Restrictions said Not to be Necessary From Our Own Correspondent, Harbin, Aug. 28.
The usual booming trade with the Mongols is at present in a very bad way, for the Chinese authorities are making many restrictions and impositions. The export of marmot skins from Manchouli and Hailar is entirely prohibited and any one found with skins has them confiscated. The official reason given out is that this restriction is necessary in order to prevent plague, notwithstanding that plague never breaks out in the warm weather, that the skins are spring pelts and that the export from Mongolia through Kalgan and Tientsin is going on as usual. The American exporters appealed to Dr. Wu Lich-teh, who stated that there is no opposition on the part of the Plague Prevention Bureau and, through the American Consul, they have tried to get the embargo removed, but have failed, for the Tuchun of Heilungkiang turns a deaf ear to everybody on this subject.
The export of live stock from Hailar is also suffering, owing to the high local taxes that are being levied, whilst merchants are complaining about new taxes that have placed on grain and beans exported from Anda and other stations along the western section of the railway, Russians are treated the same way as Chinese and, being unable to claim Treaty rights, they too are forced to pay ailil these local taxes. Nor are the railway authorities able to prevent the tax-collectors and their runners appearing at the railway stations, where the runners see that no goods are loaded into cars until the taxes have been paid.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.