THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  359
to  be  depended  upon  ;  the  Prince,  therefore,  hereby
confers  on  them  the  requisite  powers  and  authority,
and  commissions  them  to  officiate  as  Inspectors
General.  The  salaries  they  are  paid  by  the  Chinese
Government  are  liberal,  and  the  responsibilities  of  the
office  to  which  they  are  appointed  are  very  serious  ;
it  therefore  behoves  them  to  be  just,  energetic,  and
assiduous  in  the  performance  of  their  duties.
“  The  Foreigners  employed  in  the  Customs  are  not
to  engage  in  trade  ;  mismanagement  or  bad  conduct
must  be  followed  by  dismissal  from  the  service.
“  The  Officiating  Inspectors  General  must  not  disappoint
  the  gieat  confidence  the  Prince  reposes  in
them,  in  appointing  them  to  their  present  Office.
“  Let  this  Instruction  be  carried  strictly  into  execution ­
  !
“A  Special  Instruction,  addressed  to  the  Officiating
Inspectors  General  of  Maritime  Customs,  Fei-sze-lae
and  Heh-teh  (Mr  Fitz-Roy  and  Mr.  Hart).
“Hsiën-Fêng,  lithyear,  5th  month,  23rd  day
“  2&gt;oth  June,  1861.”
The  office  was  in  fact  administered  by  Mr.  Hart  alone
with  his  headquarters,  in  1861,  June  at  Peking,  July  at
Tientsin,  September  at  Peking,  November  at  Shanghai  •
1862,  May  at  Canton,  then  back  to  Shanghai  ;  1863,  February
at  Canton,  April  back  to  Shanghai,  where  on  May  9  he
surrendered  his  office.  Mr.  Lay,  resuming  his  office,  established ­
  himself  at  Peking.  Upon  the  substantive  appointment ­
  of  Mr.  Hart;  November  30,  1863,  he  established  his
office  at  Shanghai,  and  in  May  1864  transferred  the  Inspectorate ­
  General  to  Peking,  where  it  has  since  remained.
During  his  only  two  absences  from  China,  in  1866  the  office
was  administered  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Fitz-Roy,  and  in  1878-9
by  Mr.  (Sir)  Robert  E.  Bredon  conjointly,  first  with  Mr  W
Cartwright,  later  with  Mr.  I.  M.  Daae.
Upon  his  appointment  Mr.  Hart  found  himself  confronted ­
  by  the  difficulty  that  each  Custom  House  had
continued  the  decentralised  system  characteristic  of  Chinese