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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE WASON 
 
 CHINESE 
 COLLECTION 
 
Cornell University Library 
 HJ 7271.Z7S51 1881 
 
 The jworking of the Shanahai Office / 
 
 3 1924 023 457 660 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023457660 
 
IMPERIAL MARITIIkfE CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE 
 
 WORKING OF THE SHANGHAI OFFICE. 
 
 DEAWN UP PROM EXTEACTS PEOM 
 
 Mr. J. McLEAVY BROWN'S REPORT OF MARCH 1874, 
 
 SUPPLEMENTEB AND BROUGHT UP TO DATE (jULY 1880) 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED E. HIPPISLEY. 
 
 4.. / ( ^r^ 
 
 MX '^-.. 
 
 
 Mr. Hippisley's Additions appear within Brackets [ ] 
 
 SHANGHAI: 
 STATISTICAL DEPARTMENT 
 
 OP THE 
 
 INSPECTORATE GENERAL. / 
 
 MDCCCLXXXI. 
 
\f\/.3nip'j 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 Distribution of the Desks. 
 
 I. — Import Desk, under which is placed 
 
 (i) Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk. 
 
 II. — Duty Memo, and Opium, Desk, under which are placed 
 
 (2) Duty Memo. Sub-desk. 
 
 (3) Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk. 
 
 (4) Export Duty Sheet Sub-desk. 
 
 (5) Duty Posting Sub-desk. 
 
 III. — Export Desk, under which is placed 
 
 (6) Daily Sheet Sub-desk. 
 
 . lY .—Draiuback 'Desk, under which are placed 
 
 (7) Numbering Sub-desk. 
 
 (8) Foreign Imports Ledger Sub-desk. 
 
 (9) Coast Imports Ledger Sub-desk. 
 
 (10) River Imports Ledger Sub-desk. 
 
 Y. — Transit Pass Desk. 
 
 VI. — Biver Steamer Desk, under which is placed 
 
 (11) River Steamers Cargo Certificate Sub-desk. 
 
 Yll.— Chinese Cargo Certificate Desk, under which are 
 
 (12) Coast Ports Chinese Cargo Certificate Sub-desk."' 
 
 (13) River Steamers Chinese Cargo Certificate Sub-desk, 
 
 VIII. — Clearance Desk, under which is 
 
 (14) Sorting Room. 
 
 IX. — Chief Clerk's Desk, under which may be placed 
 
 (15) Chief Chinese Clerk's Sub-desk. 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 I. — Import Desk. 
 
 It is the duty of this Desk — ■ 
 
 1°. To receive and record the entries of all vessels. 
 For this purpose a Register is kept at this Desk, in which are recorded, on the day they 
 are received, the particulars necessary to constitute a complete entry. 
 These particulars are — 
 
 (a.) The nationality of the vessel. 
 (b.) That her Manifest has been handed in. 
 (c.) That the Report of her Consul has been received. 
 (d.) That the Harbour Master's Report of her anchorage has been received. 
 (e.) That her Tonnage Dues Certificate (if she has one) has been handed in. 
 (/.) That (if she comes from a Native port, [Canton excepted,]) her Cargo Certi- 
 ficate and Chinese documents have been received, 
 (a.) The nationality of the vessel is learned from the Consul's Report or the headiug of 
 the Manifest. The Manifest is handed in by the agents of the vessel or by her master. It is, 
 properly speaking, only a list of the packages on board. It must state the marks on each 
 package and the number of packages in each lot, but it need not necessarily state the nature of 
 the goods contained, or their weight, number, etc. As a rule the Manifest only states so many 
 packages of merchandise, each bearing such and such mark or marks. 
 
 (6.) When a Manifest is handed in the Clerk must observe that it duly sets forth the name 
 of the vessel and the port from which she comes, and that it is signed by the master. Manifests 
 are occasionally signed by the vessel's agents, but the master's signature is essential, as it is he, 
 according to Treaty, who is held responsible for any errors it may contain. 
 
 If a vessel brings cargo from more than one port, there must be a separate Manifest, or 
 separate portion of the same Manifest, for the cargo from each port. 
 
 The Manifest being found in due form is placed upon the Import table to await the 
 arrival of the Applications to land the cargo mentioned on it. 
 
 (c.) When the Consul's Report is received (it is usually sent from most of the Consulates 
 in a special chit-book), the date of its receipt is noted in the Entry Register. It is initialled by 
 the Clerk and then sent on to the Duty Memo. Desk. It gives the tonnage of the vessel, her rig, 
 and the name of her master, and for these particulars it is the authority by which the Customs 
 are guided. 
 
 (d.) The Harbour Master's Report states the section of the harbour in which the vessel is 
 moored or anchored, and its receipt is an important part of the vessel's entry; it shows she has 
 accepted the berth assigned her. This ships occasionally object to do, and would object to do 
 more frequently probably if they were allowed to open hatches before they had taken the position 
 given them. 
 
 The Harbour Master's Reports are kept at the Import Desk, and after some time are 
 destroyed. 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 (e.) If the entering vessel be a regular trader on the coast or river, or to and from Japan, 
 she will most probably be provided with a Tonnage Dues Certificate, which will be handed in 
 along with the Manifest. Its receipt being noted in the Entries Register, the document itself is 
 passed on, along with the Consul's Report, to the Duty Memo. Desk, to be further dealt with. 
 
 (/.) A vessel from a Native port brings with her a Cargo Certificate, or list giving full 
 particulars of all cargo she has on board from that port. She must also hand in Duty-paid 
 Certificates, showing that every item of her cargo has paid Export Duty at the port from which 
 she comes; any merchandise she may have on board and desire to land which js not covered by 
 Duty-paid Certificate is charged full and half duty, pending the receipt of information on the 
 subject from the port of departure. At Canton the Duty-paid Certificates are delivered to the 
 shippers of merchandise, and are handed in individually at Shanghai, along with the Application 
 for Permit to Land. At all the other ports these documents are. forwarded under sealed covers 
 from Commissioner to Commissioner. The former plan is more strictly in accordance with the 
 letter of the Treaty ; the latter is probably more convenient for the Customs work. 
 
 Cargo Certificates and Chinese documents, when handed in in sealed covers, are sent on at 
 once to be opened at the Chief Clerk's Desk. 
 
 As soon as all the items of information and all the documents (or covers purporting to 
 contain them) mentioned under the above six heads are received, and their receipt noted in the 
 Entries Register, the vessel is considered duly entered, and the Import Desk is then, but not till 
 then, permitted to pass A[)plications to land her cargo. 
 
 It is further the business of the Import Desk — 
 
 2°. To receive and pass Applications to land Import cargo. 
 
 An Application to land goods is accompanied by the Bill or Bills of Lading of the goods 
 in question, or by a document called a Delivery Order, issued to the applicant by the agents of 
 the vessel. As soon as the Clerk has received an Application he searches out the Manifest of the 
 vessel, and places the three documents before him for mutual comparison, viz., the Manifest, the 
 Application, and the Bill of Lading. He first notes that the Bill of Lading has been counter- 
 signed by the agents of the vessel. If it is not so he returns it at once, along with: the 
 Application, for this correction. The items on the Manifest are as a rule numbered consecutively, 
 and it is the usual practice at this port for the agent, when countersigning a vessel's Bills of 
 Lading, to write upon it at the same time the Manifest number of the item referred to. This 
 saves the Clerk much time in identifying the lot on the Manifest. Having the three documents 
 before him be notes that the elements of the information given by them regarding the goods are 
 identi'cal. The Manifest and Bill of Lading as a rule state no more than that there are so many 
 packages of merchandise, each package being marked so and so. The Application must also 
 give the number of packages and the marks, and in addition must state fully the nature of the 
 goods, their weight, measurements, and value, or as many of these last three items of particulars 
 as are necessary to enable the duty to be calculated according to the Tariff. Some goods pay 
 duty according to weight, some according to measurement, and some according to value, and 
 whatever is the basis of calculation in the Tariff must be stated distinctly in the Application. 
 [At times, owing to the non-receipt of invoices, it is not within the power, of applicants to give 
 these particulars. In such cases they will apply for so many packages "contents of which are 
 
■( 7 ) 
 
 unknown," and will request that examination be made in order to obtain the necessary data for 
 the levy of duty.] In comparing the three documents together, the Clerk must note that the 
 name of the vessel and of the port from which she comes are identical in all, and that the 
 Application is signed by the applicant. Tlie printed name of a firm on the document is not 
 enough. It must also bear the autograph signature of the applicants, or of a Clerk known 
 to be duly authorised to act for them. [When the application is made by a Chinese firm, it 
 must be stamped with the Chinese stamp of the firm.] If there is any deficiency in the 
 individual documents, or discrepancy between them in regard to any of the points mentioned 
 above, the Clerk at once returns the Application and accompanying Bill of Lading or Delivery 
 Order, with a short memorandum attached, stating the error or defect to be remedied. If the 
 documents are found in proper order, the Clerk first writes upon the Application the Manifest 
 number of the lot, and puts a mark [his initials] with a coloured pencil against the item on the 
 Manifest to show that it has already been applied for and passed. [The subsequent procedure 
 varies according to the nature of the goods concerned. 
 
