8.
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50
status of any kind": and further that the existing sub-stations
Changchow, Capsuimo on, Lai-chee-kok and fotochow - should
be removed to points outside the leased territory, as their
retention would be a fruitful source of friction and would
always be miscontrued by the Chinese mind. There were, as
Major-General Black pointed out, many points both on the
coast and on adjacent islands where the Chinese Customs could
establish new stations.
11.
I can find no reply from the Colonial Office
nor any communication from the British Legation on this
subject: but, as a matter of history, the view of Lajor-General
Black prevailed. The sub-stations of the Chinese Laritime
Customs have been removed to Chinese territory at Sham-chun,
Sha-tau-kok and along the coast of Mirs Bay, while the
officer of the Foreign Inspectorate, still called "Commissioner
of Customs for Kowloon and District", remains to this day
in Hong Kong island, only "unofficially acknowledged" in Sir
R. Hart's phrase, with a residence at the Peak and an office
in Victoria City. Moreover, the questions raised by lr.
Fleming in 1890 as to the exact position of the Kowloon
Commissioner, his powers, whom he really represents and to
whom he is responsible have never been answered.
12.
The only further event to record in this
connection is that, upon the opening of the Kowloon-Canton
Railway in October, 1911, it was arranged for the convenience
of through traffic that Chinese import duties should be
collected by the Kowloon Commissioner at the railway terminus
at Kowloon Point in British territory.
13./