While no official announcement has been made, it is generally expected that the new Chinese import tari will be promulgated to-day, December 1, und there is every reason to believe that the Chinese Government will announce that its enforcement will take place two months from that date, namely February 1
No other conversations, said Sir Austen, were proceeding' with re-This arrangement departure, Similar conversations have occurred between the Minis ters in Peking represe ing Britain and the other Powers.'
The anticipation is that the new tariff will be based fon the graduated schedule of import surtaxes drawn up at the special conference at Peking in 1926, We have adhered on general ines to the British policy with regard to China laid down in our declarations of December 26, 1926, and January 1927."
Replying to supplementary questions, Sir Austen Chamberlain stated that the British Minister in Peking: had been in free communication with the representative of the United States and there had been the same consultation and ce-opera ion with America as wi He assured Colonel it would ye introduced but, in some mysterious manner, foreign merchants seemed to have learned of they shipped large stocks to the interior beforehand, thus paying only small tax.
Should the tax be collected, it! was said, from Chinese merchants while foreign merchants were empted, the Chinese cigarette industry would receive a severe blow] "would be tea Chinese of the hope that Britain and ca would pursue a common policy or, at least, consult freely with regard to all matters relating te China.
Sir Austen stated that nogotiaons were in progress with the Chinese National Government for which everybody was trying]
vomote, would be interfered 1 trid hundreds of thousands of unal and female workers would be {thrown out of employment.
'A decision was reached that the Government should be approached to cancel the tax, failing which the Chinese cigarette merchants will suspend business, treaty and tariff matters and, therefore, he preferred at present to make no statement on those sub-Jects. He added that no nego! tions were passing on the question of extraterritoriality—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.