Attempts by Customs officers to interfere with these desperadoes resulted in a series of incidents in which many of the former suffered severe Injuries, and it was not until Tate in July, when overwhelming forees of armed Chinese military and railway police boarded one of the trains at the Tientsin Central Station and ejected the Koreans by force and Seized their goods, that the transport illicit cargo os passengers' baggage finally ceased. With the closing of railway channels for the distribution fof smuggled goods southwards and the consequent accumulation of stocks in Tientsin, the volume of smuggling in East Hopeh diminished, and for a brief spell the situation showed marked signs of improvement. Towards the end of August, however, further attempts wore made to break through the cordon created by the various preventive measures institu ed, this time by road. Motor-trucks loaded with sugar, artificial silk yarn, ete., and escorted by Japanese and numerous Koreans armed with revolvers and less dangerous weapons, began to make their way from Tiantsin southwards towards Shantung. Customs land barriers at points outside Tientsin were thereupon established with a view to check this new menace, but in the face of arm ed threats these barriers, lacking the. necessary force and adequate protec~ tion, were unable to function effec-transportation more and IMlictt goods continued to reach Shantung in increasing quantities.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.