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cargo on the 2nd April, 1887, : the collection of tariff
import duty and of Convention likin on opium on the 14th
of the same month, and finally the collection of native
duty on general cargo on the 1st July following, by which time the stations under the new management wore in full operation. The work proper of the Customs House i.e., the examination of cargo and collection of duties, was done at the previously existing stations in Chinese
territory, but the general recording office was located
in Hong Kong. At this office correspondence was
carried on, returns for the Board of Trade and Revenue
were prepared and despatches, the office accounts kept
and disbursements made, but no dues or duties of any
kind were collected. The Commissioner himself and his
European assistants resided in Hong Kong island at the
Peak.
This arrangement was undertsood to be purely temporary, for it had been clearly laid down in the agreement signed on the 11th September 1886, that the office of the Foreign Inspectorate of Chinese Maritimo Customs should be established on Chinese Territory at a convenient spot in Kowloon.
But no further action
was taken by the Hong Kong Government until a question was raised in 1890 as to whether the Commissioner of
Customs for Kowloon and District had authority to require British owned steamlaunches and yachts of this Colony to obtain his permission before leaving the waters of the Colony and to issue "towing certificates" to Hong Kong
launches
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