693.002/869: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 5—6 a.m.]
462. Reference Tokyo’s 258, June 3, noon, regarding Japanese interference with Customs at Hankow. Inspector General of Customs informs me of receipt of a further telegram from the Commissioner of Customs at Hankow from which it appears that the general in charge of the special service section (presumably of the Japanese Army) has verbally approved Japanese eviction of customs staff from post office and asserted that Hankow customs staff being appointees of Chungking regime are not yet authorized to collect duties and dues; that Japanese stationed at the post office and understood [Page 838] to be under army special service section are arbitrarily releasing dutiable foreign and domestic parcels sometimes free and sometimes charging tax and whole system is haphazard; that the Commissioner considers further protest by himself useless for the present especially as the interpreting is extremely poor; and that reports of a tax levy on junk cargoes continue persistent but proof is not obtainable since no receipts are said to be issued.
Repeated to Tokyo, Hankow, Chungking and Peiping.