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No. 12.
Copy
The Hon. Mr. B. A. Hewett,
Chairman,
HONGKONG, 8th June, 1910.
185
HongKong Chamber of CommarOS,
Bea ble
وان
Opium Tax in Canton.
with reference to our letter of yesterday, we now beg to enolom oopy of a telegram despatched to H. B. M'a Consul-General in Canton. Owing to the urgency of the question we sent last night our represen- tative to Canton to Interview Mr. Jamieson and Impress upon him the
We are now in receipt of a telegram from
gravity of the situation. him, copy of which is enclosed, informing us that the Consul refuses to Intervene and maintains that the naw tax is not a breach of treaty unless it is differential. We have gone so often over the grounds on which we take exception to this tax that it is unnecessary for us to reitterate them here, suffice it to say that similar taxes were attemp- ted by the Kwong Tung Authorities during the last few years, notably In 1907 and 1903 and, on the matter being represented by your Chambar to H. B. M's Minister in Peking as being contrary to the additional Articles of the Chefoo Convention and to which the then Consul concurr-· ed, the taxes were not allowed to be enforoed, and we cannot understand the attitude now taken by Mr. Jamieson. If in the past these taxes were considered to be illegal and an infringement of treaty rights, by what stretok of imagination does Mr. Jamieson maintain that they are not in the present instance? The payment of duty and likin is, according to the above Treaty, to free the ebe opium from any further taxation while in transit to the interior and the question of non- differential taxes on which Mr. Jamieson lays so much streas, only applies when the opium reaches the place of consumption. Jamieson cannot for one moment maintain that a port of entry such as
This Canton is the place of consumption for all the opium sold there. tax besides being illegal is a very heavy one, being about double the amount of duty and likin allowed by treaties. Furthermore a perusal
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Surely Mr.
of the latest proclamation issued by the Bureau for the suppression of opium and also the regulations issued by the Opium Licence Monopoly,
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