The Cantonese GoVernment having on its own authority imposed an
additional duty On foreign imports has no gone further and established an Inspection Bureau quit. independent of the regular Customs Administration As the Peking correspondent of the Times says, t move is a double infringement of Treaty rights, as forei, vessels not only have extra-territorial privileges, but a exempt from examination 'except by the Customs Adminis. tration. The purpose of the inspection is obviously to obtain the necessary information for enabling the Can• tonese Government to collect all the taxes previously collected by the Customs Administration. No wo thing could happen for China as well as for foreignen than that the efficient Customs Administration should he crippled or destroyed. It will be interesting to see wha happens if British, American and Japanese ships really boarded. If this challenge to the Powers sue it will, of course, be followed elsewhere in China.
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