271
can be taken, until it has paid the
Chinese duty of 110 taels per picul. That Custom House will be nominally under the control of the Port
Harbour Master, but really under
a
deputy Commissioner of Chinese
Imperial Customs.
H.
plan on
Sir Robert Hart
and Shas Ta(i?)s(?) Tai pressed their Loo(?)k plan on this Government, and even after acceptance of the Colonial ..., several attempts were made by telegrams and private letters from Sir Robert Hart at Macao, to this Government to prohibit the delivery of opium from godowns or shops in the
Colony
without the previous production
of Chinese duty receipts.
The
Consular Member of the Commission would have supported such a proposal, and even advocated to
W. Russell, though of course not in Commission (as it would have been contrary to his instructions), that only junks of a certain size should
be allowed to carry opium, and that even they should not be permitted
to clear from the Colony without the production of a duty paid certificate, on a bond that it would be paid
at the nearest Customs Station. These attempts against the sovereignty of the Crown in this Colony
Loc...
However