The speaker emphasized the fact that he. voiced the sentiments of commercial and industrial interests a whole and was not advocating the needs of a certain section. The delegation had no private interests serve. nor ulto audwance, but had only the interest of the people and the welfare of the tion at heart.
'A representative of the Kian chinaware and. porcelain enterprises Spoke' of the unbearable barden of tivation in his province, which was, asserted, killing the. industry altogether.' Transportation had stopped. Buyers had abstained from riving cut any" contracts and. the Kilns had ceased to operate, with the result that 300,000 labourers "had teen thrown ott of work.
Mr, Wa Tyeshou, representing] the Commercial. Assoc Greater Shanghai endorsed Mr, Yu's remarks pointed out the fact that the entire System of taxation could. be proved, the Government would get here revenue, while the merchants need not pay' any more, by doing! Away with the "tax-turming system find cutting out the. huge profits made by. the taxcfarmers.—Hel further suggested that the Ministry and the delegates. should go. into more detail about various problems.
impossible for the Minister to attend to details: but such might well be left to offciais like the Chief of the Department, and the Secretary, Mr. Jabin Lits, who were both well-versed in the existing conditions in China's realm of commerce and" industry. He; Viewed with alarm the strikes that had occurred in the various factories, which "were being! forced to. close their doors Fecaleitrant workmen. He felt that the Ministry should devise some] means immediately to relieve' the situation.
Tax Without a Name A representative of the Flour Mill Owners then launched a vicious attack on the Ministry of Finance for} its system of taxation. This Ministry, he said, had exhausted its excuses for introducing new taxes, so it had now adopted a new form, Known as "special tax," which, in other words, was a tax without a name. Tt was a tax which the]
Following the addresses, the representatives presented Dr. H. Kung with a number of petitions dealing with present conditions in the silk, flour, cotton, earthenware and] other industries.
In response, the Minister stated that being a commercial man himself, hho was quite aware of the unsatis factory state of affairs now in But he could assure his visitors that strenuous efforts were being made to promote the output of national goods, and every facility would be given to enable rapid development in this direction. The delegates might rest assured that he would do everything in his power to see that the necessary reforms would he carried out.
For generations, he added, family had been engaged in huge and commercial enterprises} Never before had his! terests been so affected by the! political situation as now. So even if the delegation had not called on is duty to see that sufferers at st opportunity. He felt as urgent necessity for cooperation between the Ministry and the commercial and industrial interests of the nation to rid it of various
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.