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ArchiveAugust 13, 2026Sleuth
Case File · Audit · No. 048

Daily Casefile · Audit

The Peifu Silk Consignment of Jardine & Mao Trading

6 min

Jardine & Mao Trading Co. has submitted a silk consignment manifest to the Shanghai Municipal Customs Office for a shipment of raw and finished silk goods received from the Peifu Silk Weaving Concern of Suzhou in late September 1934. The manifest supports a bonded-goods claim for duty relief on the incoming consignment, with quantities declared line by line against each grade of silk. An inspector from the Customs Office has flagged the filed manifest against the shipper's own despatch records and forwarding notes. You are asked to identify which line of the filed manifest overstates the consignment and which reference record makes the discrepancy plain.

The scene

Jardine & Mao Trading Co., a Shanghai-based firm operating from a godown on Szechuen Road, International Settlement, Shanghai, China, 1934

Source documents

  • Peifu Silk Weaving Concern Despatch Note No. 211, September 1934
  • Peifu Silk Weaving Concern Commercial Invoice No. 88, September 1934
  • Shanghai Municipal Customs Office Tally Survey, 27 September 1934
  • Letter from M. Breguet & Fils to Jardine & Mao, 29 September 1934

Play today’s Audit.

This case first aired on August 13, 2026. A fresh audit runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.