At the Customs here some light was "brown on the mystery of how it came about tht British vessels could trade to non. treaty" Ports and yet remain unconfiscated. Before,'eaving Hankow, the fair amount of cargo we Jiad on board had duly passed the Foreign Customs, and paid duty. At! Chenglinchi the Foreign Customs examined the cargo again, and collected the half transit duty, althouzb not a single package of it was destined for that port. Then, from this point onward, the steamer became subject to the same regulations as steamers, as fur as they are accessible by ater, inasmuch as the Yochou likin office franks for the whole province) was made by the provincial authorities themselves, and that it was at their initiative the Changwo was put 01 the run, From this it would appear that the old hostility to steamer traffic on the inland waters was due. ut so much to an unreasoning dislike of innova.
as to the very n: ni strong obion of the provi ies to having the revenue they derived from duties on goods in transit diverted from their treasury into that of Sir Robert Hart's rival institution. But now this plan has been thought ov, there seems no reason why a large trade should not be done on these lines. It is true the steamer must pay both the Foreign Customs and the hsin charges while junks pay li in only. This gives the jun: the advantage in the case of all foods which do not past beyond, or coue from beyond, Hankow. But "9 large a proportion of the trade does this, and has therefore cither paid the Foreign Customs duties already, or will be paying them anyhow that, with respect to goods of thia description, the superior service of the steamer gives it an advantage over the junks.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.