Enclosure. No.: 2 to Despatch No. 58 of the 11th, 1903.
20382
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 31st April, 1903.
Sir,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, informing me that, in order to escape payment of a tax called Ching-fei, levied by the Viceroy of the Two Kwangs on certain articles imported in native bottoms, resort had been made to the protection of foreign flags.
The matter has been considered by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government in Council and I am to inform you, that while His Excellency is in full sympathy with the opinions expressed by the Chamber, the only power possessed by this Government, to check the practices complained of, is that of refusal to grant licences to junks which claim the protection of foreign flags.
I am to add that the whole correspondence will be forwarded to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for such action as the Home Government may deem desirable.
The Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce,
I have etc.,
(Sgd.) J. Stewart Lockhart, Colonial Secretary.