422
Bullway
He narrowed the issue when requested Her Majesty's Consul to obtain from the Hoppo a list of the "legitimate duties" of which the "Government had been heretofore defrauded."
So as to place this defrauded Government in a position to judge whether any particular complaint was well founded or not.
5. It soon became clear that no list of legalized duties would be accorded and that one of the greatest difficulties connected with the solution of the Blockade question was the inability of the Colonial Government to obtain from the Chinese high officers, through Sir Brooke Robertson or otherwise, an authentic copy of Regulations and Tariffs governing the levy of customs duties on native goods shipped within the Hoppo's jurisdiction.
6. It occurred to me that much information as to the Rules and Regulations and Customs duties might be obtained by careful enquiry among the Chinese merchants residing here and the various traders frequenting this port; and as His Excellency is aware, I have been recently engaged during my spare moments in a private examination of many Chinese books...