The following correspondence is attached to the minutes of. the last meeting of the Committes of the. Hongkong Chamber of Commerce Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, Hongkong,.22nd March.
Sun,—I beg leave to acknowledge receipt of-your letter (No. 29) of the 18th inst., reply to the Chairman's letter of the 17th, making certain inquiries, namely, with re-gerd to. the. reported -new. regulations for the sale en route of foreign goods under transit pass, snd whether any progress had been made in the case of Mr. Watts.
Thave to thank you for the promptitude of your reply, and to express, on behalf. of my. Committee, their satisfaction with the announcement in reference, to, the modification of the, transit pass regulations. They trust, however, that with the endorsement of the quantity of goods sold en-route on the transit pass the names of the buyers will not bo: required, as such a condition would go far, to, nullify. the value of the "concession, "With. regard to the. sale of coal to Mr. Watts the Committee trust, that-the Viceroy will accept no further. delays on the art, of the'Fuchuen Magistrate in forwarding an explanation of his conduct.
Lam, Sir, Your obedient servant, To Byron Brewax, Esq.,.0.M.G., ""H.B.M.'s Consul, Canton.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, Hongkong, 22nd March.
Sin,—-I have the honour to acknowledge, with thanks, receipt. of your despatch of the 18th instant, announcing that the Viceroy of the Two Huang has abolished the syndicate which farmed the collection of ts0-li tax on kerosene oil, and my Committee note, with such satisfaction, that directions have been given by the Tsungli Yamen that the practice.of farming taxes ig not to be repeated.
Sir, Your obedient servant, tet 3 Vice-Chairman. 'OMG. PP i Consul, Canton.
Byron Brenan, Esq., 'H.B.M's Consulate, Canton,, 21st March, 1898, Sin,—In my letter of the 18th inst., I promised to write separately on the subject of the tso-li (destination) tax.
Authorities with a list of all existing likin I have been sapphod by the " Canton stations with.a tariff of likin charges. In this province. there are. forty-nine likin stations; the tariff contains seven hundred articles on which a specific tax is levied; in all unenumerated goods the tax is two per <cent ad valorem. The imports in which foreigners are interested nearly all come in the unenumerated.class.
The principle on which likin is. collected is this. At-the first barrier.encountered goods psy one likin; at the next barrier en route again.one likin, and then no more until the last barrier before the destination, when a final likin called tso-li (destination tax) is levied. 'Thus' in the one: province goods should not be called upon to pay more than; three likins, or about-6 per cent. This is the established rule, but I need hardly say that it is not followed in practice.
ordinary merchandise, by - which I mean such as is not under transit pass, the three likins are, collected from the person in-charge of the boat, and the-receiver of the goods at destination has nothing to pay. In ord however, to. meet. the,-case of "transit pass, goods, the officials now explain that the éso-1é or destination tax is properly leviable from the consignee, and that it is voluntarily paid. by the boatman on account of the consignee as a matter of convenience.
In reply-to my application for a list of goods that pay. tsi, and of the places where.stations for its collection are estaplished, the Viceroy stated that all goods of every kind pay tso-li. In important markets like Canton, Fatshan, Chénts'un, etc., special offices exist for the collection of the tso-ti tax fromthe dealers; and these offices also receive the fse-4i tax from in dealers in neighbouring towns and villages. Where there are no special tso-li offices, the ordinary likin stations -collect the tax from the dealer; and the places where there are neither ¢so-li offices nor likin stations, the dealer is required to repair to the nearest station and pay the destination tax. If he fails to do this, a collector is sent to enforce payment.
In the case of native produce, or of foreign goods in native hands and on native account, it may be safely assumed that the dealer at destination is never called upon to pay anything, for the good reason that all taxes, be they styled transit or destination, have been pail before the goods reached his hands. Natives.do not venture to take out transit passes, 60 that all foreign goods in their; hands are unprotected and, like native produce, they must take their chance of unfair treatment on the journey. When foreign goods are sent into the interior under transit pass in a foreigner's name, the pass is now frequently respected to its journey's end, and even after the have been taken delivery of by the chinese consignee they may, if the place is remote from a likin office, be left unnoticed; but where there is a tendency for the trade to increase, the consignee is called upon to pay the destination tax which in theory is payable by all dealers alike.
Tam, Sir, Your obedient servant, (Signed) -Byzoy Brexax, Consul. The Chairman, Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, Hongkong.
Hongkong Geiteral Chamber of Commerce, Hongkong, 11th April, 1898.
Sm,—I beg leave to acknowledge receipt of your interesting despatch (No. 33) of the 21st ult. on the subject of the tso-li or terminal tax, of the contents of which eared ful note has been taken, and I thank you cordially for the same.
My Committee learn with a certain amount of satisfaction that your endeavours to obtain a clear statement of the amounts chargeable under the heading of tso-li at all destinations in Kuangtung have elicited an official reply to the effect that, roughly speaking, most: articles of foreign' import are liable to pay a terminal tax of about 3 per cent ad valorem after being cleared for their destination under transit, pass. That the machinery for collecting this charge where it ought to be collected, viz. at the destination of the merchandise, is quite inadequate, affords ground for grave dissatisfaction, as a door is thereby opened to great abuses, which nullify to x preposterous extent the privileges of the transit pass system—privileges it must be this Chamber's constant aim to uphold. In fact, it appears to the Committee, from the answer you have received from the Kuangtung Authorities, that we are almost as far from a knowledge of the actual internal taxation on foreign merchandise as we were before your application, and we shall feel obliged, before again addressing the British Minister on the question, if you will kindly let us know whether there is any likelihood of any change being effected in the native method of collection.
The present time appears to my Committee favourable for pressing the matter, and the, Chinese, Government may be will ing to listen to proposals which are obviously calculated to eventually: benefit their revenue.
Tam, Sir, "Your obedient servant, R. M. Gray, Chairman.
To Brnox Brexay, Esq., C.MLG., 'H.B.M.'s Consul, Canton.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.