Reference was recently made in these columns to the handicaps imposed on foreign and Chinese traders by uncoordinated regulations of the Government departments. Endorsement of this ariteism comes. {rom disclosures over the recent activities of provincial Sulphur Bureaus established at Hankow, These officers have asserted a virtual monopoly the trading in acid and It ly now refusing to issue permission to port and permission to transport acids to local dispensaries. Buyers have to pay for this permission in addition to the ordinary export duty.
The fact of these regulations makes it practically impossible for a firm manufacturing. acid, situated In Shanghai, to do any business outside Shanghai, except under the greatert difficulties. "Among the important acids Is sulphuric add, which Is bY means purely a munition of wa It enters into the process of many manufactures and becomes of vital importance to a large number of Chinese industries. By imposing this thinly" camouflaged "taxation, the Government's desire to. foster Chinese Industries is frustrated the action of its own departments The other day an advertisement appeared in one of the Chinese newal Papers advertising for tenders for managing the transport and sale sulphur and nitrein Klangm Province for the period of 'a. year. from Feburary 1, when a minimum bid of $180,000 prescribed. Also minimum hi set for those desiring to manage the transport and sale of sulphuric and nitric acid. Tt should be explained that into this enters Vu Lee ("profit") which is a tax paid for the privilege of holding a virtual monopoly In the sale of the material, The Government were prepared to put a limit fon the price at which merchants might sell. First of all, it 1s clear that this runs counter to the Government's policy of abolishing king and other forms of local taxation. It stultifes the attempts to establish a system of consolidated "taxes. It se tually constitutes a very serious handicap to legitimate business, The experience of firms engaged in the distribution of sulphuric acid 18 filuminating in this regard. In. 1931 the Sulphur Bureau in Shanghai made its first demand for the Vu Lee tax. A compromise was effected and the Bureau was paid a certain sum monthly to avoid further interference. This arrangement lasted for nearly two years, when the Bureau changed hands, as another firm had made a higher' bid for the privilege of monopolizing the tax. Under th new auspices the Bureau then made further "demands, amounting in effect to over 7 per cent, on every ease of sulphuric acid sold, But other acids of a weaker kind the tax amounted to as much as 17 per cent. 'The Bureau, in order to carry ut this taxation' methodically, me stituted a system of receipts, "wher heavily handicapped the merchants, fand it actually stopped deliveries until a compromise' was reached, This compromise resulted in the monthly payment to the Bureau being increased by 100 per cent, an arrangement which lasted until ly the end of 1088. Now the new farming of the tax will probably result in further dimeulties arising, Although this tax has been put into force, "it is understood that the Legislative Yuan has not formally approved it and it seems that the time is ripe for the Government authorities to consider the possibility of taking firm action to put an end to this harassment of an. important trade. Anew control is contemplated by means of machinery of the Salt Department, but full particulars are not yet available, While it 19 [generally recognized thatthe [Government has the duty of collect= ing its revenue under the regulations which it prescribes, it is also pointed out that at a time when the encour-Jagement of industry and the develop-slent of China's export trade are of such great economic importance, this general policy should be carried out [with due regard to practical business considerations. itis not surprising that merchants feel depressed over trade prospects, when they are continually subjected to these rotating and, what is far more important, ruinous impositions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.