TARIFF AUTONOMY

Evening Star, Issue 19456, 14 January 1927, Page 4

TARIFF AUTONOMY

CHINA’S NEW DECLARATION IMPOSITION OP SURTAXES. Press Associatin'!—By Telegraph—Copyright PEKING, January 13, (Received January 14, at 11.25 a.m.) Mandates issued impose a 2| per cent, surtax on ordinary goods, with a further 5 per cent, on luxuries from February 1. They declare a tariff autonomy, and instruct the Foreign Office to urge the Powers to reopen the Tariff Conference, apparently in order to regularise these taxes. Another mandate declares that the revenue from surtaxes is te he used for the abolition of the Likin (provincial transit duty in China), the readjustment of foreign loans, and constructive and administrative purposes. JAPAN TO PROTEST. TOKIO, January 13. (Received January 14, at 11.5 a.m.) It is learned that the Foreign Office has decided to lodge a protest with the Chinese authorities against the proclamation ol their intention to impose surtaxes. It is unlikely that Japan will resort to force unless China attempts to collect the taxes at Tsingtao and Dairen forcibly. It is considered that the Chinese declaration is intended more for the facilitation of a domestic loan issue than for the actual collection of the proposed taxes.