Commission which just completed its labours are to be congratulated upon having accomplished a great deal of very important work in the five months they have. been engaged ea the tariff, and in a period not at all avesssive considering the number of commodities they, have had to deal with, The new tariff will come into force on December 1. This will. mean that goods shipped prior to that date will be subject to the old rate—and by "shipping" it is understood that the goods should be covered by a bill of lading dated before December 1. The importer must, if called upon by the Customs, produce a certificate to show that the vessel on which, the goods are shi was actually in port prior ares ea of November. The Chinese should be well satisfied withthe revision. It will give th very considerable increase of revenue and, unless there is some unexpected rise in prices, they will for the first time and for some time to come, really be gotting an effective five per cent., some cases more.
A number of important resolutions were discussed by the Commission. America introduced a resolution with the object of securing a general improvement in the personnel of the appraising department of the Customs; also for the. establishment of a Customs valuation bureau at Shanghai to investigate foreign and domestic market values. Another American resolution suggested an alteration in the rules whereby al! imports should in future be treated as coming from the original country of export—that the importer should as far as possible specify on the invoice where the goods originally came from. Adoption of this rule will result in removal from the returns of a large share of imports attributed to Hongkong. All these resolutions were carried.
The British delegation secured the passing of a resolution for the removal of novocain from the list of prohibited drugs. The impoctation of this drug without a permit will now be permitted, and this should be a great advantage, novocain being a new anesthetic. It has been suggested that novocain is a derivative of cocaine, but this is not correct. It is not in the same category at all.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.