Canton, Dec. 14.
According to a local Chinese news agency several leading organization and individuals are advocating making the open ports in the Southwest free ports, because the Customs authorities, backed by the Diplomatic Corps, have refused to hand over part of the Customs Surplus to the new Southwestern Government.
The supporters of this policy assert that, since the Southwest cannot recognize Peking's unification mandate, what the Southwesterners have contributed to the Customs revenue should be returned to them, otherwise there is no other way open to them than to refuse to pay Customs tax.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.