SIR,
APPENDIX (C).
PROPOSED INCREASE OF CUSTOMS DUES.
Hongkong Committee to General Committee.
Hongkong, 20th May, 1890.
At the request of the Committee of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce, I have the pleasure to hand you the accompanying copy of a letter addressed by them to Sir Claude MacDonald, calling His Excellency's attention to a report (telegraphed by Reuter's Agency) to the effect that H.E. Li Hung-chang will, while in Europe, endeavour to obtain the consent of the Treaty Powers to an increase of from 5 to 8 per cent. on the present tariff of Import duties on Foreign goods introduced into the country.
As there appears to be no particular reason for assuming the report to be entirely without foundation, it seems desirable that some steps should be taken towards preventing a recurrence of the unfortunate circumstances which admitted of a treaty between England and Japan, involving measures seriously affecting trade between the two countries, being ratified with so little deliberation that those with most at stake were given no opportunity of being heard in defence of their own interests.
The Committee of the Chamber, in their letter to H.M. Minister at Peking, refer to this apparent neglect of British interests on the part of the Imperial Government and, in asking this Branch to forward to you a copy, express a hope that you will be able to co-operate in the present instance by assisting to secure for those interested an opportunity to consider any suggestions that may be advanced by the Chinese Government through their Ambassador towards raising the present scale of Import duties.
The Committee are pleased to bring the Chamber's letter to your notice, feeling assured that it will have the careful consideration that matters connected with the China trade invariably receive at your hands.
R. S. Gundry, Esq.,
Hon. Sec. China Association, London.
SIR,
17
General Committee to Hongkong Committee.
31, Lombard Street, 27th June, 1896.
The General Committee desire to acknowledge your letter of the 20th May, regarding a rumoured project of raising the import dues on foreign goods, and to hand you, in reply, copy of a letter which has been addressed to Lord Salisbury, expressing the concurrence of the Association in the views expressed.
F. Henderson, Esq.,
(Signed)
R. S. GUNDRY,
Hon. Sec. China Association.
Hon. Sec. China Association, Hongkong,
China Association to Foreign Office.
I am, etc.,
F. HENDERSON,
Hon. Sec.
MY LORD,
81, Lombard Street, 26th June, 1896.
Moved by a report which has found currency, that the Chinese Government desires to increase the duty on foreign imports from 5 to 8 per cent., the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce has taken occasion to express a hope that no definite steps will be taken in that direction without giving those interested an opportunity of expressing their views.
This Association concurs in the opinion that the point is one which should be approached with extreme caution, because it is complicated by questions of internal taxation which the Imperial Government has failed, so far, to control.
We have not to deal, in the case of China, with a Government so efficiently organised that an import duty once settled by treaty may be accepted as defining the limit of taxation. Without staying to enquire, here, whether the rate of Transit Duty fixed by the Treaty of Tientsin is inadequate for Provincial requirements, or whether it fails to reach the Provincial Treasuries—it will be sufficient to note that the Provincial authorities do levy transit and terminal charges in excess of the stipulated amount.
Any addition to the present scale would, therefore, represent not only an addition to the authorised 5 per cent., but an enhancement of levies already in excess of that stipulated sum.
Any revision would need, therefore, to be exhaustive, and to be accompanied by guarantees which might not be easily found.
This Association trusts, therefore, that the representations of the Hongkong Chamber will be allowed weight, and that no change in existing treaties will be made without allowing those
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