Alleged Attempt to Interfere With Salt Business in Hunan The salt merchants of Shanghai are again greatly perturbed over what they believe to be another infringement of the prerogatives granted them under their licences.
will be remembered that in 1919 the Tuchun of Hupeh, under the pretext of an alleged request by the salt merchants of that province, imported 400,000 piculs of her salt for sale in western Hupeh. This naturally had the effect of destroying the business of the merchants who dealt solely in Liang Huai salt, and it was not put a stop to until the Salt Gabelle took a hand in the affair.
Now, according to the Shanghai salt merchants, a similar trick is being attempted by the Tuchun of Hunan. It is alleged that the ball was set rolling by a salt merchant in the province, apparently a creature of the Tuchun's. Ho is said to have petitioned the Inspectorate General—the Chinese section thereof—for permission to import 800,000 piculs of Lu salt for sale at Hungchow, Yangchow and Paoking, on behalf of the guild of salt dealers in Hunan. These latter, on hearing of the petition, communicated the story to their confreres in Shanghai and a joint protest against the petition has been forwarded to Peking.
The effect of this is said to have been that the Tuchun of the province has been instructed "to institute inquiries into the affair and it is reported that ho has already announced to the salt merchants in Hunan his intention of importing the Lu salt.
There the matter apparently stands, and the merchants who hold licences to import salt into the province are naturally greatly put about. Such a quantity of salt as 800,000 piculs, means the loss of Ts. 3,440,000 worth of business, taking the value of the salt as laid down in the province, and they naturally feel that as they have licences to do this business, which cannot be done without, their rights should not be impaired by such proceedings as those reported to be afoot. The matter seems to be one calling for in qui Constitutional Reform for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.