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March I
No. 1.
Sir T. Wade to the Earl of Derby.--(Received March 3.)
London, March 3, 1877. AS your Lordship will have seen in the Agreement signed at Chefoo on the 13th September last, it was arranged that some means of removing the so-called blockade of Hong Kong was to be taken into consideration. Your Lordship has also before you my letter to Sir Arthur Kennedy, late Governor of Hong Kong, written while I was staying with him in December, Lord Carnarvon having signified his desire to know my opinion regarding this vexed question. I have requested his Lordship to peruse that portion of my Memorundum of 1868-9 on the revision of the Treaty of 1858, that relates to the trade of the Colony as affecting the revenue of China. This paper was laid before Lord Clarendon, and approved by his Lordship. I have farther put together some observations on the present difficulties of the case, and the solution I would propose, which, if your Lordship see no objection, I should be glad were com- municated to Lord Carnarvon.
I have, &c.
(Signed) THOMAS FRANCIS WADE.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum.
A PERUSAL of the three pages of the Memorandum on revision of Treaty, prepared by me in 1868-9, that relate to the Colony of Hong Kong, will explain my view of the moral obligation we accepted when the island was ceded to us, to assist the Chinese Governinent in securing itself against the loss that might be inflicted its
upon revenue by the trade of Chinese with the Island when it became a British Colony. I say nothing of omissions on our side, because, for some twenty-five years the Chinese practically showed themselves indifferent in the matter. To the loss which, till about ten years ago, they sustained by the exemption from duty of teas carried down to Macao for export, and of imports, especially opium, carried coastwise from Hong Kong, their attention was most probably directed by their foreign auxiliaries in the Inspectorate of Customs. If so, the Inspectorate, in my opinion, discharged a simple duty. The Chinese Superintendent of Customs (the "Hoppo," as we call him), remarking that there was no authority to control irregular trade between Hong Kong and the Chinese coast, as he, whether ignorantly or impertinently, put it--"No Consul at Hong Kong"-proceeded to control it himself. He, or the Canton Govern- mont, organized a fleet of steamers, and placed three Custom-houses on three points of Chinese territory to overhaul all junks communicating with the Colony. I consider that the Canton Government herein exercised an undoubted right. The Government of China has an undoubted right, in my opinion, to see that Chinese junks, carrying
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