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I do not overlook the fact that, generally speaking, it is not the duty of one country to assist in enforcing the revenue laws of another, but, in view of the peculiar conditions under which we hold the Island of Hong Kong, and of the facilities offered to smuggling by its exceptional position as a free port in a foreign country, it would be the part of a friendly Power to make concessions even though unimposed by international duty; whereas the appointment of a Chinese Consul in Hong Kong would be no concession at all, but only the recognition of a reciprocal right which China is entitled to claim, in common with all other Powers whose subjects resort to the Colony, if International law and the usage of civilized States is to be applied in our relations with that country.
(Reprinted from the British Parliamentary Paper: "Correspondence relating to the Complaints of the Mercantile Community in Hongkong against the Action of Chinear Revenue Cruisers in the Neighbourhood of the Colony" (1875), p. 49.)
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APPENDIX F.
TEXT OF OPIUM AGREEMENT OF 11TH SEPTEMBER 1886 BETWEEN CHINA AND HONGKONG,
MEMORANDUM of the Bases of Agreement arrived at after discussion between Mr. Byron Brenan, Her Majesty's Consul at Tientsin, Mr. James Russell, Puisne Judge of Hong Kong, and Sir Robert Hart, K.C.M.G., Inspector General of Customs, and Shao, Tao-Tai, Joint Commissioners for China, in pursuance of Article VII, section 3, of the Agreement between Great Britain and China signed at Chefoo on the 13th September, 1876, and of section 9 of the Additional Article to the said Agreement signed at London on the 18th July, 1885.
Mr. Russell undertakes that the Government of Hong Kong shall submit to the Legislative Council an Ordinance for the regulation of the trade of the Colony in raw opium, subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth and providing-
1. For the prohibition of the import and export of opium in quantities less than one chest.*
2. For rendering illegal the possession of raw opium, its custody or control in quantities less than one chest, except by the opium farmer.
3. That all opium arriving in the Colony be reported to the Harbour-master, and that no opium shall be trans-shipped, landed, stored, or removed from one store to another, or re-exported, without a permit from the Harbour-master and notice to the opium farmer.
4. For the keeping by importers, exporters, and go-down owners, in such form as the Governor may require, books showing the movement of opium.
5. For taking stock of quantities in the stores, and search for deficiencies by the opium
farmer, and for furnishing to the Harbour-master returns of stocks.
6. For amendment of Harbour Regulations as to night clearances of junks.
The conditions on which it is agreed to submit the Ordinance are—
1. That China arranges with Macao for the adoption of equivalent measures.
2. That the Hong Kong Government shall be entitled to repeal the Ordinance if it be
found to be injurious to the revenue or to the legitimate trade of the Colony.
3. That an office under the Foreign Inspectorate shall be established on Chinese territory
at a convenient spot on the Kowloon side for sale of Chinese opium-duty certificates, which shall
be freely sold to all comers, and for such quantities of opium as they may require,
* A modification allowing export in smaller quantities than one chest was subsequently agreed upon (vide I.G. Circular No. 418, Second Series, § 5).
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