The charges of extortion made Jagainst the tea boys are innumerable, JOn one ship tea boys insisted upon tips ranging from $4 to $5 from [Chinese passengers between Hankow [Chinese first class, on foreign ships [between these paris is in the nelgh-[bourhood of $12 and $15, according to the system in use in the different Jcompanies, some employing pursers who charge fixed fares, others farming out the Chinese accommodation to compradores who can charge what they like for It, It can be seen that the extortion of the tea boys adds about 334d per cent. to the cost of the passage—an imposition that harms business and penalizes pas /sengers. On some runs the recognized extortion comes to 100 per cent, 'The picture is not one of unrelieved gloom, since better ce-operation by the Seamen's Union has helped to end certain evils. Where tea boys for erly refused' to help the rest of the crew in emergencies such as fire, any similar action would now receive the strong disapproval of the union off ial In the past there have been tions from the Tea Boys Guild to structural alterations in ships on the ground that they would deprive them of Jobs, This sort of interfer-once is not frequently met with now. But nevertheless there remain s0} many exactions that the companies are seriously put to it to find ways and means of preventing them.
Omcial Ca-operation The shipping companies do not complain of lack of ce-operation from the authorities in putting a stop to these exactions. When. they are brought to the notice of the author! tes concerned, correctives of a sort are applied. But the correctives do not appear to be drastic enough to cure the malady and the authorities seem unable to screw themselves up to the point at which they can make them so. And inevitably, the question asked: Would not stronger Government support of the authorities concerned provide the solution? The experiences of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Ca, in dealing with the evil with Government backing seem to supply an answer in affirmative,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.