Owing to the criticisms which have appeared with regard to the conduct of the Shanghai Bureau, the Ministry of Finance has appointed Mr. F. Chang, who lg concurrently in charge of the Customs department of the Ministry, to take charge of this office with a view to standardizing the collection of the surtaxes.
The criticisms have dealt with the whimsical manner in which the surtaxes have been collected, some articles being placed on the luxury Hist and taken off with such irregalarity that some importers benefited by the lower rate while others suffered. The Ministry, we are informed, has taken steps to correct this condition and it is to be expected that the luxury surtax will be collected uniformly and changes in the list of articles signed as luxuries will be notified the public in time to protect im= porters without prejudice,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.