212
trade ment can take can possibly interfere with the legitimate in arms,
A
Large respectable firms engaged in so profitable a business will be willing to comply with stringent regulations and can afford to pay a heavy license fee, which it is to be hoped will prove impossible in the sale of the small disrespectable shops whose main source of profit consists, not in the fulfilling of open contracts with the Provincial Authorities or with communities who have received official sanction to import arms, but in the sale of arms and ammunition in small lots to unauthorised persons, either to be smuggled into China in foreign steamers or to be run to some creek or bay along the coast in native crafts.
The present state of affairs is in my opinion serious and calls loudly for some remedy. As the representative of the British Government and British interests in Canton, I bail with satisfaction this further attempt of the Colonial Government to deal adequately with the evil.
I have etc,
(Sa) B.C. George Scott.
Consul.