July 30, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



107 



tion, is divided into seven chief departments, each 

 in control of government officers, and each possess- 

 ing its own places for the production of salt. Each 

 department has its own defined limits, and the 

 salt manufactured in one cannot be transported 

 or sold into another. Tlie salt is obtained by evap- 

 oration from sea-water, or from that of salt wells 

 and marshes ; and there is no restriction as to the 

 amount and the methods of obtaining it, except 

 this important one, it can only be sold to the gov- 

 ernment officers at a certain price fixed by the 

 directors. From the central depots the salt is dis- 

 tributed to the various provinces by the salt com- 

 missioners or dealers. The amount that will be 

 consumed is estimated, and on this basis a number 

 of perpetual, transferable certificates are issued, 

 worth as high as fifteen thousand dollars each, 

 each of which empowers the possessor to buy a 

 certain quantity, not exceeding 3,760 piculs, at a 

 certain price, to convey it whither he will in the 

 department, and sell it at a fixed price. He can- 

 not, however, dispose of it direct to the consumer. 

 In every place of any size there are storehouses 

 under the control of government officers to which 

 it must be conveyed. Here he deposits it, first 

 giving up his certificate, which he does not receive 

 baclf till all the salt is sold. The dealer's profits 

 are, of course, derived from his quickness in dis- 

 posing of his goods. The system is a singular one, 

 yet not such a bad one, were it properly managed. 

 The chief drawback that it has is the small army 

 of detectives required to prevent smuggling be- 

 tween adjacent departments, an illicit traffic caused 

 by the very great differences in price that often 

 prevail in contiguous provinces. This tax pro- 

 duces the government about nine and one half 

 million taels, only a small jDart, however, of what 

 it costs the people. 



The income from duties has increased rapidly 

 since the admission of foreign trade, and now 

 reaches about thirteen million taels annually from 

 foreign goods, with an additional four million from 

 opium and inland duties. The office of collector 

 of customs and duties, as in other nations, is one 

 of the most desirable in the government service. 

 Well it may be, for the perquisites and stealings 

 usually enable the possessor to retire wealthy in 

 two or three years. The collector of Canton, for 

 instance, spends the income of the first of his three 

 years of service for the acquirement of the post, 

 that of the second year in presents, and in the 

 third and last year lays by — about three hun- 

 dred thousand dollars. Many of the directors in 

 the other ports enjoy an income of from seventy- 

 five to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. As 

 in the other taxes, the loosest of systems prevail. 

 Every collector is required to furnish the govern- 



ment a definite sum annually : whatever else he 

 can get he has for himself. Even in those ports 

 where the rates of duty are prescribed, and under 

 the charge of foreign officers, he is not to be 

 cheated out of his perquisites. The foreign offi- 

 cials have no control of the money received, which 

 is paid over to the Chinese collector, who absorbs 

 three-fifths, and places the rest at the disposal of 

 the government. The central government has, 

 however, recently expressed a desire to receive a 

 larger share of the income : that it can fully 

 reform the abuses is not possible. 



The income from taxes on opium has very ma- 

 terially increased since the opening up of foreign 

 traffic. The import duties are only moderate in 

 amount, but, as soon as the opium comes into the im- 

 mediate hands of the Chinese, it is taxed repeatedly, 

 and to a much greater extent. About seventy thou- 

 sand chests are brought in annually, each paying 

 a tax varying from twenty to sixty taels. This 

 income, though, is looked upon as an especial 

 perquisite of the collector of customs, who absorbs 

 the larger part of it. 



Of the various smaller taxes, the least important 

 are the ones on the transportation of tea to those 

 provinces where it is not grown, and on mines. 

 Those derived from the licensing of merchants and 

 pawnbrokers are more important, especially from 

 the latter, each of whom is required to pay a 

 license of from one thousand to five thousand 

 dollars, and yearly dues of one or two hundred 

 dollars. Another source of income, that of the 

 payment for registry in land transfers, would be 

 important were the laws enforced, which they 

 are not. The fees amount to three per cent of the 

 sale-price, but they are often evaded by an under- 

 statement of price, or even by the neglect to 

 record the sales at all, though non-recorded sales 

 of land are illegal. 



The most characteristic Chinese tax is the likin, 

 a toll-tax, or duties on inland transportation. This 

 tax has given rise to dispute on the part of foreign 

 governments on account of its illegality, or, rather, 

 perversion of international treaties. That it is 

 illegal in any other sense cannot be said, for the 

 simple reason that in China the highest form of 

 legality is the emperor's decree. 



This tax, which is of recent introduction and 

 has only assumed importance within the last 

 twenty years, is imposed upon certain classes of 

 goods in their transportation across the country. 

 An imperial decree authorizes the levying of it 

 in any given province, whereupon a central pro- 

 vincial office and toll-stations are established, their 

 number depending upon the amount and kind of 

 traffic, averaging upon the most important thor- 

 oughfares, whether by land or water, one in about 