 (a.) In the case of Piece Goods of all kinds and of such goods as, being liable to an 
 ad valorem duty of 5 per cent., the Chief Clerk consents to accept the invoice as proof of their 
 value, BO examination takes place. The acceptance of invoices in lieu of examination is a 
 pi'ivilege which might be largely abused ; it f^ould therefore be granted as seldom as possible. 
 In these cases the Clerk places his initials, with the date, upon the Bill of Lading, and returns it 
 unstamped to the applicant; and, after initialling the Application, passes on this latter docu- 
 ment to the Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk (3), where it receives two numbers, one the Customs 
 number of the importing vessel, the other that of the Application itself, in the consecutive series 
 from one upwards of all the Applications for the vessel in question in the order of their receipt. 
 The latter number is also entered upon the Import Duty Register Sheet of the vessel, the amount 
 of duty in the proper column being left blank until the arrival subsequently of the Duty Receipt. 
 From this Sub-desk the Application is passed on to the Foreign Clerk in charge of the Duty 
 Memo. Desk, who examines it carefully to see that it gives all the particulars necessary for the 
 levy of duty, and then, if this is so, sends it to his Sub-desk that the Memo, for duty may be made 
 out. This Memo., having been checked by the jimior Foreign Clerk at the Duty Memo. Desk, is 
 issued, and the Application passed on to the Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk (i), to await the 
 arrival of the Banker's recei[)t for duty. These receipts are usually sent to the Customs in 
 special chit-books and accompanied by the Bills of Lading. Upon their receipt the Application 
 — stamped "Import Duties paid" — is returned with them to the Import Desk, where the Applica- 
 tion and Bill of Lading or Delivery Order are stamped in the following manner. The Bill of 
 Ladino' or Delivery Order is placed upon the Application in such a manner as to leave a portion 
 of the latter uncovered, and with the seal with which the Desk is provided two impressions are 
 made — the one, wholly upon the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order, alongside the Clerk's initials 
 and the date ; the other, half upon the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order, and half upon the 
 Application. The seal impression upon the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order, attested by the 
 Clerk's initials and dated, constitutes the Permit of the Customs to land the goods. The Bill of 
 Lading thus stamped is returned to the applicant, either personally or in the chit-book in which 
 he had forwarded to the Duty Memo. Desk the Banker's receipts for the duty, and when 
 
( 8 )■ 
 
 exhibited to the officer who has the vessel or goods under his surveillance, is his authority 
 to allow the packages whose marks and numbers are given to be taken delivery of. The. 
 Application, with the Banker's receipt for the duty attached, then passes to the Import Duty 
 Sheet Sub-desk, that the Clerk there may enter the duty received upon the Application in 
 question against the number it bears upon the Duty Sheet, and thence to the Sorting 
 Room (14).] 
 
 [(6.) In the case of Imports from Foreign countries other than those above-mentioned, 
 and of all goods from Native ports, excepting those brought by steamers from Ningpo and by 
 lorchas, examination is insisted upon, — for vessels lying in the stream, either on board or at the. 
 jetty; and for those alongside wharves, at the wharves themselves. The Bill of Lading or the 
 Delivery Order and the Application are stamped with the appropriate seal "To be brought to the 
 Customs Jetty for examination," or, if special application be made to that effect, " To be examined 
 on board; " or "To be examined at the wharf," as the case may be. In the case of Matches, 
 Needles, Japan Copper, and Foreign Dyes and Colours, these documents — the Bill of Lading or 
 Delivery Order and the Application — are furthermore endorsed by the Clerk "Samples to the 
 Jetty," in order that the experience of the Chief Examiner may be utilised in fixing their value. 
 The Clerk then places his initials and the date upon the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order, and, 
 having stamped them in the manner above described, returns the Bill of Lading or Delivery 
 Order to the applicant to await the result of examination.] 
 
 [Such apphcations are sometimes accompanied by a duplicate made out upon a form 
 known as the "Import Particulars Memo."; when they are not so accompanied, the Applications 
 are taken to the "Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk," and the Memo, is there made out. This 
 Memo., stamped as regards place of examination — i.e., at wharf, at jetty, or on board — in the same 
 manner as the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order, is sent to the Customs officer under whose 
 surveillance the vessel or goods are, who records upon it the result of his examination and 
 returns it to the Custom House. If the goods be Foreign, this Memo, and the Application (which 
 has been retained meanwhile at the Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk) are sent direct to the 
 Duty Memo. Desk, and a Memo, for the duty is issued; but. if they be Native goods, these two 
 documents — the Application and the Import Particulars Memo. — are, before the issue of the 
 Duty Memo., passed to another portion of the same (Duty Memo.) Desk, where they are checked 
 with the Cargo Certificate received from the port of shipment ; except where the goods apphed 
 for are Sugar, when this process of checking is proceeded with prior to the issue of the Import 
 Particulars Memo, to the Customs Examining Officer, in order to see that the necessary 
 particulars have been given to check off the corresponding entry in the Cargo Certificate. 
 While examination is proceeding, the Application is passed on to the Import Duty Sheet Sub- 
 desk (3), where, as in the case of Piece Goods, etc., it receives two numbers, as above described. 
 The Import Particulars Memo, having been returned by the Examining Officer with the result 
 of his examination stated upon it, a Memo, for the duty is issued in the manner above described, 
 and the Application is passed back to the Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk, from which, upon 
 the arrival of the Duty Receipt, it, with the Import Particulars Memo, and Receipt, is sent to the 
 Duty Memo. Desk, the Foreign Clerk at which initials the stamp "Import Duties paid," which has 
 been affixed to the two former documents. The Application and Receipt follow the same course 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 as ia the previous case, while the Import Particulars Memo, is sent to the officer under whose 
 surveillance the vessel is, and, so stamped, constitutes his authority, upon presentation of the 
 Bill of Lading, to release the goods. This difference of system — in some cases the stamped Bill 
 of Lading, in others the stamped Import Particulnrs Memo, constituting the release permit — 
 tends to confusion, the officer being apt in cases where hn should only release goods upon the 
 stamped Import Particulars Memo, to release them upon the authority of the stamped Bill of 
 Lading. The treatment should he uniform, and goods in all cases released only upon the 
 stamped Bill of Lading, the latter therefore being only stamped after the payment of duty.] 
 
 The third duty of the Import Desk is — 
 
 3". To pass Applications for transhipment. 
 
 Applications for transhipment are accompanied by a Bill of Lading (or Delivery Order), 
 and also by a Shipping Order. 
 
 The same care must be taken in comparing the particulars given in the several documents 
 and seeing that they correspond, as is required in the case of Imports. The items are checked 
 off the Manifest of the importing vessel, and the Bill of Lading and Shipphig Order are both 
 stamped [except when the transhipment is to be made to a River steamer, in which case the 
 Shipping Order is left to be stamped at the PJver Steamer Desk after payment of duty]. The 
 former becomos a permit to take the goods from the importing vessel, the latter, to put them on 
 board the exporting vessel. The Application ns soon as stamped should pass [first to the Import 
 Duty Sheet Sub-desk, to be entered upon the Duty Sheet of the vessel concerned, and thence] to 
 the Daily Sheet Sub-desk (6), to have the items entered on the Cargo Certificate (or Daily Sheet) 
 of the exporting vessel. 
 
 In the case of transhipments no examination is made of the goods concerned [with the 
 exception of good^ paying an ad valorem duty destined for a River port, duty upon which has 
 to be paid here prior to shipment.] 
 
 [When goods for which a Transhipment Application has been made are shut out from 
 the exporting vessel, care is to be taken that within a period of 24 hours the Transhipment 
 Application is cancelled, and tliat the goods are either landed or transhipped to another vessel.] 
 
 It is finally the duty of the Import Desk — 
 
 4°. To make out a li$t of entries for the day. 
 
 This list is for publication in the CustoTns Daily Returns, and should give full particulars 
 regarding each vessel, her nationality, rig, tonnage, name of master, whence come, consignees in 
 Shanghai, etc. 
 
 II. — Duty Memo, and Opium Desk. 
 
 At this Desk and its subordinates, all duties are calculated, levied, and recorded. Every- 
 thing connected with the movements of Opium, whether Import, Export, or Transhipment [and 
 with the shipment of Tribute Rice, and of the goods which such shipments entitle to exemption 
 from duty], is also done at this Desk. [The senior Clerk is assisted by a junior whose duty it is 
 to check all the ca,lculations of duties made at the Duty Memo. Sub-desk (2), to pass the Applica- 
 tions to land, ship, or tranship Opium, and to keep the Register of Tonnage Dues.] 
 
 [Opium. — The Clerk at this Desk passes all Applications and keeps all the records 
 regarding Opium, fulfilling in respect of this article of merchandise not merely the duty of 
 
( lo ) 
 
 «nsuring the proper collection of revenue upon it, but also what in the case of other goods would 
 be the duties of the Import and Export Desks, and, in addition, those of the Returns Department, 
 which obtains the statistics of the movements of Opium from this Desk for incorporation in. the 
 annual and quarterly statistics. To enable it to keep a proper record of the movements of 
 Opium, the Desk is provided with a separate ledger for each of the four Receiving Hulks, in 
 which a Dr. and Or. account is kept of all Opium received for storage on the one side, and on the 
 other of all Opium landed and transhipped to steamers for other ports. The Dr. side of the 
 ledger shows (a) the date of the Application to import and receive the Opium on board, (b) the 
 name of the importing vessel and the port from which she came (in the case of transhipments 
 from one Receiving Hulk to another, the name of the hulk from which the Opium was 
 transhipped taking the place of the importing vessel), and (c) the kind of Opium imported; the 
 number of chests of each description, Malwa, Patna, Benares, and Persian, being entered in a 
 separate column. The Or. side shows (a) the date of the Application to export or land ; (6) the 
 name and destination of the exporting vessel, or, in the case of Opium landed, the name of the 
 applicant, (c) the description of Opium, each kind being entered in a separate column, and (d) the 
 amount of duty levied upon each Application. In addition, a fifth — the Abstract — book is kept. 
 On each Monday morning the ledgers are taken in succession, and from each a statement is 
 drawn up, showing the quantity of each kind of Opium imported and stored upon the hulk in 
 •question during the preceding week, the quantity landed and that re-exported from it during 
 the same period — the total shipments of each kind to 'each port being detailed separately. These 
 four statements are then entered into the Abstract Book, and being totalled up show the result 
 of the week's operations. These statements serve as the basis of the monthly and quarterly 
 statistics; a copy is each week furnished to the North-China Herald for publication. These 
 five books thus contain a complete chronicle of all Opium which has been stored on board the 
 Receiving Hulks. For the Opium which has not been so stored, a sixth book is kept. In it are 
 recorded the transhipments from importing vessels to River steamers, and upon which, under 
 the Yangtze Regulations, duty has to be paid prior to shipment at Shanghai, as well as the 
 import and export of Prepared Opium and of Native Opium.] 
 
