It is reported that 30 boats loaded sith lumber belonging to the Catholic Mission, and for which free transit passes were issued by the foreign Customs, have been detained about three weeks at the! first native Customs station above Tientsin; that no efforts of the French Consul or Minister have been able to secure permission for them to pass on, the native authorities refusing to recognise the passes thus issued by the LM.C. If the facts are as stated, something is seriously out of order. Just what or where the! wrong is, one is not prepared to say. This matter of inland duty after goods have once. paid and passed the Customs: is becoming a perfect nuisance to those who have foreign articles to take into the interior. Even the Customs " authorities" seem to be at their wits' end sometimes to know just what is required.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.