(This Document is the Property of New R.
CHINA TRADE.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. I.
C. O.
680
[August 23 2755]
TREGO
SECTION
A
REG 25 NOV 19
(No. 174.) Sir,
The Marquess of Salisbury to Mr. Bax-Ironside.
Foreign Office, August 31, 1899.
I HAVE had under my consideration, in consultation with the Board of Trade and Sir C. MacDonald, your despatch No. 138 of the 25th May, relative to the working of the Rules and Regulations for inland steam navigation on the West River.
I inclose copies of a letter from the Board of Trade and a Memorandum by Mr. G. Jamieson on this subject.*
I concur in your opinion that there has not been sufficient time for the new Regulations to be properly tested.
You should instruct Her Majesty's Consuls to report to you any specific instance of the Regulations pressing unjustly on British trade, in order that you may make representations to the Chinese Government with a view to their being amended to meet the requirements of the case.
So long as the double system of taxation by the Imperial Maritime Customs and the provincial Customs exists in China, there is great force in the observations made by Sir Robert Hart in his letter to you of the 12th May.
It is, however, very desirable in the interest of trade that a uniform system of taxation should eventually be substituted for that now in force, and advantage should be taken of any opportunity that may present itself for urging on the Chinese Government the desirability of putting an end to the present double system.
I am, &c. (Signed) SALISBURY.
* Board of Trade, August 17; Memorandum by Mr. Jamieson, August 8, 1899.
[2095 p-1]