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Post Office, that delivery of the parcels could only be obtained on production of a certificate of clearance from the Customs Authorities, and that any examination of the parcels which those authorities thought necessary would take place in the presence of the addressees at the British Post Office.
Lord Lansdowne therefore proposes to reply to the Chinese Government that every facility is already afforded for the examination by the Customs of parcels arriving at the British Post Offices in China.
I am at the same time to transmit to you a copy of a note which has been received from the Chinese Minister repeating the requests already made by the Board of Foreign Affairs in regard to the closing of British Post Offices in China and the Customs examination of parcels. In it a statement is attributed to the British Postmaster at Shanghai that no duty is payable on goods imported into that port through the British Post Office.
Lord Lansdowne presumes that the Chinese authorities