This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty
CHINA TRADE,
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
283
[July 8.]
SECTION 127036
127086
3
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received July 8.)
(No. 179.) My Lord,
Peking, May 17, 1901. WITH reference to my despatch No. 49 of the 5th February, on the subject of trade and navigation on the West River, I have the honour to report that on the 11th March I addressed a letter to the Inspector-General of Maritime Customs pointing out the necessity for arriving at some modus vivendi which would enable British trade to be carried on satisfactorily in those waters. I suggested that the Consuls and Customs Commissioners at Canton and the West River ports should draw up Regulations based on Mr. George Jamieson's Memorandum printed in "China Blue Book No. 1, 1900," p. 233, and invited Sir Robert Hart to favour me with his views. A copy of his reply is inclosed. As therein stated, my letter was referred to the Deputy Inspector-General at Shanghai, and your Lordship will observe in the letter addressed to him by Sir Robert Hart on the 13th March, that he was desired to instruct the West River Commissioners to consult with a view to proposing a workable compromise. A copy of the Deputy Inspector-General's instructions to the Commissioners in question has been courteously furnished to me by Sir Robert Hart, and I have the honour to add it to the three inclosures above referred to.
I have, &c. (Signed)
ERNEST SATOW.
Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Sir E. Satow to Sir R. Hart.
Peking, March 11, 1901, THE question of the necessity of drawing up some set of Regulations, which shall combine the provisions of the West River and Inland Navigation Rules and enable vessels under the British flag to continue to ply on the West River, has again been prominently brought to the notice of this Legation.
It seems most desirable that some modus vivendi be arrived at, as otherwise the British flag will disappear from that waterway—a result which can hardly prove conducive to the maintenance of British interests in that part of the world.
I propose, therefore, to bring this point up for discussion when the time comes for dealing with the stipulations of the joint note, recently presented to the Chinese Plenipotentiaries, relating to amendments to the Commercial Treaties, &c. In the meantime it seems to me that it would be advantageous were instructions issued to the Consuls and Commissioners at Canton and the West River ports to draw up draft Regulations on the lines indicated, taking as the basis Mr. George Jamieson's Memorandum addressed to Lord Salisbury which is printed in "Blue Book China, No. 1, 1900,” p. 233.
From the correspondence which has been forwarded to me, I gather that the only objection on the part of the Imperial Maritime Customs to this course being pursued, is the fear that the receipts from coast trade duty would diminish, i.e., that the Imperial, as opposed to the provincial, revenue will suffer. It must, however, be manifest that the enforcement of coast trade duty payments on merchandise passing between ports at so little distance from each other as Canton and Wuchow acts as a complete bar to shipment of cargo by vessels against whom it is enforced. So long, therefore, as the requirements of the provincial authorities are satisfied, the Imperial Government could easily forego the trifling amount involved.
In your letter to Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires of the 12th May, 1899, paragraph 3, you state that "in point of fact there is no differential treatment whatever : what inter-port foreign steamers are forbidden to do inland, interport Chinese steamers are likewise forbidden to do.
[2170 h-1]
B