 [The duties of this Desk in connexion with the treatment of Opium Applications may be 
 "thus summarised: — 
 
 Upon receipt of an Application to import Opium — i.e., to tranship it from an importing 
 ■steamer to a Receiving Hulk, — the Clerk, having obtained the steamer's Manifest from the Import 
 Desk, checks with it the Application to Tranship, the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order, signed by 
 the consignees of the importing vessel, and the Receipt Order, addressed to the commanding 
 ojfficer of the hulk. When he has satisfied himself that these documents agree inter se and are 
 in due form, as detailed under the heading "Import Desk," the Clerk initials the Manifest and 
 returns it to the Import Desk, initials the Application, and initials, dates, and stamps the Delivery 
 and Recei ving Orders ; these latter constitute the Customs permit to tranship. The Application 
 is retained until the following morning, when its particulars, having been posted into the ledger 
 of the hulk concerned, it is passed on to the Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk, and thence to the 
 Sorting Room. If the Opium, instead of coming from abroad, be received from a Yangtze 
 port, a Certificate that duty has been already paid (i.e., prior to its original shipment to the port 
 
( I' ) 
 
 from which it is returned) is issued to the importer at the time of transhipment; this Certificate 
 exempts the Opium from any further payment when subsequently landed or re-exported.] 
 
 [When application is made to re-export Opium, the Application, the Hulk Delivery Order, 
 and the Shipping Order are carefully compared together. If they are all found in proper order, 
 the Clerk initials, dates, and stamps the two latter documents urid hands them to the applicant, 
 except when the re-exporting vessel is a River steamer, in which case these documents are only 
 stamped after duty has been paid and the Bank Receipt handed in. The Application having 
 been initialled is retained at this Desk. At 2 p.m. the Clerk collects all such Apphcations, posts 
 the particulars they contain into the ledgers of the hulks from which the Opium has been 
 transhipped, and then passes them on at once to the Daily Sheet Sub-desk or River Steamer 
 Cargo Certificate Desk (i i), and thence to the Sorting Room, to obviate any delay in the clearance 
 of the re-exporting vessel] 
 
 [When application is made to land, if the applicant be a Foreigner he presents, together 
 with the Hulk Delivery Order, an Application in English; but if he be a Native, a Chinese 
 Application is presented, which is translated upon an "Opium Permit"* by a Chinese Clerk — 
 either at the Chief Chinese Clerk's Desk (15) or at the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, according to the 
 amount of work in hand. So soon as the Banker's Receipt for the duty upon the Opium applied 
 for has been presented, these documents are carefully checked inter se and stamped in the same 
 manner as ordinary Import Applications. The Hulk Delivery Order is handed to the applicant 
 (together with the Opium Permit if he be a Chinese); the Duty Receipt and Application are 
 retained at this Desk until the following morning, when it is the Clerk's first duty to post from 
 the Banker's Receipt the particulars of each Application into the ledger of the hulk concerned.] 
 
 [The manner in which the ledgers of the several Receiving Hulks are kept has been 
 already described. It should, however, be added that at the close of each month a detailed 
 chronological statement is forwarded from each hulk of the number of chests of each kind of 
 Opium which have been received on board, and of those which have left the hulk, and also a 
 resuvie of this statement, showing the stock on board on the first of the month, the quantity 
 subsequently received, the removals from the hulk, and, finally, the stock on board on the last 
 day. These several items are carefully checked with the corresponding month's totals in the 
 ledger, and if found to be in all respects correct, the hulk's account for the month is closed. But 
 if the Customs and hulk's figures do not agree, the chronological statement from the hulk has to 
 be checked, item by item, with the daily entries in the ledger. The discrepancy in question 
 discovered, the Applications for the day in which it occurs — and these discrepancies always occur 
 in Applications to Land — are looked up, the ledger entries verified, and, when necessary, the 
 captain of the hulk is sent for to amend his statement. At the end of the year an officer is 
 sent on board to assure himself that the number of chests on board corresponds exactly with 
 the stock shown by the several ledgers and by the statements from the hulks.] 
 
 Import Applications, as soon as they have passed the Import Desk [are passed on to the 
 Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk, where they receive two numbers — one, the Customs number of 
 the importing vessel under her nationality; the other, that of the Application. These latter 
 
 * The object of this "Opium Permit," it may be stated, is to provide the Likin officers with the necessary data 
 lor the collection of octroi, to which only Opium landed by Chinese is liable. 
 
( '2 ) 
 
 numbers are given consecutively from one upwards, as the Applications reach this Sub-desk. The 
 name of the applicant and number of the Application are entered upon the Import Duty Sheet 
 (the duty being left blank), and the Application is then taken back to the Duty Memo. Desk, 
 where they are initialled by -the senior Clerk, who sees that all the particulars needful for 
 calculating the duty have been given, and writes against each item the rate of duty leviable]. 
 The Application is then passed on to the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, where the duty is calculated 
 in the following way. The Chinese Clerk translates each item viva voce, while two Shupan write 
 from his dictation, one on a Duty Memo., to be issued to the merchant, the second in a small 
 book which may be called the Duty Day-book. [Press of business will often prevent a Chinese 
 Clerk being detailed for this work. The name of the commodity in Chinese being required upon 
 the Application, and the Shupan having from long experience learnt to read Foreign figures, 
 they will at such times write off without assistance the particulars of the Applications.] As 
 soon as all the items are read off and written down, the Shupan proceed to calculate indepen- 
 dently the items of duty, while two fresh Shupan proceed to write down in the same way from 
 the. Clerk's dictation the items of a second Application. By the time this second Application is 
 all translated, the first pair of Shupan have finished their calculations, which, if they agree, are 
 considered correct. The second pair of Shupan then make their calculations, and the first pair 
 commence on a fresh Application. In this way the work goes on without interruption or waste 
 ■of time, and mistakes are very rarely made. [The Duty Memos, for Imports, as soon as they 
 have been made out and checked by the junior Foreign Clerk at this Desk, are sent to the 
 merchants in special chit-books, and the Applications are sent to the Import Particulars Memo. 
 Sub-desk, to await the arrival of the Duty Receipt. So soon as the latter is handed in, it is 
 attached to the Application and passed on to the Duty Memo. Desk. When the goods have been 
 examined at a wharf, the Clerk at the Memo. Desk initials the stamp " To be examined at 
 Wharf," affixed previously at the Import Desk upon the Application, and the " Import Duties 
 paid" stamp upon the Import Particulars Memo. This latter document, thus initialled, 
 constitutes, as already stated under the heading " Import Desk,'' the authority to the Customs 
 officer under whose surveillance the goods are, to release them. 'J'he Application is then passed 
 on, with the Duty Receipt attached, to the Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk, that the amount of 
 duty may be entered opposite the proper number of the Application (which the Receipt bears)., 
 upon the Duty Sheet, and thence to the Sorting Room.] 
 
 [All Export Applications are brought in the first instance to this Desk, that the senior 
 Clerk may decide whether, in order to ensure the proper levy of duty, it is necessary that the 
 goods applied for be examined, and if so, where the examination is to take pkce. When the 
 goods — whether Exports or Re-exports — are destined for a Foreign port (Silk alone excepted), they 
 have to be brought to the Customs Jetty for examination, unless special application be made to 
 allow examination to take place elsewhere. In the case of Re-exports, moreover, it is necessary, in 
 order to entitle the applicant to drawback of the duty paid at import upon the goods shipped, 
 that the Application boi stamped by a" Weiyiian of the Superintendent, who remains at the jetty. 
 Such Applications are stamped " To be brought to Customs Jetty for examination," and then 
 passed on to the Export Duty Sheet Sub-desk (4), which, like, the similar Sub-desk for Import 
 Duties, is a part of the Duty Memo. Desk. In the case of Exports to Native ports, the out-door 
 
( '3 ) 
 
 staff is too limited to allow of a tiiorough examination of such goods being made here; the 
 •detection of false or erroneous descriptions of the quantity or quality of the shipments is hence 
 necessarily left to the port of destination, and as a I'ule few goods but tliose paying an ad 
 valorem duty are subjected to examination] 
 
 [The Applications, either stamped for examination at the jetty or without a stamji, accord- 
 ing as the Clerk determines to have the goods exainined or not, having readied the Export Duty 
 Sheet Sub-desk, the Chinese Clerk in charge of this Sub-desk writes upon them the vessel's 
 Oustoms number and the number of the Application in the series for that vessel. He enters this 
 latter number upon the Export Duty Sheet, and passes ou the Application, if examination is to he 
 made, to the Examining Officer, and if no examination is to be made, to the Duty Memo. Sub- 
 -desk, where duty is calculated iu the same way. as in the case of Imports. The goods having 
 been examined, the Customs officer notes on the back of the Application the details of his exami- 
 nation, countersigns the document, noting upon it in red ink nny discrepancy there may be 
 between the particulars given and those discovered by examination, and returns it to the Duty, 
 Memo. Desk. If the discrepancy discovered he a serious one, the case is reported to the Chief 
 Clerk, for reference to the Commissioner. If there be no discrepancy, or if it be a trifling one, 
 the Duty Memo, is made out, checked by the junior Clerk at this Desk, and issued, and the 
 Application is returned to the Export Duty Sheet Sub-desk, to await the arrival of the Duty 
 Eeceipt.J When this latter document comes in, the amount paid is entered in the Duty Sheet, 
 -and the Application [ha,ving been stamped by the Chinese Clerk "Export Duty paid"], with 
 Duty Receipt and Shipping Order attached, is passed on to the Ex[)ort Desk. As soon as the 
 Duty Sheets of a vessel, whether Import or Export, are completed (i.e., wheu all the duties are 
 paid), they are sent to the Clearance Desk. 
 
