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smuggling operations and to act as agents in Hong Kong for
Our latest information, which is possibly
the Customs.
more recent then yours, is that Mr. Maze, the Inspector-
General of the Chinese Maritime Customs, is preparing a visit
to Hong Kong from Nanking in order to resume the negotiations,
but we do not know as yet whether, or how far, his Government
is ready to negotiate on the lines suggested by Sir William
Peel. I think both the Colonial Office and the local
Government are fully aware of the importance to Hong Kong
and to British trade generally of good relations with China;
but such relations are not necessarily to be secured by
yielding to every demand which the Nanking Government may
make.
un