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engaged on the following line all opium to be exported from India in under the Chinese flag; the
steamer bills of lading to provide for the
payment of the duty and tax fixed
under the Convention; the
opium
to be
stored in bond at Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports, and the duties to be payable on the opium being removed from bond for consumption;
the Chinese Government to undertake that
the opium should be absolutely free from all further duty or tax, and, if this condition is not observed by the Chinese, the Indian Government to be at once absolved from their part of the Agreement, special provision to be made for the treatment of opium intended for consumption in Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
If the Government of India were inclined to accept some such agreement, it is stated that China would send a Special Commissioner to India with power to come to an understanding.
5.3917 Keswick asks to be informed whether there is any likelihood of such an agreement being favourably received by the Government of India.
6. The Chinese tax, under the new Convention, will be fixed at so high a rate that the Chinese Government apparently fears that even the arrangements under the Convention for the collection of the tax by the foreign Customs will not suffice to prevent smuggling. That Government, according to reports, desires to obtain control of opium imported.