From recent inquiries we find that the recent combination of the ice-dealers is not merely a gentle attempt at squeeze ing by means of a syndieate—a course for which these humble traders have high example at home; it is an attempt by the City authorities to tax the foreigners in the settlements. The head is f the new guild, a man named Chi ino-fen, is an adopted son of the City Magistrate, and the guild is not got up by the ice-dealers themselves, most of whom would willingly supply their customers this year at former rates, but in the City Magistrate's Yamen, and Mr. Chi has had all the ice in the ice-houses measured, has fixed the price at which the dealers are to sell to foreigners under penalties, and has arranged for a tax of, we believe, two a picul, or three per cent., to be id to the City Magistrate. This is a direct interference with foreigners that ought not to be tolerated for a moment.
has succeeded with the coal-dealers, it is now being tried on with the ice-men, and it will be extended if a stand is not made by the foreign authorities: The City officials naturally look with longing eyes on the field for taxation out of which they are kept by the quasi-independence of the settlements, and this new ice-guild is another attempt to break down one of the fences that protect us. 'I'he Consuls and the Coun-oils are the watchmen of our liberties and we look to them to frustrate this attack.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.