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Commissioner, shall be fully recognised in Hong Kong and by the Hong Kong Govern- ment as an Imperial Chinese officer, and his office in Hong Kong shall also be recognised and acknowledged.
(2) That the Imperial Maritime Customs shall be fully authorised and empowered to collect, in Hong Kong all duties, likin included, on opium and on all goods and merchandise carried from or to any Chinese ports in Chinese junks 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 Mirs 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 provi sions 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.
(11) That all necessary legislative measures should be prepared and passed to give effect to the above demands.
Sir Robert Hart's despatch embodies all the above demands under eight heads. I have expanded them into eleven, to make them a little more clear.
My Committee desire me now to impress it upon you that Sir Robert Hart's 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 Im- perial 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 customs revenues 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.
JNO. J. FRANCIS,
Chairman.
*
75
(8.)
(Extract from letter from the Hong Kong Branch of the Association.)
September 2, 1898. At a meeting of the Committee held on Thursday last, the fol- lowing 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.
To R. S. Gundry,
Hon Secretary,
26117.
SIR,
China Association.
No. 45.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received November 22, 1898.)
[Acknowledged by No. 48.]
Foreign Office, November 21, 1898.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit to you to be laid before the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the accompanying copy of a despatch on the subject of the Hong Kong Extension.
(No. 193.) MY LORD,
Enclosure in No. 45.
I am, &c.,
FRANCIS BERTIE.
The Secretary,
China Association,
London.
(2)
CHINESE MEMBERS of HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL to COLONIAL GOVERNMENT, dated Hong Kong, September 11, 1898.
Sir C. MACDONALD to the Marquess of SalISBURY.
(Received November 14.)
Peking, September 21, 1896.
I HAVE the honour to enclose herewith translation of a despatch dated the 10th instant, which I have received from the Tsung-li Yamên, supporting a proposal of the Governor-General of Canton to make regulations for the lease of the Hong Kong extension.
I forward also a copy of my reply of to-day's date, pointing out the gratuitous in- terference of the Governor-General in a matter already arranged between Her Majesty's Government and China.
I have, &c.,
CLAUDE M. MACDONALD.
(See enclosure in No. 40.)
638
K3
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO