COPY.
10
Sir,
SUB
1
ENCLOSURE
19330
301
I.G.of Customs.
Peking, 27th. June, 1898.
D
I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of
Your Excellency's despatch of 24th. June informing me that you
have received a communication from Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs asking you, in view of the recent leasing to Great Britain of part of Kowloon peninsula and the adjacent islands, what arrangements the Imperial Maritime Cus-
toms of China would propose and where stations would be placed and, in reply, to state in the following numbered paragraphs what in my opinion will be necessary in and around Hong-Kong and its new territory to safeguard the revenue interests of
a task which will be made in consequence of the in- creased area to be looked after, both onerous and expensive.
The proposals are made in the belief that Her Majesty's Go- vernment desire to give China liberal and sustained support in the protection of her revenue in that neighbourhood.
China
My
1st. The right of the Chinese Customs to main-
where it is now only unoffi-
tain its office in Hong-Kong
cially acknowledged ought to be formally admitted and the
status of the Commissioner of Customs as a Chinese Official recognised. The existing sub-stations at Changchow, Capsuimoon, Laicheekok, & Fotochow ought to be maintained as at present
al though