after paying their regular import duty, were not liable to likin or
transit dues till they reached a certain barrier at some distance inland.
Opium could be taxed as soon as it left the importer's hands. But this
right, which applied to opium only, had been used by the Chinese against
all imports, a clear infraction of treaty which the German Consul, among
others, had protested against. But as some doubt existed as to where the
first inland barrier really stood, Sir Thomas Wade proposed to make the
circuit of the foreign settlement the limit of exemption from duty. But
foreseeing that, if the likin Collectorate were banished from the
port-areas, opium would evade paying the likin tax, he proposed also to
recommend that the likin, as well as the import duty, on opium should be
collected by the foreign Inspectorate, and that for this purpose the opium
should be bonded in a warehouse or receiving hulk till such time as the
importer had paid the import due and the purchaser had paid the likin. He
further proposed as a fair likin tax forty taels per picul (though certain
that the Chinese did not get more than 30) on all Indian opium, that
brought to Hongkong included. Thus the whole duty (import and likin) on
opium would be seventy taels a picul, which would yield 6,117,930 taels,
or a million more than under the old system. But the Chinese Commissioner,
Prince Kung, objected to a uniform duty of forty taels, as too low, and
suggested sixty taels a picul, or an adherence to the different rates
prevailing in different ports. Sir Thomas Wade, though averse to the
higher uniform rate, was willing to consider the other alternative,
provided that he were informed of the exact position of the next inland
Collectorate, and the amount of rates levied. Further, the Chinese
Government must guarantee that no second Collectorate should be
established between the port Collectorate and the first of the present
inland Collectorates. It was agreed by the Chefoo Convention[32] that this
collection of the dues on opium by the foreign customs under these
conditions should be tried for five years at Shanghae.

Neither the Indian nor the English Government have raised any serious
objection to this convention, and the only reason why it is not ratified
yet is that the other Treaty Powers will not join in the Shanghae
agreement, unless China consents to abolish likin on goods other than
opium. Until these other Powers do give in their adhesion, ou