behalf of China.
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Letter dated 9th February 1899, requested that the Postmaster General would have the arrangement copied, sign both and return them to be ratified by the Inspector General of Chinese Customs.
The Arrangement sent could not be entertained.
Shanghai rate was inserted instead of the Macao rate.
It went behind "Treaty rights" declaring that all the laws of China should apply to vessels carrying mails, professing reciprocity that the same should apply to Chinese vessels in Hong Kong, ignoring the fact that extra-territoriality is non-existent in Hong Kong. All vessels are now and always have been subject to all the laws of the Colony. Further, the Colonial Government could not waive Treaty rights in China for foreign vessels carrying mails, even if it were competent for them to do so on behalf of British ships. The arrangement further aimed at the abolition of all British Postal agencies, other than the Post office at Shanghai (which would entail a loss to the Colony of between twenty and $30,000 annually, the total profit from all British offices in China being $34,000), and the assumption of the right of entry and inspection of mails by Chinese officials.