3
a has
communication has been received from a number of the principal Indian firms complaining of the hardship of the case Saltzetre,
As
affairs
an article in which large trade is carried on, which is by
and
no means used.
means
for warlike purposes, and exclusively
It is manifest that such
a prohibition has been announced
No
is very nearly tantamount to the
local
confiscation of the articles prohibited. There being little or no consumption for such articles, and Hong Kong being merely the
depot from which they
are distributed to other seats of
trade and
273
manufactures, they tend to become valueless as
soon as
the importing vessel has discharged them. For one of two things must happen. Either that they remain in store
at a constantly increasing expense,
unable
of being sold or needed,
or that the merchant, to escape
the injustice of such a
prohibition, must have recourse to clandestine measures
for their clandestine exportation, where the Government has no regular preventive force organized for supervising such matters; the latter alternative sure to be
extensively acted upon,
and the Committee of the Chamber would wish to submit
2