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trade through Hong Kong. The first is not likely to be cheel d
got except at an extortionate price; the second might
well be got as part of an agreement on the lines of the
chaft 1930 Customs Agreement curses & lo..
Customs Agreement.
12. A draft Agreement was negotiated in 1929/30
whereby the Chinese Maritime Customs were to be enabled
to operate in Hong Kong in collaboration with the Colonial
Government's Imports and Exports Department and to
collect in Hong Kong the Chinese customs dues on goods
destined for China. This
eement failed to secure
Agreem
ratification only through the last minute factious
opposition on the part of representatives of the late
régime in Canton. Rumour alleged this opposition to be
personal due to the interests of that régime in the smuggling trade
which the Agreement was designed to check.
13. In return the Agreement provided for the
retention of Chinese national status as regards customs
by goods shipped from one Treaty Port to another via
Hong Kong. There is in fact an administrative order of
the Chinese Maritime Customs already in operation on this
subject but it is uncertain how far the order is
effective and whether it extends to all goods. It would
be better to have the matter regularised in a formal
agreement. There were also provisions regarding salt,
Chinese coastal traffic and navigation of Chinese inland
waters which are not immediately important.
14.
Agreement
nt on the 1930 lines would not
prejudice the position of Hong Kong as a free port and might
be expected to benefit both the Colony and China (the
latter