43
accordingly proposed to Hong Kong a Customs Agreement to
for
provide for a limited power of Chinese Customs Officers and
vessels to operate in Hong Kong waters with the active
assistance of Hong Kong Government officials. Sir Cecil
Clementi and his advisers strongly disliked the idea of
Chinese Government officials with their well-known capacity
for graft and anti-British political intrigue operating in
Hong Kong. He had every justification for this view from
his experience of the activities of the Kuo-Min-Tang, and
of the operation in Hong Kong of the Chinese Telegraph Office.
In the interests, however, of good relations and the
suppression of illicit trade, the Governor was prepared to
come to an agreement to protect the Chinese Customs Revenue,
but he demanded a quid pro quo in the interests of legitimate
Hong Kong trade with China. The counter-draft which Sir
Cecil Clementi presented to the Chinese Customs has been
rejected by the Nationalist Government. Negotiations are now
on foot for approaching a solution on different lines. The
one prepared by the new Governor, Sir William Peel, is that
the Government of Hong Kong should appoint officers, at the
expense of the Chinese Maritime Customs, to detect smuggling
operations