256  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
to  a  small  bulk,  and  salt  because  of  the  strictness  with
which  the  government  monopoly  is  preserved  in  China,
but  smugglers  do  not  in  China  despise  the  profits  from
evading  the  incidence  of  a  tariff  based  upon  a  5  per  centlevy,
  and  smuggling  was  universal.  The  Chinese  authorities ­
  were  driven  to  adopt  some  preventive  measures,  and
the  result  was  the  so-called  “  blockade  of  Hongkong,”  a
preventive  cordon  instituted  in  1868  and  maintiained  by
cruisers  under  the  control  of  the  native  authorities  of
Canton.  The  situation,  with  lax  native  control,  became
intolerable  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  would  maintain  the
absolute  freedom  of  those  free  ports  ;  and  in  the  Additional
Article  of  1885  to  the  Chefoo  Agreement  of  1876  between
Great  Britain  and  China,  it  was  provided  that  the  measures
for  the  repression  of  the  smuggling,  stipulated  in  the  Agreement, ­
  should  be  considered  at  once.  The  Chinese  Customs
Stations  of  Kowloon  and  Lappa  then,  in  1887,  came  inte
existence,  and,  to  avoid  the  irregularities  which  had  marked
the  old  régime,  were  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Inspectorate ­
  General  of  Customs.  These  establishments  have
their  head  offices  in  the  respective  colonies,  Hongkong  and
Macao,  for  the  mutual  convenience  of  all  concerned  ;  but
the  supervising  and  collecting  stations  and  the  preventive
cruisers  are  echelonned  outside  ;  when  the  boundaries  0
the  British  colony  were  enlarged  in  1899,  the  Kowloon
Customs  Stations  were  pushed  further  out,  so  as  to  be  in
Chinese  waters  and  on  Chinese  soil.  These  offices  conti0
the  junk  traffic  from  Chinese  ports,  mainly  in  the  Canton
district,  to  Hongkong  and  Macao  ;  and  the  value  of  th e
trade  passing  their  stations,  added  to  the  value  of  the  trade
passing  the  Canton  Customs,  given  above,  may  fairly
represent  the  collective  trade  of  the  Canton  delta.  Th lS
collective  trade  has  been  as  follows

1887
i8 94
1904

Imports.
Tls.
29,186,636
53,792,843
92,650,896

Exports.
Tls.
31,656,019
41,607,808
65,102,878

Total.
Tls.
60,842,655
95,400,651
157,753,774