 In describing above the mode of calculating duties at the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, it was 
 stated that one of the two Shupan wrote the items of each Application in a small Duty Day- 
 book. In this book the Applications are entered in chronological order as they pass the Desk, 
 the nationality and number of the vessel, number of the Ajiplication, and name of the applicant 
 being also entered at the beginning of the items. Separate books are kept for Imports, for 
 Exports [and for goods liable to Coast Trade Duty, i.e., re-imports and, in the case of River 
 steamers, reshipments (the three sets thus cover goods liable (a) to full Import Duty, (b) to full 
 Export Duty, and (c) to half Import or Export Duty)] ; and two sets of each are in use at the 
 same time on alternate days. Set A, which has been used to-day at the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, 
 is taken to-morrow to the 
 
 (5) Duty Posting Sub-desk, where the various items are posted into the Duty Ledgers, 
 under the account of each vessel. While Set A is at this latter Sub-desk, Set B is being written 
 into at Duty Memo. Sub-desk, and vice versd. [Three sets of Duty Ledgers, as of Duty Day- 
 books, are kept, one for Foreign Imports, a second for Exports, and a third for Native Imports or 
 Reshipments ; and these sets are further divided under nationahties, one book in each set being 
 appropriated to Chinese vessels, a second to British, a third to American, and a fourth to Sundry. 
 The accounts of junks trading under special pass between Shanghai and Ningpo are kept in a 
 separate ledger, in which both Import Half Duties and Export Duties are kept, the latter following 
 the former.] They serve as a readily accessible record in Chinese of the duties paid' by each 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 vessel, but the maia object in making them is to provide the Drawback Desk with a means of 
 checking without loss of time Applications for Drawbacks and Exemption Certificates and of 
 writing off Re-exports. The Duty Ledgers are kept at their respective Sub-desks (8, 9, and 10) 
 under the Drawback Desk, and the latest volumes are brought as required to the Posting Sub- 
 desk until each one is filled. 
 
 It is also the business of the Duty Posting Sub-desk to make up from the Duty Ledgers 
 the sum of the Import, Export, and Coast Trade Duties paid by each vessel, and to make out the 
 Application for the vessel's Port Clearance. This Application, which is in the form of a red letter- 
 addressed to the Superintendent, is forwarded to the Clearance Desk, where the amounts of the- 
 duties paid, which it gives in Chinese, are checked by the Duty Sheets kept in English. 
 
 [Tribute Rice. — When the Chinese purchased vessels of Foreign type (in 1873), the Govern- 
 ment issued instructions that the Rice-tribute of certain provinces should in future be conveyed 
 in them to the North, and at the same time extended to such vessels flying the Chinese flag the- 
 same privilege of carrying a certain, amount of dutiable merchandise free of duty as had 
 previously been enjoyed by the junks which up to that time had been employed for the- 
 conveyance of Tribute Rice. According to these instructions, for every 800 shih of Tribute Rice 
 so carried, these vessels were to be allowed to convey free of duty 200 shih of original Chinese 
 exports {i.e., Chinese produce shipped for the first time, and otherwise liable to a, charge for full 
 Export Duty). The shih of Rice contains 140 catties, while the shih of merchandise contains but 
 120 catties; the amount, therefore, of merchandise which a Tribute Rice bearing vessel under the 
 Chinese flag is entitled to carry without levy of duty represents, not 25, but 21 -43 per cent, of 
 the weight of the Rice carried. Vessels of Foreign type carrying the Chinese flag come, in 
 precisely the same manner as similar vessels Foreign-owned, Within the jurisdiction of the 
 Customs under the Foreign Inspectorate, and both Rice and the merchandise exempted from duty 
 are treated by them just like any other exempted goods, i.e., Permits for them have to be taken 
 out and their amounts duly entered in the Cargo Certificate. It is the duty ef this Desk to- 
 perform all the formalities connected with the export of such goods, and to keep a proper record 
 of their amounts. At it are received all Applications, and all Permits stamped, for the shipment 
 of Tribute Rice and of the goods passed duty free in proportion to the amount of Tribute Rice sent. 
 It checks all calculations of duties remitted upon such goods, and enters these goods, as well aa > 
 the Tribute Rice, in a register kept for the purpose, taking care to amend Applications and 
 allow for all packages shut out before making such entries, to see that the goods for which 
 exemption is claimed are bond fide original Exports, and that their total does not exceed the 
 percentage allowed by the instructions of the Tsungli Yam^u.] 
 
 [At this Desk also is kept a book termed the Register of Tonnage Dues. So soon as the 
 Consular Report of a vessel's arrival and her Tonnage Dues Certificate, if she have one, have been 
 passed on from the Import Desk, tbe particulars contained in these documents — viz., the date 
 of entry, the vessel's name, the port from which she has arrived, her tonnage, flag, the firm to 
 "vi'hich she is consigned, and the date upon which her Tonnage Dues Certificate expires — are 
 posted into this book.. The object of the book is to keep a complete record of everything 
 connected with the payment of Tonnage Dues of all vessels which enter the port. For this purpose 
 columns are added for such vessels as arrive without Tonnage Dues Certificates, or which expire 
 
( ^5 ) 
 
 •during their stay in port (these columns are, date when a Memo, for Tonnage Dues was issued,, 
 its amount, and the date when the receipt was handed in) ; and it is the duty of this Desk when 
 a vessel arrives without such a certificate, or when it expires during her stay in port, to see that 
 a Memo, for the dues is issued without delay, and if within the time prescribed hy Treaty, 48 
 hours, the amount due has not been paid, to bring the matter to the notice of the Chief Clerk, 
 who will suspend the issue of all Permits until payment has been made. Fimdly, when a vessel 
 leaves the port, the date of her clearance is added, thus completing the record of lier visit.] 
 
 [Three other books are also kept at tbis Desk: one, a statement in English and Chinese 
 of each case wherein additional duties are levied — these are chiefly duties due upon expired 
 Ningpo Tea Bonds, or upon goods of M'hich an erroneous declaration has been made upon landing, 
 and of which the true nature has been ouly discovered after the vessel's clearance; the second, 
 a register in detail of all cases in which the duty to be levied is doubtful, and which have been 
 referred to the Commissioner for decision; and the third, a detailed register of goods arrived 
 from other ports under Exemption Certificate. This last book, which has been instituted quite 
 recently at the special request of the Superintendent, is arranged so as to show the name of the 
 importing vessel, the date of her arrival, the port from which the goods have come, their 
 description, the amount of duty leviable but for the Exemption Certificate, and the names of the 
 importers.] 
 
 [Lastly, the Duty Memo. Desk has charge of the Sample Books, in which samples, chiefly 
 ■of Piece Goods (Cotton and Woollen), are pasted, with details, iu the case of such as are not 
 specifically mentioned in the Tarifi", of the name of the importing vessel, the date of her arrival, 
 %he importers' names, the market value, and the decision regarding duty arrived at.] 
 
 III. — Export Desk. 
 
 It is the duty of this Desk — 
 
 [i". To have the Applications for goods shut out corrected. 
 
 The first thing each morning the Clerk has to send for the Shut-out Book, which contains 
 a statement compiled by the Clearance officer of all goods shut out from each vessel which 
 cleared the previous day, and for the covers of the vessels concerned; he takes out all Applications 
 for goods short-shipped, so as to have them ready for the Shipping Clerk to amend them when 
 sent for that purpose by the Clerk at the Clearance Desk. When the goods short shipped are 
 transhipments he sends the Applications to the Import Desk, that the necessary corrections may 
 be made there by the Shipping Clerk.] 
 
 2°. To pass all Applications for Export. 
 
 No Application for Export is passed until the Export Duty has been paid. [The treat- 
 ment of Export Applications up to the time when they are passed on to the Export Desk, stamped 
 "Export Duty paid," and accompanied by the Shipping Order and Duty Receipt, has already 
 been described under the heading " Memo. Desk." Upon receipt of the Application,] the Clerk 
 -at the Export Desk, seeing the above words stamped upon it, without checking the calculation,, 
 immediately stamps the Shipping Order and passes the Application on to the Daily Sheet 
 -Sub-desk. 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 It is further duty of the Export Desk — 
 
 3°. To pass all Applications for Re-expoH. 
 
 When the re-exporter is also the original importer, the Ke-export Application is not 
 accompanied by any document but the Shipping Order; but when the re-exporter and original 
 importer are not the same person — and this is the case in nineteen instances- out of twenty, — 
 the Application to re-export is accompanied by a document called a Pass, which is a request 
 addressed to the Commissioner of Customs to accord to the re-exporters all the importer's rights 
 to Drawback, etc., for the goods nientioned thereon. An Application may have ten different 
 items on it, each item being covered by a different Pass. The Application on being handed in 
 must be accompanied by all these Passes, as well as by a Shipping Order for all the packages on 
 the Application. 
 
 The Application and Pass must fully describe the goods and give the number of packages 
 and marks. If the Pass has not been given for the whole of what was one lot at the time of 
 importation, or if only a portion of a lot is being re-exported, the Pass and Applications must 
 give such particulars of number of packages, weight, etc., of original lot as will enable it to be 
 identified in the Customs books. The Application and Pass must also give the name of the 
 importer, of the importing vessel, and the date of importation. 
 
