To carefully avoid all undue interference with the legitimate trade of the Colony in Native Junks.
Having information of the arrangements contemplated in the recent revision of the treaty of Shintom, with a view to the establishment of such practical regulations in Hong Kong and China as shall place the commercial intercourse between Hong Kong and the neighboring Coasts on a more definite and regular footing.
He expressed the satisfaction with which he would promote whatever tended to this end. I fully explained to him the views of H.M.'s Government on this subject with which you are already acquainted, the object being to protect the Chinese Revenue without unreasonably obstructing the ordinary and daily traffic between Hong Kong and the Mainland, and in so doing to remove occasions of controversy and mutual complaint. He concurred with me in thinking that the appointment of a trustworthy and responsible Official as H.I.H.'s Customs Officer at Hong Kong would materially contribute to this most desirable end.
I pointed out to him, in this connection, the possibility of abuses in the exercise of the duties of Customs by a Chinese Officer, as these