Prone Oun Own Comssronceye Amoy, July 8.
The s. Anshun arrived this morn-Ing from Singapore and the luggage Incoming passengers were sub-Jected to a scrutiny and examination beyond the bounds of reason. Every box was emptied, every garment} Was tossed open and spread on the ground, to be examined for smuggled liaison has been effected between the water and land police in the matter of smuggling restrictions, New brooms sweep clean, A new police Inspector has been appointed supervise this new system of cooperation, and it is this jointure of the land' and water police, not the custom's officials, that are proving themselves perniciously autocratic. The city authorities, in the form of their police representatives, are seek ing for trouble when the' next Tal wan steamer arrives, Custom's: officials some time wished to bring the luggage of all the Taiwan passengers to the Custom House for examination, but this was vehemently objected to by the passengers and, had it been insisted upon, would'have ended in fighting. The Custom's officers gave way aiid have since checked all goods on board the vessels receiving a trac tion only. of the real tari rates. Strietness can be tempered "with Justice and courtesy, a thing that was wanting entirely by the police in their autocratic behaviour this morn-Ing, They may learn to be more reasonable before the next. vessel comes from Formosa, but, if they have not done so, trouble is Inevitable, But what is wrong with the that. they need situation for half of all future crops must be stored against the eventuallly of famine, "It is the farmer who must slare the rice and keep It against the possible failure of the crop in other Femote districts. If he does not do 0, he will be fined by the authorities. In Imperial Rome it was, and with nations to-day, it is the duty of the Government to purchase and store food stuffs for the emergencies of war and famine. But in China it is the duty of the tiller of the sell and does not obey the law he punished. OF course the farmer will sow, under these circumstances, not as much as he can, but as little possible and the system defeats itself by moving in a vicious circle exactly as it has done in Russia under the Soviet regime,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.