 [When the Application is to re-export to a Foreign port, the Clerk initials it in the lower 
 left-hand corner, and affixes alongside his initials the stamp " To be brought to the Jetty for 
 examination," unless special application be made to have the goods examined at a wharf, in 
 •which case the Application is taken to the Chief Clerk's Desk to be initialled by him. Re- 
 packed goods, however, are, in all" cases, examined at the merchant's godown. When a merchant 
 desires to repack goods, he forwards an Application to this effect, addressed to the Commissioner 
 of Customs, and accompanied by a Pass or Passes covering the goods applied for. This is 
 initialled by the Chief Clerk and sent by him to the Examiner, who, in the majority of cases, 
 proceeds to the Applicant's godown, superintends there the repackage of the goods in question,, 
 and endorses each Pass to the effect that so many jDackages weighing so much have been 
 repacked into so many packages. When subsequently it is desired to re-export these goods,, 
 the merchant hands in the usual Re-export Application, with the Passes thus endorsed attached j 
 the Application is then stamped at the Export Desk "Goods repacked, to be examined," in 
 order to ensure that these goods upon which Drawback may be claimed, and no others, are 
 reshipped. The Re-export Application having been returned to the office- duly signed and 
 stamped by the Examining Officer, and also, in the case of Foreign goods re-exported to 
 Foreign countries, stamped by the Superintendent's Weiyiian at the jetty (without whose 
 stamp no application for Drawback on such goods would be granted)], it is at once sent on, 
 with its Passes (if any) and Shipping Orders attiiched, to the (7) Numbering Sub-desk, where 
 the Customs numbers of the importing [and re-exporting] vessels are looked up and written 
 over them severally in pencil. This is done to enable the vessels to be looked up in the 
 Import Duty Ledgers, in which all vessels are entered by their numbers. The Application is 
 then handed to the Clerk of the Drawback Desk, who initials it and notes upon it the 
 nature of the Chinese document ("Drawback," "Exemption Certificate," "Duty Proof," or 
 
( '7 ) 
 
 "Bond") called for [using a blue pencil when the Application covers Native goods, and 
 a red one when it covers Foreign goods, that the T'ingch'ai may know at a glaiy^e to which 
 division of the Duty Memo. Desk the Application is to be taken. The Application having 
 reached the proper Imports Ledger Sub-desk], the Import Duty account of each vessel referred 
 to is turned up, and the particulars given by the applicant verified. The Chinese Clerk must 
 note carefully that the importer whose name is given did import by the vessel mentioned goods 
 of the description given, and that the quantity for which permit is sought has not yet been 
 re-exported. The particulars being found correct, the Chinese Clerk initials the Application and 
 dictates to the Shupan at the same Sub-desk the particulars for the formal application for the 
 Chinese documents required. The Application is then returned to the Export Desk. [The 
 particulars given in the Application have thus been verified, but not those contained in the 
 Passes. It is therefore the duty of the Clerk at the Export Desk to carefully check the Passes 
 with the Application, and to see that the name of the importing vessel, the date of arrival, the 
 name of the importer, and the description of the goods agree in every particular. If they do not 
 so agree, the Application and Passes must be returned for amendment. If, however, they do 
 agree, the entries upon the Passes of the goods re-exported are initialled and the Shipping Order 
 stamped.] The latter is handed, along with the Passes, to the applicant, and the Application, 
 being also stamped and initialled, is passed on to the Daily Sheet Sub-desk. 
 
 If any error, discrepancy,- or incompleteness is found in a Re-export Application, it is at 
 once sent back for correction [from the Drawback Desk]. 
 
 [When the sjoods to re-export which application is made are destined for a Nati/ve 
 port, they ai-e not subjected to examination, the duty of veritication being left to the 
 port of destination. The Application is therefore taken at once to the Numbering Sub-desk, 
 and is subsequently treated in precisely the same manner as above described. Tin Slabs, 
 however, form an exception to the 'rule thnt Re-exports to Native ports are not examined. 
 In order to ensure that the goods thus shipped are not Compound Tin, Applications for 
 Tin Slabs are taken direct to the Export Desk and there stamped for examination. 
 When returned by the Examining Officer they follow the same course as other Re-export 
 Applications.] 
 
 (6) The duty of the Daily Sheet Sub-desk is to make out a list of the cargo shipped by 
 every vessel. In the case of Foreign-bound vessels this list is called a Daily Sheet (hence the 
 name of the Sub-desk), and is kept in the Office and bound up with the Applications, etc., 
 belonging to the vessel. In the case of vessels clearing for Native ports "the list of cargo is called 
 a Cargo Certificate, and is forwarded, along with the Chinese documents, to the port of destination. 
 [Applications having been passed from the Export Desk to this Sub-desk are here copied into 
 the Cargo Certificate or Daily Sheet.] They are then, if for a Native port, translated for the 
 Chinese version of the Cargo Certificate, as explained further on, and afterwards taken to the 
 proper Drawback Sub-desk to have the required Chinese documents (if any) attached to them, 
 after which they pass to the Clearance Desk. If the Application is for a Foreign port, it passes, 
 after having been copied into the Daily Sheet, direct to the Clearance Desk. [The Chinese Clerk 
 at this Sub-desk has also to write headings in English on all Chinese documents (Duty Proofs, 
 Exemption Certificates, etc.,) issued to accompany cargo to Native ports.] 
 
( i8 ) 
 
 IV. — The Drawback Desk 
 
 Is one of the most important Desks in the Office. It is presided over by a Clerk of 
 experience, whose principal duty is to keep a register of all ordinary Drawbacks applied for 
 and granted. For this purpose six registers are kept, one for each of the four kinds of 
 [ordinary] Drawbacks viz. : — 
 
 for Foreign goods to Foreign ports, 
 „ Foreign goods to Native ports, 
 „ Native goods to Foreign ports, and 
 „ Native goods to Native ports ; one 
 [ „ Cash Drawbacks, and one 
 „ Special Drawbacks.] 
 
 [The use of the Cash Drawback book dates from a comparatively recent period. At the 
 instance of the German Minister, the Tsungli YamSn consented that from and after the ist day of 
 the 1st moon of the 3rd year of Kwangsu (13th February 1877), Drawbacks for the Import Duty 
 upon merchandise of undoubted Foreign origio, subsequently re-exported to Foreign countries 
 within three years from the date of first importation, should be issued, provided such merchandise 
 were re-exported in the original packages, with marks and numbers unchanged ; and that such 
 Drawbacks issued after the above-mentioned date might be used for the payment of duty as 
 theretofore, or be exchanged for ready money at the Haikwan Bank, at the option of the recipient. 
 The form of Drawback for Foreign goods re-exported to Foreign ports issued by the Superintendent 
 was accordingly modified so as to embody these new regulations. Such Drawbacks are in the 
 first instance received and signed for in the register in the same manner as all other Drawbacks. 
 Should the recipient desire subsequently to convert his ordinary into a Cash Drawback, he hands 
 in an application to this effect, accompanied by the Drawbacks he desires to convert, to this 
 Desk. These are then entered in the Cash Drawback Register (so that they now bear two numbers, 
 one that of the series of ordinary Drawbacks, the other that of the series of Cash Drawbacks), the 
 Customs Banker is notified by the Foreign Imports Ledger Sub-desk (8) that Drawbacks for such 
 and such sums are to be converted into cash, and the Drawbacks are sent to the Commissioner to 
 receive his signature and seal. When calling to receive the Drawbacks, the merchant signs the 
 register, and then upon their presentation at the bank he receives ready money in exchange ; 
 such Drawbacks, so signed and sealed by the Commissioner, are no longer available for the 
 payment of duties.] 
 
 As explained above in describing the Export Desk, all Re-export Applications pass from 
 the Numbering Sub-desk, first to the Drawback Clerk, where the nature of the Chinese documents 
 asked for is noted upon them. The Applications then go to the proper Imports Ledger Sub- 
 desk, where the Re-export is written off in the Duty Ledger, and a red-note Application, 
 addressed to the Superintendent, made out for the document required. Exemption Certificates 
 and Duty Proofs are filled in and granted at once by a Clerk of the Superintendent's, who 
 has an office in the Custom House, but Drawbacks are made out in the Taotai's Yamen in 
 the city. 
 
( '9 ) 
 
 The Clerk at this desk has also to receive and investigate Applications for Special 
 Drawbacks. The more common grounds upon which these are claimed are — 
 
 (a.) For Shut-out Goods, i.e. where an Export Duty has been paid, but the goods have 
 
 not been shipped, a refund of the duty is claimed. 
 (6.) For Short-landed Goods, where an Application has been made to land goods, and 
 the duty paid, but it is subsequently ascertained that the goods have not come 
 in the vessel named, 
 (c.) For Sea-damaged Goods, i.e. where full duty has been paid on goods, but it is 
 subsequently found that they have sustained damage on the voyage. A 
 reduction in duty is allowed in proportion to the deterioration in value. 
 (d.) For Excess Duty paid on account of an erroneous description of the goods having 
 been given, etc., etc., etc. 
 [Special investigation is necessary in each of these cases. Thus, when application is 
 made for a Drawback because the goods were shut out, confirmation of the claim is sought from 
 the entry of the goods concerned in the Shut-out Register ; similarly in the case of goods short- 
 landed, the claim must be supported by the wharfinger's report of goods short-landed. When 
 Drawback is claimed on the ground of the goods being sea-damaged, it is usual to send an 
 Examiner round to the applicant's godown to insi>ect the goods in question ; he notes the 
 result of his examination upon the Application, and the merchant has then to supply the Office 
 with a survey report from a known broker ("claims of this sort arise, generally speaking, in 
 respect of Piece Good.s), or, if tlie goods are disposed of at auction, with the account sales. The 
 Application has therefore to sliow that the market value of the goods when sound is so much, 
 and that in their damaged condition they are worth so much, or realised at auction so much per 
 cent. less. Another class of cases giving rise to Apfdications to Special Drawback occurs in 
 respect of Canton cargo, when the original Canton Duty Proof is not forthcoming when 
 application is made to land or tranship. In addition to the levy of half duty (if due), full duty 
 is then levied ; but the subsequent production of the original Duty Proof is sufficient title to the 
 issue, upon application, of a Drawback for the full duty thus levied.] 
 
 [It maj^ be noted that Drawl>acks for Foreign goods re-exported to Foreign countries are, 
 as a general rule, granted to the re-exporters, these latter having obtained a Pass for the goods, 
 with its attendant privileges, from the importers. Japan Tea is, however, an exception, the 
 Drawback in this case being issued not to the re-exporters, but to the original importers.] 
 The Sub-desks under the Drawback Desk are — 
 
 (7) The Numbering Sub-desk, the function of which has already been described under the 
 
 Export Desk. 
 
