REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  109
not  a  tael  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  but
was  such  a  sum  as  would  enable  the  local  authorities
to  lay  down  a  tael  of  the  standard  weight  and  purity
in  Peking,  and  consequently  included  a  meltage  fee,
loss  on  melting,  freight,  and  costs  of  transmission,
and  general  office  expenses,  and  that  all  that  turned
into  cash  meant,  according  to  old  established  custom,
12,000  cash  for  Tls.4.  Consequently  a  receipt  for
Tls.4,  the  legal  sum,  was  the  only  receipt  they  could
give.  In  other  words,  the  procedure  simply  amounted
to  this  :  that  the  costs  of  collection,  as  far  as  this
particular  collectorate  was  concerned,  came  to  nearly
100  per  cent.—that  is  to  say,  they  practically
collected  Tls.750,  of  which  Tls.350  were  the  costs
of  collecting  Tls.4.”  *
On  this  it  may  be  remarked  that,  if  12,000  cash  were
collected  in  1885,  it  is  absolutely  certain  that,  on  general
principles,  12,000  cash  are  collected  to-day  ;  and  further,
that  the  likin  levy  has  been  substantially  increased  since
1895,  and  again  since  1900.  But,  while  this  number  of  cash
in  1885  was  equivalent  to  Tls.750,  at  to-day’s  exchange  the
equivalence  is  Tls.10-50  ;  and  to  the  legal  levy  of  Tls.4  there
is  added  Tls.6  50,  an  “  accretion  ”  of  162  per  cent.  The
collectors  of  this  tax  have  much  more  opportunity  to  annoy
traders  than  is  possible  with  other  taxes  ;  the  tax  is  not  paid
at  the  head  office  either  of  the  Likin  Administration  or  of  the
traders  ;  the  latter  are  anxious  to  get  their  goods  to  market,
and  will  willingly  pay  for  expedition  ;  and  the  opportunity
of  the  collectors  recurs  at  each  barrier  to  be  passed.  Moreover, ­
  barriers  on  one  route  compete  with  those  on  another,
and  composition  and  under-declaration  are  recognised  incidents ­
  of  trade  ;  but,  while  reducing  the  amount  collected
and  reported,  it  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  supposed  that  the
collectors  will  permit  their  individual  emoluments  to  be
affected  unless  in  a  sense  favorable  to  themselves.  Students ­
  of  things  Chinese  would  promptly  reject  the  suggestion ­
  that  the  addition  for  “  collectors’  expenses,”  the
*  China  Mail.  Hongkong,  1885.