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wrote to our agent in Paris, in which the details of
the matter are fully stated.
Our friend Mr. Genestal
the Mayor of Havre, who has interested himself in the
matter, has written a letter to the Havre Chamber of
Commerce which clearly sets forth the arguments in favour
of the admission of these goods at the minimum duty of
25 francs per 100 kilos, and we beg to enclose herewith
a copy of his letter. We also enclose a copy of the
letter addressed by the Chief of the Administration in
Paris to our agent there, from which you will see the
grounds on which the Administration base their interpre-
tation of the regulations.
It has been suggested to us by our friends in France
that if our Foreign Office would place the matter before
the French Government and in the interests of not only
Canadian but British citizens would ask for their inter-
vention the French Government, in view of the friendly
relations prevailing between Canada and France and bet-
ween France and Great Britain and in view of the under-
taking which exists to grant France the benefit of the
minimum tariff and to grant to England the benefit of
the
the most-favoured-nation treatment, would willingly
instruct the Director of the Customs Administration to
interpret the regulations with regard to transhipment
a little more broadly and in such a way as to permit
of these goods being entered at the minimum duty.
We understand that the difficulty arises through
a departmental regulation interpreting the law and not
from the organic law itself and that the French Govern-
ment would be disposed to grant full consideration to
any representations which might be made to them by you
in supporting our objection to a too narrow interpreta-
tion of the law. It does not seem reasonable to us,
especially in view of the fact that there is no direct
line of steamers trading between Vancouver and Havre,
that the mere transhipment from one British steamer to
another British steamer belonging to the same owners
in a port of a British Crown Colony where no goods of a
similar nature are produced, should cause goods of
Canadian origin to forfeit the benefit of the minimum
tariff which they would otherwise be entitled to enjoy,
and which we understand, has been secured to Canada by
treaty.
I