189
to see
by
what
means
the Chinese
Government could give effect to
such a proposal
without exposing
their revenue to risks which Her Majesty's Government would not be justified in asking them to
incur.
It appears to My Lords that Her Majesty's Government can hardly hope to combine the
advantages of retaining Hong Kong a British Possession, and of obtaining for it the privileges
of a Chinese Port.
Earl
Granville is aware
that goods shipped from Shanghae to Canton (e.g.) pay only half the export duty which is charged
on them when shipped to a foreign
port, such as
Singapore,
and that goods imported at Canton from Shanghae, pay
only half the import duty which
is charged upon them when imported from Hong Kong.
Under these circumstances,
My Lords are unaware of any arrangement by which a proper supervision could be exercised by the Chinese Customs Service of the trade between Hong
Kong
and the mainland, if the proposed privilege were granted, except by the establishment of a Chinese Custom House upon
the Island, a course which
would be certainly
most unusual
and