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the ratifications, having scarcely postponed, I requested that H.E. would have the goodness to consent to the Agreement being put in force without waiting for the formal exchange of the ratifications. The German Govt., while at first they declined to consent to the new Customs procedure which the Agreement will introduce, have now signified their readiness to conform to it, & as no other Govt. has raised any objection to it, nothing now stands in the way of it's taking effect but the exchange of the act of ratification having taken place.
It is highly desirable that nothing should be lost in the appointment of the Joint Commission, which is to meet for the purpose of discussing the question of preventing the various causes to the Marine Reserve which are occasioned by smuggling into the New Territories from Hongkong. I should feel obliged if H.E. would instruct H.M.'s Representative in Peking, and the British Consul at Kongmoon (or Kiungchow, as regards the new Customs procedure & the appointment of the British Commissioner), to act as if the ratification of the proposed Agreement had already been exchanged.
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