PORT REVENUES 
The heaping and blending of tea. 
The husking, polishing and sizing of coffee beans. 
The sampling and garbling of tobacco. 
In the compilation of port rates on goods, care is 
necessary to ascertain the amount which such goods can 
bear in relation to the market in which they are sold. It 
would be possible by imposts of too heavy a nature to 
bring about the diversion of goods to another port, where 
conditions are, perhaps, more favourable or less onerous. 
The schedule of port rates on goods should therefore be 
revised from time to time and consideration given to 
market conditions and to other circumstances which may 
affect the situation. 
The whole subject of the levying of port rates and 
charges needs careful investigation at the hands of com- 
petent officials. The trade of a port is a delicate growth 
which is developed by the presence, or retarded by the 
absence, of favourable conditions. The effect of high 
rates is to depress it or to stunt its development. In any 
case, the rates imposed must be recouped by the merchant 
from his customers, and the effect of an increase or decrease 
in the rates will be reflected in the retail price of the 
commodity in the shops, and will therefore become a 
matter of personal interest to the individual members of 
the port community, though this fact, not being very 
obvious, is sometimes lost sight of. 
From the point of view of the importer, however, it 
should be mentioned that, owing to the great diversity 
of the ““ custom of the port,” it is not an easy matter to 
make an effective and reliable comparison of the rates 
and charges at rival ports. It can be done, of course, but 
superficial comparisons are liable to be misleading, and 
it is necessary to have a full and complete knowledge of 
all the services comprised under the respective rates. 
This can rarely be obtained otherwise than by practical 
experience. 
For guidance in regard to the payment of rates on 
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