it or at the place of destination. The two together amount on
an average to about taels 1.50 per picul of 133-1/2 lb or 3s. 9d. per
cwt. The total collection returned by the various salt collectorates
amounts to taels 13,500,000 (L2,025,000) per annum. The total
consumption of salt for all China is estimated at 25 million piculs,
or nearly 1-1/2 million tons, which is at the rate of 9 lb per annum
per head of the population. If the above amount of taels 1.50 were
uniformly levied and returned, the revenue would be 37-1/2 million
taels instead of 13-1/2. In this calculation, however, no allowance is
made for the cost of collection.

3. _Likin on General Merchandise_.--By the term likin is meant a tax
on inland trade levied while in transit from one district to another.
It was originally a war tax imposed as a temporary measure to meet the
military expenditure required by the T'aip'ing and Mahommedan
rebellions of 1850-1870. It is now one of the permanent sources of
income, but at the same time it is in form as objectionable as a tax
can be, and is equally obnoxious to the native and to the foreign
merchant. Tolls or barriers are erected at frequent intervals along
all the principal routes of trade, whether by land or water, and a
small levy is made at each on every conceivable article of commerce.
The individual levy is small, but over a long transit it may amount to
15 or 20%. The objectionable feature is the frequent stoppages with
overhauling of cargo and consequent delays. By treaty, foreign goods
may commute all transit dues for a single payment of one-half the
import tariff duty, but this stipulation is but indifferently
observed. It must also be remembered, per contra, that dishonest
foreign merchants will take out passes to cover _native-owned_ goods.
The difficulty in securing due observance of treaty rights lies in the
fact that the likin revenue is claimed by the provincial authorities,
and the transit dues when commuted belong to the central government,
so that the former are interested in opposing the commutation by every
means in their power. As a further means of neutralizing the
commutation they have devised a new form of impost, viz. a terminal
tax which is levied on the goods after the termination of the transit.
The amount and frequency of likin taxation are fixed by provincial
legislation--that is, by a proclamation of the governor.