GENERALITIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 417, 30 July 1908, Page 4

GENERALITIES.

More instances of fraudulent faking of tow are coming to light Messrs Devin and Company, by the last mail received a report from a British firm. It reads:— “Regarding New Zealand tow, which we have just got from you ex Aotea, we send you by this mail a piece of wood, of which we are finding considerable quantities stowed away in the bales. You will note the weight of same. We think you will agree with us that it is sheer imposition, and ought to be put a stop to without further delay. There is far too much dust laid in with the tow without having pieces of timber put in like this. We are not sending you the biggest piece of wood, but we have weighed it here, and it weighs 81bs Bozs. It is a long piece of log, about 3ft long and 4 to 5 inches wide. We are really very surprised that such a thing should have happened, and we are asking our buyers to collect all the wood there is in the fifty tons.”

The opium traffic appears to be dojmed in China. The official Gazette, of Peking, publishes the text of the memorial on which the new opium edict is based. The memorial says that an agreement has been come to with the British Minister on the following six points: —(i)China will regard 51,000 chests of opium exported from India as a standard amount ; that amount to be decreased yearly from this year 1908 by 5100 chests; after ten years the importation to be stopped. (2) China to appoint a commissioner at Calcutta to oversee the amount sold. (3 and 4) No poppy juice to be imported into China from Hong Kong, and vice versa. (5) No opium pipes to be allowed to be sold in foreign settlemenls, and no opium dens to be permitted to be established. (6) No opium needles to be imported into China.