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CONFIDENTIAL.
Sir,
C. O.
502
REGE 25 MAY 12
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG,
26th. April, 1912.
In reply to your Confidential Despatch of 15th.
December, 1911, I have the honour after consulting the Hongkong 36909 General Chamber of Commerce to report as follows:-
Fo
2.
The French Government suggest that if arrange-
-ments could be made for the grant of the benefit of the minimum
tariff in respect of trans-shipped goods, it would be necessary to
lay down the condition that trans-shipment should only take place
between ships belonging to the same Company. Compliance with this requirement would not be wholly practicable and would have the effect of directing cargo, hitherto trans-shipped at Hongkong, to one or two regular lines which might be able to arrange for their own vessels to run in conjunction with their ocean-going steamers or which could arrange to send the latter into the coast ports for the purpose of securing the trade. Compliance would be practically impossible in the case of the several adjacent ports using Hong- -kong as a trans-shipment centre, notably Canton, with which traf- -fic is carried on mainly by river steamers having no connection whatever with vessels sailing regularly to Europe.
3.
It must be borne in mind that Hongkong is not
a producing centre but a port of trans-shipment and as such it is
of vital importance that goods trans-shipped here should not be subject to any heavier duty on arrival in France than that to which they would be subject, if shipped direct and in one bottom
from
HE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,
&c.,
&c.,
&c...