In the Piece Goods report published in the North-China Herald on the 6th' 1 instant, Messrs. Lewis Moore & Ca. complained that the Returns of Stocks of manufactured goods issued by the Chamber of Commerce were getting more useless and misleading every year because the Chamber insisted on sticking to their obsolete and incomplete form of return, which had done duty for years and remained unchanged, although the trade had changed in many ways since the form originated. Importers found it impossible to make correct returns on the form furnished them by the Chamber, and therefore gave up the attempt in disgust, and Messrs. Moore and Ca. added that "it is a great pity that the Chamber do not take a little more interest in this really important matter, for if it is worth doing at all it is worth doing well, but while they shew such laxity it is not to be expected that importers will respond with any heartiness." To these strictures the secretary of the Chamber relied that the Committee did their best ut the real difficulty, which was not appreciated by those who like Messrs. L. Moore & Ca. were not members of the Chamber, was that importers were very shy about giving correct returns, "one finn refusing to give any returns although such returns are seen by no one but the Secretary, and are immediately destroyed after compilation." Tt was added that of those who do give returns, very few would consent to make them more detailed than they are now; and there was added the gentle sarcasm that "it would be impossible to give the stocks of all articles imported, or even all those that by some might be regarded as important." The "some" might possibly retort that they know better what are important than the secretary of the Chamber. It was no doubt noticed that in this letter the secretary did not attempt to touch Messrs. Lewis Moore & Co.'s chief com-aint, that the form sent out by the Chamber was obsolete, and that it was disgust at the inadequacy of this form which made importers careless as to the way in which they filled it up. There is of course no excuse to be made for those who decline to make any returns, or who make fictitious returns, on the ground that they do not want their business to be known; because nothing is made public but the totals, only one person, the secretary of the Chamber, seeing individual returns, which are destroyed as soon as the compilation has been made.
Messrs. Lewis Moore & Ca. have kindly favoured us with some notes of the deficiencies of the present form issued by the Chamber, and of the alterations necessary to bring it up to date, explaining that the present form, with very slight alterations, the addition of Bombay goods being the chief, was trade has changed so much in the past [trade having sprung up recently in fourteen years that it has become both these last, at the expense of the useless and misleading. This being so, ' old-fashioned woollen Under about the 20th of June they sent in to medium, broad and habit cloths, there the Chamber a proposed form, revised should also be a heading for union by Messrs. Ibert & Ca. who also! cloth; while there isa large trade now issue a weekly report on the trade, and in Italian cloth or Alpacianas, of which are thus intimately conversant with its the Chamber's form takes no notice. details; but the secretary replied offi- Our correspondents add that this list is cially that he was afraid it was too late not exhaustive by any means, but it to do anything—there being then ten shews some of the omissions that might days before the issue of the form—but j have been easily rectified in the Cham-he would lay it before the Committee, ber's form, and the inattention to which Under grey shirtings it was suggested helped to vitiate the returns. If the that as there are goods under lbs. in secretary of the Chamber had consulted weight which importers possibly omit' the last issue of the Customs Annual because they are not specially asked Returns of rade, pages 187 and 188, he for, this first heading should be changed would have found all these distinctions, to " lbs. and under"; and that instead and more, carefully recorded, and it is of "heavy " there should be two head- not right that the Chamber of Commerce, ings, "Obs. and upwards, 39 inch" and when they had outside assistance in "12lbs., 36 inch, (continentals)." These reforming their system of collecting goods, Messrs. Moore add, are some-returns placed at their disposal, should times called shirtings and sometimes put it altogether aside and be contented sheetings, but they are really the former With an antiquated list which the and should always be entered as such.
Customs have discarded.
The heading in the present form " unclassed" is put in, they tell us, to meet the whim of certain importers who think
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.