Page:Ningpo to Shanghai.djvu/50

36 and no blows that may be directed at provincial heads, will affect, so far as the general well being of society is concerned, the condition of the masses;&mdash;provided always that our blows are not so directed and so continuous as to prostrate the whole fabric;and to destroy that supreme police for which Governments, even of the worst class, are tolerated.

By the ancestral halls of this family (a capacious building exhibiting the tablets of twenty four generations of the clan Luh,) the firm of Wan-ho have their manufactory for the tea known to the trade as the Ping-suey, a green of excellent character. Until the fourth month of the year, when the gathering commences, the 120 drying pans of the Wan-ho establishment are filled with paddy husk, to prevent them from rusting, and nothing is done, beyond the manufacture of the boxes. From Fong-je-how, the depot of some surrounding miles, 270,000 pounds of Tea and 3,000 Bales, or nearly as many pounds, of Silk, are sent annually to the foreign markets.

These goods when destined for Shanghae are transported in boats of the capacity of a hundred chests each, by the way of Hang chow, at which place Teas pay a tax of 1,100 cash (nearly three farthings per pound) per chest. Were these goods taken to Ningpo direct, such duty would be avoided; and it is to be regretted that attempts are not made to divert some portion of the tea and silk to a place appearing to possess equal facilities 