Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/139

British Government would sanction the addition of ten per cent to the customs duties, the proceeds (19 million taels approximately) to go to the Chinese local officials, provided that such additional duty would at once cease to be leviable should the stipulated abolition be not strictly adhered to in spirit as well as in letter. It is possible that before this volume sees the light the above sweeping change may become an accomplished fact, for assuredly such a project ought not to be wrecked on a rock of vague distrust. In 1885 an analogous arrangement was made on a small scale. It was agreed that foreign opium—which had never been included in the transit-pass system—should be exempted from likin in consideration of a commuted payment of 80 taels per picul at the port of entry. Amid universal scepticism as to its probable validity that agreement was faithfully implemented by the Chinese, and the fact ought to weigh with the doubters to-day, especially since the proposed arrangement is guaranteed by a radical reservation. But the truth is that Chinese Officialdom has acquired a bad international reputation, not altogether deservedly perhaps, and the average treaty-port resident views with profound suspicion any compact which depends upon Chinese good faith for its fulfilment.

It is estimated that the collection of likin throughout the Chinese Empire aggregates 13 million taels annually. But from what has been