 (8) The Foreign Imports Ledger Sub-desk and (9) the Coast Imports Ledger Sub-desk. 
 As already explained, it is at these two Sub-desks that the Import particulars given for Foreign 
 goods and Native goods respectively are verified, re-exportations written oft' [and the memoranda 
 of the Chinese documents required made out and sent to the Superintendent's Shupan, that 
 application for them may be made to the Yamen]. River produce is similarly dealt with at 
 
 (10) The River [Steamer] Imports Ledger Sub-desk [River produce imported by other 
 vessels than River steamers being dealt with at the Coast Imports Ledger Sub-desk]; but it 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 has to be poiuted out that the Duty Ledgers of this Sub-desS are prepared in a different way 
 from that in which the ledgers of the last two Sub-desks are made out. It will be remembered 
 that the Foreign and Coast Trade Duty Ledgers are written up from the small Duty Day-books 
 which are kept at the Duty Memo. Sub-desk ; but as no duty is paid in Shanghai on River 
 produce, and the Duty Memo. Desk can therefore furnish no data, the required ledgers are made 
 up from the Duty-paid Certificate of her cargo which each River steamer brings down with her. 
 
 [Duty upon Imports by River steamer having been paid prior to shipment at the port of 
 export, no Drawbacks are granted at this Office upon the re-export of the goods; but in Heu 
 thereof a Certificate of Re-exportation is granted, which is issued to the re-exporter to enable him 
 upon its presentation at the port of shipment to obtain there either a Drawback, if the goods be 
 re-exported abroad, or to cancel his bond, if the goods are such that they can only be shipped to 
 a Native port under bond, or for which a bond is accepted in lieu of payment of half duty ; 
 except in the case of Tea, when the Re-export Certificate is granted to the importer. The 
 Register of such certificates is kept at (V) the Transit Pass Desk] 
 
 [Each morning the Drawbacks which have been received from the Superintendent the 
 previous day, and upon which a Chinese Clerk has already written the particulars in English — viz., 
 the name of the firm making application, the goods, amount, and names and numbers of the 
 importing and re-exporting vessels, — are brought to the Foreign Clerk. They are sorted into the 
 four kinds for each of which there is a register, and the amount endorsed upon them by the 
 Linguist is transcribed into the appropriate register. The Drawbacks belonging to each firm are 
 then put aside separately to await the application of its agent, when they are handed to him, he 
 signing the register in proof of receipt. Attempts to defraud the revenue by obtaining Drawbacks 
 under false pretences are not infrequently inade by a certain class of Chinese merchants, or 
 Foreign brokers acting on their behalf For example, a merchant will import from Japan a 
 certain quantity of (say) second quality Ginseng, he will pick out the large pieces and sell them 
 as Ginseng of a higher quahty, the remainder he will mix with Refuse Ginseng, and then, having 
 packed it in cases bearing the marks of the otiginal importation, attempt to re-export it to 
 Hongkong as part of the original consignment, and claim Drawback of the duty upon second 
 quality Ginseng, the duty amounting perhaps to more than the value of the reshipment. In the 
 case of Ginseng the Clerk at this Desk should therefore be careful to have the weight of each 
 package shown by examination upon reshipment checked with the weight of each package upon 
 importation, as shown upon the Import Particulars Memo. For the same reason, when goods 
 imported from a Native port are shortly after re-exported to the same port, he should be 
 careful to verify that the reshipment is a portion or the whole of the original import. In many 
 cases where there exist two qualities of the same goods, the inferior is substituted for the 
 superior upon reshipment, and Drawback upon the latter claimed.] 
 
 V. — The Tkansit Pass Desk 
 
 Is so called because part of its work is to receive all Applications for and to issue Transit 
 Passes [for goods to the interior]. The Apphcations [for Inward Transit Passes] ^when first 
 handed in are passed on to the Numbering Sub-desk to receive the number of the importing 
 vessel, and thence to the Foreign Imports Ledger Sub-desk, where the goods for which Transit 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 Pass is asked are written off in the Duty Ledger and the Application to the Superintendent for 
 the Pass made out. As soon as the document is received, it is sent, with the Application, to tlie 
 Transit Pass Desk, to he entered in the Register of Transit Passes and issued fo the ji.pplicant. 
 
 [To'ansit Fasses Outward. — The triplicate memorandum, wliich according to the original 
 Transit Rules should he exchanged for a Transit Certificate at the first baii-ier the goods pass 
 after purchase, but which in this district has been allowed to take the place, of t])e Certificate, 
 is applied for in a variety of ways. In some cases {e.g., British subjects) the merchant makes 
 application through both his Consul and this office to the Superintendent; in otliers (if 
 American) he applies only to his Consul, who addresses not tlie Su|)erintendent, but the Commis- 
 sioner; in others, again {e.g. French or Spanish subjects), a[)plication is ma,de, as in the case of 
 American subjects, to the Consul alone, who addresses the Superintendent direct. The triplicate 
 memoranda are in all cases sent direct to the applicant's Consul. It has thus been impossible 
 for this Office to keep a proper register of anything more iliau the Passes surrendered; it had no 
 record of what Passes had been issued and of what remained at any time uncancelled. The 
 Superintendent, however, having lately consented to supply this Office so soon as he issues a Pass 
 with a memorandum containing the necessary details — number of Pass, name and nationality of 
 applicant, description and quantity of goods to be purchased, and the place of purchase, — the foim 
 of register has been somewhat modified so as to make it a Register of Transit Passes Issued, showing 
 at a glance Avhat Passes have been surrendered and what remain still uncancelled. When one of 
 these memoranda is received from the Superintendent, the details it contains are at once posted 
 into the register. Subsequently, when application is made to pay Transit Duty, t,lie date of 
 pa}'ment and amount paid are added, and when the goods are re-exported abroad, the necessary 
 particulars — date of shipment and' name and number of the vessel — are added to complete 
 the history of the transaction. A small separate book is kept as a Register of Outward 
 Transit Dues.] 
 
 This Desk also keeps a register of all Re-export Certificates, i.e. Certificates which state 
 that such and such produce brought to Shanghai in a River steamer, having therefore paid a 
 whole and a half duty at the port of shipment, has been re-exported, and that the holder of the 
 Certificate, on presenting it at the port from which the goods came, Avill receive a refund of 
 the half duty paid. [This register is framed upon the same model as the Drawback Registers at the 
 Drawback Desk, and contains similar details of the date of application, name of applicant, name 
 and number of the importing and re-exporting vessels, number of packages and weight of the 
 goods reshipped, number of Certificate, and the date upon which the Certificate was received 
 from the Superintendent. In it likewise the applicants acknowledge by signature their receipt 
 of the Certificates.] 
 
 A register of Ningpo Tea Bonds is also kept at this Desk. Tea imported from Ningpo is 
 always intended for re-exportation, and instead of asking the importer to pay the Coast Trade 
 Duty in cash, he is required to give a Bond for the amount of the duty. These Bonds are 
 recorded in a register, with details as to the lots imported under each, and on the opposite page 
 the lots are written off as they are re-exported. If at the end of the year there is any lot or 
 portion of a lot unwritten off, the importer who has given the Bond is called upon to pny the 
 lialf duty for that amount. 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 These are the three principal items which constitute the work of this Desk. [At it also 
 the bonds which have to be entered into by the shipper when exporting Rice, Wheat, or Copper 
 Cash to a Treaty Port are made out, as are the corresponding certificates sent to the port of 
 destination. When the total of such shipments corresponds with the corresponding entries upon 
 the Manifest, the Bond, Bond Certificate, and Applications are sent on to the Chief Clerk's Desk,, 
 the Applications to be initialled by him, the Bond Certificate to be signed and sealed, and then 
 handed to the Clearance Desk, and the Bond to be retained until the Bond Certificate be returned 
 from the port of destination, duly endorsed to the effect that the quantity of goods stated upon- 
 it has been landed there. It is then returned to the exporter.] 
 
 VI. — River Steamer Desk. 
 All Applications to land or ship cargo by River steamers [Opium excepted] are passed at 
 the River Steamer Desk. It is an Import and Export and Clearance Desk combined; but the 
 work is modified by the special rules affecting trade in River steamers. The payment of Coast 
 Trade Duty at the port of departure, not at the port of arrival, simplifies the work and makes it 
 possible to get through the business of entering or clearing each steg.mer and her cargo with 
 much greater despatch than is possible in the case of vessels trading under the ordinary 
 regulations. i 
 
 In the case of Exports by River steamers no Chinese documents are issued by this Office, 
 and the time that would be required to prepare and check these is saved. The Cargo Certificate 
 becomes the sole document to guide the port of destination. 
 
 In the case of Imports by a River steamer, the work of entering her is much expedited by 
 the fact that nearly ninety-nine hundredths of her cargo are landed by the same applicants — the- 
 agents of the steamer. As soon as a steamer enters, all her documents are placed on the River 
 Steamer Desk at the same time, viz.: — 
 (a.) The Manifest. 
 (b.) The Cargo Certificate, 
 (c.) The Duty-paid Certificates. 
 (d.) Tbe Applications to Land. 
 (e.) The Delivery Orders. 
 The Clerk, with the aid of a Chinese Assistant, at once sets to Avork and checks these- 
 document in pairs, — 
 
 first (a.) and (b.) together, 
 then (b.) „ (c.) „ 
 „ (b.) „ (d.) „ 
 „ (d) „ (e.) 
 If they are all found to agree, the Delivery Order is stamped and issued. 
 
 [When goods are intended for transhipment, the Shipping Order is handed in with the- 
 Application to Land. If they are in order, both documents are stamped, and an entry of the 
 particulars made upon the Cargo Certificate in red ink. As the Cargo Certificates from the ports 
 of shipment are allowed to be opened en route, the Applications to Land agree as a rule in every 
 particular with the Customs documents; they are indeed little else but a copy of them.] 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 [When cargo (Opium excepted) previously shipped to a Yangtze port is re-imported 
 therefrom, an Import Particulars Memo, is made out and sent to the wliarf at which the 
 importing steamer is lying. This Memo., when returned l)y the Examining Officer with the 
 result of his examination noted on it, is compared with the oiigin.d A|iplication to Ship, and if 
 these documents agree, the Delivery Order is stamped; if they do not agree, the case is referred 
 •to the Chief Clerk for his decision or for reference to the Commissioner. In the case of 
 re-importations of Opium, the entry upon the Cargo Certificate is simply marked off and the 
 Application sent on to the Duty Memo. Desk, that the particulars may he looked np in the 
 Opium records and, if found to be correct, the usual Duty-paid Certificate issued to the 
 applicant.] 
 
