THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  367
intact.  Native  opium  is  since  1906  treated  in  the  same
way  whenever  it  comes  under  the  cognisance  of  the  Customs.
Since  November  11,  1901,  the  Native  or  Regular
Customs  have  been  under  the  supervision  of  the  Commissioner ­
  of  Maritime  Customs  at  each  port,  lo  exercise
this  supervision  over  a  Chinese  office  run  by  Chinese  methods,
operating  on  a  purely  Chinese  trade,  with,  to  some  extent,
the  original  Chinese  staff,  and  with  little  or  no  aid  from
foreign  agents,  and  without  published  regulations  or  a  unified
tariff,  is  to  impose  on  the  Commissioner  a  task  of  quite
a  different  character  from  his  ordinary  work,  varied  and
complicated  though  that  be,  and  calls  for  the  exercise  of
the  diplomatic  function  as  much  as  the  executive.  He
must  not  rub  too  much  the  wrong  way  those  who  have
previously  exercised  control  ;  he  must  not  render  too  much
discontented  the  staff  whose  irregular  practices  he  is  there
to  check  :  while  facilitating  work  to  the  traders  by  the
introduction  of  regularity,  he  will  find  that  too  much  unaccustomed ­
  rigidity  may  lead  to  discontent  and  even  to
riot  ;  he  must  satisfy  the  representatives  of  the  foreign
powers  in  whose  interest,  to  secure  funds  for  due  payment
of  the  indemnities,  he  is  placed  in  control  ;  his  measures
must  be  such  as  not  to  alienate  the  Chinese  Government,
whose  servant  he  is,  while  he  is  often  called  upon  to  enforce
against  them  the  provisions  of  their  own  treaties  ;  and  all
this  he  must  do  from  a  position  which,  in  some  respects,
is  rather  advisory  than  executive.
In  the  control  of  the  Foreign,  as  of  the  Native  Customs,
the  Commissioner  is  freed  from  one  responsibility,  in  that
he  does  not  handle  the  revenues.  In  a  country  in  which
the  currency  is  a  tangled  mass  of  complexity,  and  banking
is  an  exact  science  of  great  inexactitude,  this  would  be  an
impossible  function  for  the  foreigner  to  assume  ;  and  the
Commissioner’s  function  is  only  to  obtain  a  receipt  certifying ­
  to  the  payment  to  the  properly  constituted  authority
°f  the  amounts  due,  and  to  report  the  revenue  so  collected.
Ihis  authority  is  the  Customs  Bank,  appointed  by  the
Chinese  Government  at  each  port,  and  revenues  received