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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PLEC.O. 882

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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"Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong,

"June 16, 1874.

«Sir,

"At a special meeting of the Committee of this Chamber held on the 15th instant, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, which I have now the honour to submit for the information of his Excellency the Governor :-

"Resolved."That the Committee of this Chamber have learned with much surprise that his Excellency the Governor has, through their Delegate, declined to furnish a copy of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry upon the alleged grievances sustained by the Chinese traders from the action of the Chinese Customs officers and cruizers, which harass the trade of the Colony. That up to the present the Chamber has purposely abstained from drawing up a Memorial addressed to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, in order that it might have the benefit of the researches of the Commission in making such representations as might be deemed advisable against the grievances so long complained of, and whereas his Excellency had requested the Chamber to appoint one of its members to sit upon the Commission, the Committee naturally inferred that they would receive a copy of the Report. That the Committee are of opinion that the labours of the Commission will be much more complete for reference to the Secretary of State for the Colonies if the large mercantile interests of this Colony, as represented by the Chamber (being deeply interested in this important question), are allowed the opportunity of adding their experience and information by supplementing the Report of the Commission with a Memorial of their own.'

"Resolved, therefore, that in view of the above, an application in the name of the Chamber be now respectfully made to his Excellency the Governor for a copy of the report of the Commission.'

"In doing

so the Committee desire to call his Excellency's attention to the fact that the subject of the action of the Customs authorities at Canton, with respect to the trade of this Colony, has been one in which the Chamber has taken an active interest for some time past, and repeated efforts have been made to engage the attention of the proper authorities in respect to the abuses complained of so frequently.

"It was, therefore, with pleasure and satisfaction that the request for a member of the Chamber to join the Commission was received, and the Chamber was in great hopes that by means of a strong and combined effort on the part of the Government and of the community the long existing unsatisfactory state of affairs would be effectually remedied.

"The Committee have accordingly expressed no little surprise that a copy of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry had been declined to the Chamber's delegate, and further, that said report had been referred for the consideration of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. In view of the position of the Chamber with respect to this Commission, and the active part it has taken in the agitation of this question, the Committe beg most respectfully to record their opinion, that in any such reference as abovementioned, the Chamber is entitled to an expression of its views, in connection with the Report, for the consideration of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies.

"Trusting that the request of the Committee as contained in the above resolutions will meet with his Excellency's best consideration, I have, &c.

(Signed) "P RYRIE, Chairman."

"The Honourable J. Gardiner Austin,

"Sir,

"Colonial Secretary, Hong Kong."

"Colonial Secretary's Office, Hong Kong, June 18, 1874.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, transmitting an application from the Committee of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce for a copy of the Report of a Commission appointed to inquire into alleged grievances sustained by the Chinese traders at Hong Kong from the action of the Chinese Customs officers and cruizera.

"In reply, I am desired by the Governor to state that with every desire to meet the views of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, his Excellency feels himself unable to comply with their request without previous communication with Her Majesty's Government, who are alone competent to deal effectually with questions arising out of the Report, for a copy of which they apply.

"I am further desired to inform you, for the information of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, that his Excellency will readily forward any representation or

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Memorial with which they may entrust him for transmission to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies.

P

"The Honourable P. Ryrie, Chairman,

"I have, &c. (Signed) "J. GARDINER AUSTIN,

Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce."

" Colonial Secretary.”

10. The Report of the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry, referred to in the above paragraph, will be in the hands of your Lordship, and it may be that the information therein contained is of a fuller character than your Memorialists have been able to obtain. The statements by Chinese merchants set forth in this Memorial are believed to be in substance correct, and a simple denial on the part of the Chinese authorities is not considered by your Memorialists entitled to be received in preference thereto.

11. Your Memorialists would urge upon your Lordship that these proceedings of the Hoppo and the authorities of Canton are in contravention of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship entered into by the respective Governments of Great Britain and China, and as the latter Government has ceded the Island of Hong Kong to the former, it is an unlawful proceeding to blockade all its approaches, and thus render the Proclamations of Her Majesty's Government completely nugatory.

Your Memorialists, therefore, pray your Lordship to take such action in the matter as will induce the Government of China, which now claims a place in the comity of civilized nations, to act in accordance with the practice of other nations and collect its duties from its own subiects at its own ports on goods imported into or exported from said ports, and to cease harassing and injuring the trade of this Colony in the manner set forth in this Memorial.

And

your Memorialists will ever pray, &c.

Sir,

(Signed)

P. RYRIE, Chairman. (And forty-four others).

Inclosure 5 in No. 2.

Canton, June 20, 1874.

I HAVE the honour to state, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, that I am in receipt of a joint despatch from the Viceroy of these Provinces and the Haikuan, or Superintendent of Customs, to the effect that, in consequence of communi- cations which have passed between these high officers and myself, the subject of regulations being made, for the purpose of enabling junks trading between the coast of China and the Colony of Hong Kong to pay their duties at convenient stations and receive their grand chop, has been under their consideration, and the result has been the intention to establish at Chang-chou and Fo-t'ouchou, two islands in the vicinity of the Colony, stations where junks en route can call, report their manifests, pay their duties, and receive a grand chop, which will exempt them from the payment of import or export duties at their place of departure or arrival, and, on production if stopped, from being searched or detained by

revenue cruizers.

The negotiation for obtaining this concession from the established regulation was entered upon by me to meet, if possible, the constant complaints which were made to the Colonial Government by the masters or alleged owners of junks of stoppage, search, and sometimes seizure of junks trading with Hong Kong, and their excuse for not having papers, which entailed the forfeiture of the vessels and cargoes, that they were unable to obtain them at the port they sailed from. In fact, I saw nothing for it but the establish- ment of one or two stations where duties could be paid and grand chops granted near Hong Kong, and in such a position that there would be no excuse for junks en route for the Colony avoiding them unless purposely. This, briefly, is the history of the present arrangement and of the regulations, a copy of which, with a sketch map, showing the position of the new stations, I beg to inclose.

Perhaps his Excellency the Governor would not consider it out of place here if I briefly relate the origin of the establishment of these duty stations.

In February 1868 the Viceroy Juilin informed me that the smuggling of opium from Hong Kong into the Province had assumed a very serious aspect, for, independently of the loss sustained by the Customs from the evasion of the duty, the lekin or war tax, which had been imposed during the rebellion, and which was under his immediate control, also similarly suffered. He, therefore, proposed to establish stations on Chinese territory in