 [The same rules as regards the examination of outward cargo are followed at this Desk as 
 are followed in the case of shipments hy vessels not being River steamers, as already described 
 under Duty Memo. Desk. Nine-tenths, however, of the cargo consists of Re-exports. The 
 Applications, before reaching this Desk, have been already taken to the Numbering Sub-desk 
 (7), where the Customs numbers of the importing and re-exporting vessels have been added, and 
 thence to the appropriate Imports Ledger Sub-desk (8 or 9), that the particulars of import may 
 be checked and, if found to be correct, the amount re-shipped written off against the original 
 import entry. It remains, however, for the Clerk at this Desk to carefully check the Import 
 particulars given on the Application with those of the Passes attached to it before stamping 
 the Permit to Ship. The manner in which these are stamped has already been described under 
 the heading of ExpoH BenJc. The Applications having been passed are taken to (11) River 
 Steamer Cargo Certificate Sub-desk, where they are copied by the Chinese Clerk into the Cargo 
 Certificate.] 
 
 [When application is made to clear the vessel, an Export ^Manifest is handed in, which is 
 carefully checked with the Cargo Certificates. If there be any discrepancy between these 
 documents, it must be corrected before the Clearance is given up. Everything being in order, 
 and the Duty Sheet checked, to ensure that upon all ihe cargo shipped duty has been paid, the 
 Cargo Certificates are signed and sealed by the Clerk at this Desk, and then sent on to the 
 Chinese Cargo Certificate Desk (13), to be there checked with the Chinese Cargo Certificate.] 
 
 [When cargo is shut out, a Memorandum of the goods is sent to this Desk by the 
 Examining Officer under whose surveillance the vessel is. The shipper is then called upon to 
 amend his Application, and the agents the steamer's Manifest, the Clerk at this Desk noting on 
 the Passes covering the goods that the shipments in question have been shut out; he likewise 
 has made out and forwards to the port concerned a " Shut-out Cargo Certificate " for the goods.] 
 
 [The Duty Sheets of the vessel are totalled up and handed to the Clerk at the Clearance 
 Desk, that their amounts may be entered in the Port Clearance Book.] 
 
 VII. — Chinese Cargo Certificate Desk. 
 
 The duty of this Desk and of its two Sub-desks, 
 
 (12) Coast Ports Chinese Cargo Certificate Sub-desk, and 
 
 (13) Uiver Ports Chinese Cargo Certificate Sub-desk, 
 
 .is, as their names imply, to prepare the Chinese versions of the Cargo Certificates. 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 Each of these Sub-desks employs a Chinese Clerk and two Shnpan. [At Sub-desk (i2)' 
 the Chinese Clerk translates from the English Cargo Certificate (the Applications being required 
 elsewhere), at Sub-desk (13) from the Applications in the order in which they reach him, while 
 "the two Shnpan write from his dictation, one on the Cargo Certificate and one on the butt.] 
 *- These Sub-desks are placed close to the corresponding Sub-desks at which the English Cargo- 
 Certificates are being prepared, and the Applications as dealt with are arranged in pigeon-holes- 
 according to vessels in such a way that the Chinese Clerk on the Chinese side can draw out and 
 translate each Application immediately after it has been copied by the Clerk on the English side. 
 The preparation of the two versions of the Cargo Certificate thus goes on simultaneously. The 
 two versions are checked by the [Foreign] Clerk in charge of the Desk as the sheets are completed. 
 
 VIII. — Cleakance Desk. 
 
 [Under Treaty the Customs Clearance or Grand Chop should be issued to a vessel only 
 after the payment of all duties due upon both her Import and Export cargoes had been 
 completed. The serious delay in the movements of steamers and the inconvenience to trade- 
 generally which a rigid enforcement of this rule would entail have, however, led to its abandon- 
 ment long since in the case of lines of steamers regularly trading at the port, and it is now 
 customary, instead of insisting upon payment in full of all Import Duties prior to Clearance, to- 
 accept from the agents a guarantee for their payment. This guarantee, which must be signed 
 by the agents and another firm, as co-guarantors, before the former's Consul, stipulates that 
 " in consideration of the Commissioner of Customs at Shanghai agreeing to grant, and granting- 
 when applied for, 'General Discharge Permits' for and — all Export Duties having been paid — 
 Clearances of, steamers belonging to or consigned to such and such a firm, they do thereby- 
 jointly and severally guarantee the payment of all duties due on the inward cargo of such 
 steamers to the said Commissioner of Customs within six days from the date of clearance;: 
 and they also jointly and severally guarantee that none of the goods landed under the 'General 
 Discharge Permit ' shall be removed from the wharf or godown named in the ' General Discharge- 
 Permit ' without a Stamped Permit from the said Commissioner of Customs."] 
 
 [Steamers. — When a steamer the payment of the duties upon whose import cargo is- 
 covered by such a guarantee is about to clear, the Export Manifest is handed in by her agents to 
 this Desk ; and the name of the vessel, port of destination, and particulars of cargo having been 
 entered in the Daily Clearance Book, it is here carefully checked — with the Cargo Certificate, if 
 the vessel be clearing for a Treaty Port, and with the Daily Sheet, if going abroad, — in order ta 
 ensure that the Manifest contains no item for which an Application has not been handed in, and 
 that all items which have been applied for are upon it. If any discrepancy between these two 
 documents is found, the Applications to Ship are looked up and the error corrected. The Export 
 Manifest being in due order, it is then the Clerk's duty to see 
 
 1°, that all items on the Import Manifest hnve been applied for, or, if they have 
 not been, to require the agent to hand to the Import Desk a "General 
 Application" for all the entries which remain un passed by that Desk; 
 2", that duty has been paid upon all Export Cargo applied for ; and 
 3°, that the vessel is provided with an unexpired Tonnage Dues Certificate.] 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 The above requirements being complied with, [it is noted in the Daily Clearance Book above 
 referred to, under the headings "Import" and "Export," that all is in order, and] a Memorandum 
 is given to the captain [or agent] which enables him to obtain his ship's papers from his Consul. 
 The Customs papers (Cargo Certificates, Chinese documents. Tonnage Dues Certificate, etc.,) are 
 handed to the Clearance Officer, who does not deliver them to the captain until he has ascertained 
 that all the cargo cleared at the Custom House has actually been received on board, and has 
 taken a proper note of whatever packages have been shut out. [The Cargo Certificate and 
 Chinese documents are handed to the Clearance Ofiicer unsealed, and it is his duty to note on the 
 former, opposite the appropriate entry, that so many packages have been shut out, and to 
 withdraw the corresponding Exemption Certificate or Duty Proof, in all cases where any portion 
 of the quantity applied for has been shut out. When the goods so shut out are of a Native 
 origin, an amended document is sent forward by the next opportunity; but when they are 
 Foreign goods a Drawback is granted for the quantity sent forward and duty upon them levied 
 at the port of destination. He likewise enters these particulars in the " Shut-out Book," and 
 hands it the next morning to the Clerk at the Clearance Desk. It is then the latter's duty 
 to search out the Applications covering the goods shut out, to see that the agent brings the 
 applicants to the Office to amend their Applications, and when this has been done, that he him- 
 self makes corresponding corrections in the Export Manifest.] 
 
 [Should the steamer not be clearing under guarantee, the same procedure is followed, 
 excepting that no "General Application" is accepted; all the import cargo must then have been 
 applied for, and all duties upon it paid.] 
 
 [Sailing Vessels. — The treatment of sailing vessels, when clearing, is in the main the same 
 as that of steamers, yet differs from it in a few particulars. Thus all the Import cargo must be . 
 applied for and all duties upon it paid before the vessel can clear. Before the Manifest is 
 checked by the Clerk at this Desk he informs the Daily Sheet Sub-desk that the vessel in 
 question is clearing and then sends the Manifest to the Clearance Officer, who checks it with the 
 mate's receipts of cargo actually placed on board. By these means it is at once known what 
 cargo, if any, is shut out, and the necessary alterations in the various documents can be made. 
 When, therefore, all formahties have been complied with, the Cargo Certificates and other 
 documents are handed in a sealed cover to the captain direct.] 
 
 As soon as all a vessel's duties have been paid, and her paper^ made up and completed, 
 the Clearance Clerk, with the aid of the Chinese Clerk attached to his Desk, makes up the sum 
 of the various duties paid — Import, Export, Coast Trade, etc., — distinguishing the actual cash 
 paid from the payments in Drawbacks, and [after he has carefully checked his own figures with 
 the Grand Chop and the printed letter forwarding to the Superintendent all the Chinese 
 documents relating to the vessel, and forming a statement in detail of the duties paid by her, 
 which are made up by the Shupan at the Duty Posting Sub-desk,] enters the various amounts 
 in detail in the Port Clearance Book. 
 
 [This Desk keeps a "Kegister of Tonnage Dues," into which each payment of Tonnage 
 Dues as made is entered, under the heading of Foreign or Native flag, as the case may be. 
 It is totalled at the end of each month and handed for countersignature to the Deputy 
 Commissioner, with a memorandum for the information of the Tay Office, showing the total 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 receipts, the three-tenths, to be retained by the Superintendent, and the seven-tenths for wliich 
 the Commissioner is entitled to apply.] 
 
