C. 687.
Sir:-
Rec? 4688
[REG 3 MAR 96]
BOARD OF TRADE, (Commercial Department)
7 WHITEHALL GARDENS, LONDON, S.W.
20th February, 1896.
35
I am directed by the Board of Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, transmitting a despatch from Sir F. Satow with inclosures, respecting the question of Customs duties levied in Japan on British-owned goods carried from Formosa to Japan proper but transhipped at Hong Kong en route, and asking to be furnished with any observations which this Board may have to offer with regard to these documents.
In reply I am to state that, having regard to the Conventions at present governing the commercial relations between this country and Japan, the Board share the doubt expressed in your letter as to whether Her Majesty's Government can, as a matter of right, claim that the privilege accorded by Japan
The Under Secretary of State,
Foreign Office.