Fonclosure 10.
294
the Railway, and on goods under transit pass to the place
of destination named in the Pass.
12.
Article 13 needs no comment: but
I attach great importance to Article 14, which secures
that the Commissioner of Kowloon Customs shall be British.
13.
In conclusion I may state that I
do not think that any considerable additional financial
burden will be thrown upon this Colony in the event of full
effect being given to this draft Convention: some slight
increase in staff may be necessary for the better control
of the junk traffic and a re-adjustment of the fees paid by
junks for their Licences and for entering and clearing may
be rendered necessary owing to the abolition, under Article
1, of the special permits for which junks at present pay a
special fee. I incline to the opinion, however, that if the
principles embodied in this Convention are accepted, this
Colony will receive concessions from China of greater value
than are those which it makes to China in return, and I
therefore trust that Your Lordship will authorize me by
telegram to inform Mr. Harris that the proposals embodied
in the draft Convention have the approval of His Majesty's
Government, and that he is at liberty to lay them before
the Inspector-General of Imperial Maritime Customs. I may
add that, from my conversations with Mr. Harris, as well as
from the attached final letter, I infer that it is
probable that the draft Convention in its present form
would be approved of by the Chinese Central Government at. Peking as well as by the Authorities of the Liang Kuang Provinces. I hope that the Central Government will authorize
the local Cormissioner of Customs to negotiate the pro- -posed Convention with this Government in the same manner
}
in which His Excellency Wei Han has been authorized to negotiate locally the Railway Working Agreement: and I
would