 [Here also are kept a Kegister of Tug-boats, showing the date when their Tonnage Dues 
 Certificates expire, and a Register of Vessels Cleared under Guarantee. This latter register shows 
 the date upon which each vessel cleared and the date upon which her accounts have been finally 
 closed. Its object is to enable the Clerk at this Desk to see at a glance those vessels the duties 
 upon whose inward cargoes have not been paid within the guaranteed time, and after informing 
 himself of the reason for this delay, to call the attention of the Chief Clerk to the fact, that he 
 may communicate with the agents.] 
 
 The List of Vessels Cleared, for publication in the Customs Daily Returns, is made out at 
 this Desk [from the Daily Clearance Book]. 
 
 (14) The Sorting Room attached to this Desk is the haven into which flow all the 
 Applications and Manifests which pass through the Office. They are here sorted and arranged 
 so as to be readily accessible for future reference. 
 
 It is also the duty of the Chinese Clerk in this room to enter on their respective boards 
 all vessels as soon as they have been reported by the Consul, or, in the case of Chinese vessels, 
 when their papers have been handed in. 
 
 In this room also are made out Bonds and Bond Certificates for Rice, Copper Cash, etc. 
 
 IX. — The Chief Clerk's Desk. 
 
 In addition to exercising a general surveillance over the Office, the Chief Clerk keeps 
 under his special charge the records of the movements of Munitions of War, Permits to Land and 
 Ship which are always passed by himself. He also signs all Permits to Repack Goods, [to refire 
 Japan Tea,] and general Permits to Discharge Cargo into Wharves, and also, in the case of mail 
 steamers and steamers of Holt's line, Permits to Land " Musters " before the vessels have entered 
 at the Custom House. 
 
 [He keeps all the Tea, Grain, and Copper Cash Bonds, and signs all Bond Certificates and 
 Applications for Rice and Wheat shipped duty free under Mien-chao; signs and stamps all Duty- 
 free Applications issued by the Superintendent for officials' personal efiects ; and (a duty which 
 requires a large expenditure of time) inspects all invoices handed in for goods desired to be 
 passed without examination, and checks the weight, value, and quantity given therein with those 
 stated upon the Application. He also signs the accounts of vessels cleared as entered in the Port 
 Clearance Book after checking them with the Grand Chop and detailed statement sent to the 
 Superintendent, as well as the entries of Transit, Opium, and Miscellaneous duties in the same 
 book. He collects daily all sums due for permission to work during holidays or beyond the 
 usual hours, keeps the register of them, and transmits them to the Pay Office ; and cancels and 
 returns to Chinkiang all Bond Certificates for goods brought vid that port under Transit Pass by 
 inland waters.] 
 
 (15) The principal duty of the Chief Chinese Clerk, in addition to having a general 
 control under the Chief Clerk of the Chinese In-door Staif, is to translate into English Applica- 
 tions handed in in Chinese. [He keeps the Register of Bond Certificates received from. 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 other ports for Rice, Copper Cash, etc. He also receives and registers all petitions handed in 
 with regard to seizures, and makes known to the petitioners the Commissioner's decision in the 
 matter. In the case of reshipments of Munitions of War and the shipment of goods which the 
 Superintendent has specially exempted from duty, he notes upon the Applications the date of 
 the Superintendent's letter on the matter, and submits them to the Deputy Commissioner. This 
 portion of the work is increasing with great rapidity.] 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 COURSE OF APPLICATIONS THROUGH THE OFFICE. 
 
 IMPOKT APPLICATIONS, 
 
 1°, are handed in, accompanied by Bills of Lading or Delivery Orders, countersigned by the 
 Agents of the importing vessel, to the Import Desk, to be checked, if the vessel's entry have 
 been completed, inter se and with the vessel's Manifest, then (the routine for Applications 
 covering goods passed without examination and those covering goods subjected to examina- 
 tion differing somewhat) — 
 
 A, if the Applications cover goods which are not examined, i.e., Piece Goods and 
 
 merchandise paying an ad valorem, duty, for which the production of the covering 
 invoice is accepted in lieu of examination, — 
 
 2°, to the Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk, to be numbered and registered; ,, 
 3°, to the Duty Memo. Desk, that the senior Clerk may see that all necessary 
 details are given for the levy of duty, and that the Duty Memo, may be 
 issued after having been checked by the junior Clerk; 
 4°, to the ImpoH Particulars Mbttio. Sub-desk, to await the arrival of the 
 Banker's Receipt for duty. 
 
 B, if the Applications cover goods which are examined, i.e.. Foreign goods other than 
 
 those above mentioned, or Native goods (those by steamer from Ningpo or by 
 lorcha excepted), then — 
 
 2°, the Applications, having been stamped "For examination," pass to the 
 Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk (going en route, when they cover 
 Native Sugar, to the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, to be checked with the Cargo 
 Certificate), that, if they be not accompanied by a duplicate, this document 
 (Import Particulars Memo.) may be made out. The Applications having 
 been checked at Duty Memo. Sub-desk with the importing vessel's Cargo 
 Certificate, if there be one, the Import Particulars Memos, are sent to the 
 Examining Officer, and the Applications pass for the purposes above 
 described — 
 
 3", to the Import Duty Sheet Sub-desk; 
 
 4°, to the Duty Memo. Desk; 
 
 5", again to the Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk; 
 
 6°, from the Import Particulars Memo. Sub-desk, Applications, with Duty 
 Receipts attached, pass to the Duty Memo. Desk, where they are stamped 
 "Import Duties paid," and this stamp initialled by the senior Clerk. In 
 the case of goods examined, the Import Particulars Memo, is stamped and 
 initialled in the same way, and sent to the Officer under whose surveillance 
 the goods are, as his authority to release; in the case of goods not 
 examined, the applications are returned — 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 7°, to the Import Desk, that they and the Bill of Lading or Delivery Order 
 may be stamped and the latter issued to the applicant; 
 
 8°, thence (or, for goods examined, from the Duty Memo. Desk direct) to 
 Import Duty Sheet Svh-desk, to have amount of duty entered upon the 
 Duty Sheet; then, lastly, 
 
 9°, to the Sorting Room. 
 
 '€, Opium Applications, 
 
 a, to import and place on board a Receiving Hulk. 
 
 For such Applications, the duty of checking the Application, the signed Bill of 
 Lading, the Keceipt Order addressed to the commanding officer of the 
 hulk, and the vessel's Manifest, devolves upon the Duty Memo. Desk, the 
 Clerk at which initials the Manifest and Application, and initials, dates, 
 and stamps the Delivery and Receiving Orders. He retains the Appli- 
 cation till the following morning, when he posts the particulars into the 
 proper Hulk Ledger, and passes on the Application to the Import Duty 
 Sheet Sub-desk, and thence to the Sorting Room. 
 
 b, to land. 
 
 In this case the Application is accompanied by a Hulk Delivery Order (and if 
 the applicant be a Native, by an Opium Permit), if the Opium be landed 
 from a hulk, and by the usual Bill of Lading, if landed direct from the 
 importing vessel. The routine is the same as above, except that a Duty 
 Memo, is issued and the arrival of the Duty Receipt awaited before the 
 Delivery Order is stamped. 
 
 EXPORT APPLICATIONS, 
 
 '1°, are taken to the Duty Memo. Desk, that the senior Clerk may decide whether the goods shall 
 be examined or no, and stamp the Application accordingly; 
 
 2', to the Export Duty Sheet Sub-desk, to be numbered and registered; 
 
 3°, if the goods are not to be examined, direct to the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, for issue of Duty 
 Memo.; but if they are to be examined, the Application is sent to the Examining Officer, 
 who after examination returns it to the Duty Memo. Desk, whence (unless there be a serious 
 case of discrepancy requiring reference to the Chief Clerk and Commissioner) it passes, 
 as above, to the Duty Memo. Sub-desk, and, after issue of Duty Memo., 
 
 4°, to Export Duty Sheet Sub-desk, that, on arrival of Duty Receipt, amount of duty may be 
 entered on the Duty Sheet; 
 
 5^ with Duty Receipt and Shipping Order attached, to ExpoH Desk, to be stamped; 
 
 6", to Daily Sheet Sub-desk, that particulars be entered in Cargo Certificate or Daily Sheet; 
 
 7 , to Sorting Room. 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 RE-EXPORT APPLICATIONS, 
 a, to Foreign Countries: 
 
 1°, are taken to the Export Desk, where, unless special application has been made to the 
 contrary, and sanctioned by the Chief Clerk, they are stamped "To be brought to the 
 Jetty for examination," or if re-packed goods, "Goods re-packed to be examined," (in 
 applicant's godowns); 
 
 2°, Applications having been returned by Examining OflScer, signed and stamped by him, 
 and stamped by Superintendent's Weiyiian, go, with Passes and Shipping Orders 
 attached, to the Numbering Sub-desk, to have the Customs numbers of the importing 
 and re-exporting vessels added; 
 
 3°, to Drawback Desk, that the Chinese document required may be noted upon them; 
 
 4°, to Imports Ledger Sub-desk, to have the particulars given by the applicant verified, the 
 quantity of goods re-exported written off against the appropriate import entry, and the 
 formal application for the requisite Chinese documents made out; 
 
 5°, again to the Export Desk, that the details given in the Applications and Passes may be 
 checked, and, if these be correct, the Shipping Orders stamped; thence 
 
 6°, to the Daily Sheet Sub-desk, that the goods may be entered on the Daily Sheet; and 
 
 7°, to the Sorting Room. 
 
 h, to Native Ports: 
 
 1°, to the Nu/mberimg Sub-desk; 
 
 2°, to the Drawback Desk; 
 
 3°, to the Impoo'ts Ledger Sub-desk; 
 
 4°, to the Export Desk; 
 
 5°, to the Daily Sheet Sub-desk; 
 
 6°, to the Sorting Room, being in each case treated as above described. 
 
 C, Opvwm: 
 
 1°, to Duty Memo. Desk, to be checked with Hulk Delivery Order and Shipping Order; then- 
 after the particulars have been posted into the proper ledger, 
 2°, to Daily Sheet Sub-desk or Biver Steamer Cargo Certificate Desk; and 
 3°, to Sorting Boom. 
 
»r