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provisions there may be in it for the control and management of the new territory. We are assured, however, that there is nothing in it about the Customs; but that at the same time the Convention was signed letters were exchanged between our Minister and the Tsung-li Yamên, to the effect that the British Government would do all it could to safeguard the Chinese revenue in the new territory; and in connection with that promise the Chinese authorities have put forward the following demands:-
1. That the Commissioner of Customs now known as the (Chinese) Kowloon Commissioner shall be fully recognized in Hong Kong and by the Hong Kong Government as an Imperial Chinese officer, and his office in Hong Kong shall also be recognized and acknowledged.
2. That the Imperial Maritime Customs shall be fully authorized and empowered to collect in Hong Kong all duties, li-kin included, on opium and on all goods and merchandise carried from or to any Chinese ports in Chinese junka or vessels.
3. That the better to enable them to do this they shall have set apart for them in the harbour two or more wharves or jetties, close to the junk anchorages.
4. That their cruisers and launches shall be permitted to exercise the same rights in the waters of Mira Bay, Deep Bay, and all the waters newly assigned to us as they have done to date, i.e., complete access to all portions at all times with full rights of seizure and search in respect of all vessels, as if the waters were wholly Chinese.
5. The right to retain all their existing stations, Capsui-moon, Lai Chi-Kok (in our very harbour) Fat-tow-moon, &c. (If there is one benefit we hoped to derive from the accession of territory, more acceptable than another, it was the prospect of getting rid of these stations).
6. Extension of all the existing Ordinances regulating the movement of raw opium and the preparation and sale of prepared opium to the new territory, with amendments and alterations to cure all existing defects and make them more stringent and binding.
7. That our Government should reward more liberally and under special provisions all officers of the Government who show themselves zealous and active in enforcing these orders and in making captures,
8. That all forfeitures, &c., should be divided equally between the Hong Kong Government and the Imperial Chinese Government.
9. That an accredited officer of the Chinese Customs should be empowered at all times to enter and inspect the godowns, factories and store of the opium farmer, and examine his books.
10. That no arms, ammunition, explosives, or contraband of any description (this includes opium, salt, &c.) should be exported from Hong Kong to any Chinese port without the permit of the Chinese Customs in Hong Kong.
II. That all necessary legislative measures should be prepared and passed to give effect
to the above demands.
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My Committee desire me now to impress it upon you that these demands or proposals are, in their opinion, wholly inadmissible except as to No. 6, and that they should be most vigorously opposed in the interests not merely of trade, but of the position and prestige of Great Britain in Hong Kong and South China. The Imperial Maritime Customs should be required to remove all their existing stations from the leased territory to some points on Chinese territory outside the boundaries of our new Concession; and no further recognition should be afforded them and no further powers or privileges granted them in Hong Kong, or in the new territory, than they now possess in Hong Kong.
We should all be glad if they could be got rid of entirely out of Hong Kong and out of the surrounding waters; and if the Chinese could be induced to collect their Customa revenue in their ports as every other nation does, and not on the high seas and by way of a blockade of our island. An opportunity now occurs for the revision of the existing arrangements; but any revision ought to be in the direction of the loosening of our bonds and not of their being rendered more stringent and more weighty.
I have, etc.,
(Signed)
JNO. J. FRANCIS,
Chairman.
INCLOSURE 2 IN No. 389.
Letter from the Hong Kong Branch of the Association.
(Extract.)
September 2, 1898.
At a meeting of the Committee held on Thursday last, the following resolutions on the subject of the Imperial Maritime Customs establishment in and about Hong Kong were passed. Similar resolutions had been passed the same afternoon by the Committee of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce, so that they may be taken to represent the most advanced opinions of our leading men in the dispute now pending between the Customs and the Colonial Government. 1. That the Customs office be no longer permitted to collect duties in the Colony or its waters.
2. That all opium arriving in the Colony be accounted for either through the agency of bonded warehouses or otherwise.
3. That the Government do all in their power to protect the Chinese revenue, more especially with regard to the opium farmer.
4. That the revenue stations and revenue-cruisers be removed beyond the limits of British territory and British waters.
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