These difficulties are considerable enough, importers here said, but they are multiplied when the goods finally reach these shores. The government has met the situation by converting the Federal Reserve notes, which are worth about ten cents in Shanghai into Japanese yen, worth about 23.4 cents. Importers say thousands of dollars paid as duty deposits on inflated values established under this system are now tied up. These deposits are required to get possession of their goods pending the outcome of their protests and appeals, and it will be at least six to eight months before these entries are liquidated, they said.
In instances like those of broidered articles on which ad valorem duties run as high as 90 per cent, and other articles where the duty ranges from 30 to 60 per cent, the inflated values imposed by the customs officials have worked serious hardship on the traders. Many of the latter contend that a food part of their available working capital is being tied up by the currency ruling.
Difficulties also being met in imports from the unoccupied areas of China, because of the absence of rates on the Chinese dollar from points other than Shanghai, A nominal rate of about seven cents is fixed by the government for the Shanghai dollar, For other pain! quotations of nearly a year back are being used, it was said.—Havas,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.