituents of foreign trade. And here we opine lies the root of the matter. Declaration of ownership did not occur to either of the contracting parties when drawing up the clause, and practically every one engaged in business knows how fatal it is to attempt to dose. For all practical purposes, legally and commercial ly, ownership is always held to rest with the individual "having nominal control over the destination of the goods. Otherwise, where is the chain to end. A borrows money from B on the security of goods; B. is on good terms with a bank and overdraws his account to do so; the bank again has got the money in deposit from C, D, and others. Here is the most simple case. The question as to who was neighbour to the man who fell among thieves was nothing to it. Even the trade regulations appended to the Tariff, though extraordinary flaws were allowed to creep in now and then, do not venture to hint at ownership, and it is not till the irregular' regulations of October 1861. were published by the Chinese Government that any requirement of a declaration appears. Curiously but characteristically enough, the real point at issue escaped the gloss makers: What the treaty provided for, was, that goods to be ex: ported should have the option of com. ing to the port at commuted rates what the glosses attempted to set up was that foreigners should be placed at an advantage as regarded natives, The stipulation that goods so bought should be bond fide constituents of foreign trade, was lost sight of in the attempt to reduce the real intention, which was relief from the " detriment" to which trade was otherwise liable, to a nullity. As with imports, so with ex. ports, the simplest way of reading the stipulation affords the best security for both questions, Are the goods to be brought down intended for export or are they not? If they are, they are entitled to commute, without forced declarations. If they are not, the transit pass cannot cover them. Two ways of working this simple system suggest themselves, Hither the party applying for a pass shall giveacorresponding bond to his Consul that the goods shall be exported within a reasonable time, or on the other hand the Chinese shall be at liberty to levy on the goods if sold in the home market, all the arrears of ordinary transit dues to which they would have in the natural course of events been liable. A third way would be far sim-pier and more satisfactory to both parties; this is the establishment of bonded warehouses in which the goods sobroughtdown would bestored, Bonded warehouses ate, however, a bugbear to the native imagination.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.