[Aglen by the Peking Cabinet has brought to the fore the question lof the immediate future of the!
Ever since the revolution that Service has been in a difficult position, In the time of the Empire, Customs Jduties were paid into'a bank) ind neither the Commissioner of Customs, nor the Inspector General, had anything to do with the money. The! service of the foreign debt secured on the revenue was conducted by the Chinese Government without their intervention. that the whole Customs revenue Iwas not being used for the repayment of foreign debts. Some lof it was coming into the hands lof the Peking Government, and great deal was being used to repay internal loans, for which Canton was not responsible, and the proceeds of which had been used in part to make war on Canton. Canton not unnaturally' Jobjected, and for a time was allowed to retain a portion of the revenue. When this ceased ithe position of a Commissioner jof Customs sitting in Canton, or some other southern port, and collecting duties which he remitted to Shanghai, whence some Jof the money might come into ithe hands of the enemies of [Canton, must have become well-nigh impossible.
Now a two-and-a-half per cent, surtax on foreign imports is being collected, as far as we know. throughout China, by the Superintendent of Customs or_ sonic lather local official. The Peking! Cabinet has, it seems demanded The Superintendent of Customs|that this tax shall be collected almost everywhere the Tao-Iby the Commissioner of Customs, tai of the district.
The Taotailand be treated like ordinary domestic one that only concerns China and these are not times when foreigners are encouraged to intermeddle with Chinese do-
Imestic matters, As a solution of other difficulties, the suggestion has been made and appears to {find supporters, that the Customs should hand over to the provincial authorities, at each port, the balance of the revenue that mains after the foreign debts have been paid. It seems hardly necessary to add, however, that there are obvious objections to such a scheme, Taking all considerations together, it would seem that Sir Francis Aglen is other to be blamed for over loyalty than for hostility to the Peking Government; and that the Chinese bankers have every rea-ison to support him to the utmost jof their power, since the only alternative to his policy is one which would be less favourable to their interests.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.