430
which could not be settled through
the Consul at Canton, evidently surprised
them as
they asked for
of the meeting
I do next.
adjournment
an a
nder & consider what
It would appear as
- they reckoned on this Government working for concessions, and especially for the removal of the Customs stations
the entrances to the
which guard harbour, in return for which they would stipulate for permission to tablet within the Colony and a bonded store for the deposit of Opium until the duty had been paid Cherson
7.
or its water bulks
At the next meeting of the Commission Sir Robert Hart, after tracing the history of the Opium Trade
up to the present time and observing
that the increased duty consented to by the additional Agreement of 1885 would naturally entail increased inducement to smuggling, explained the three ways that the Government of China had under their consideration for collecting the increased duty viz.:
firstly: The collection by China unaided which would be very expensive would no doubt cause much
irritation from the stringent measures
that would have to be adopted for the protection of the Revenue.
secondly: the collection of the Revenue,
in India.
thirdly: The collection of the duty in Hong Kong with the assistance of the Government & the Colony, by the establishment of hulks in the
Harbour and a bonded store in
the Colony.
The