Communist authorities will certainly be harsh on smuggling by British ships. They may try and drive British shipping away from Canton by heavy and discriminatory fines against owners of ships on which smugg- lers are caught (rather than against the smugg- lers themselves, who would be Chinese)
-3
Hong Kong will have to do the best it can to control smuggling y ships. It is desperately difficult to stop smuggling by individuals. Con- trol of smuggling will to some extent depend upon whether Chinese Maritime Customs are still per- mitted to operate in the Colony. The only rem- edy against the unfortunate shipowner being vic- timised and heavily fined instead of the smugglers themselves is publicity in Hong Kong. Such pub- licity must stress the fact that the smugglers are Chinese, and the ship owners do their best to discourage smuggling. There is a chance that smuggling may decrease if Communist penalities against the smugglers themselves are unduly severe. No retaliatory action seems possible.
t
Note. Reinforcement of existing regulation
may be necessary in respect of many of the courses of action suggested above.
Page 35Page 36