CO129-366 - Governor Sir Lugard Acting Governor May - 1910 [4-5] — Page 297

Fonclosure 10.

294

the Railway, and on goods under transit pass to the place

of destination named in the Pass.

12.

Article 13 needs no comment: but

I attach great importance to Article 14, which secures

that the Commissioner of Kowloon Customs shall be British.

13.

In conclusion I may state that I

do not think that any considerable additional financial

burden will be thrown upon this Colony in the event of full

effect being given to this draft Convention: some slight

increase in staff may be necessary for the better control

of the junk traffic and a re-adjustment of the fees paid by

junks for their Licences and for entering and clearing may

be rendered necessary owing to the abolition, under Article

1, of the special permits for which junks at present pay a

special fee. I incline to the opinion, however, that if the

principles embodied in this Convention are accepted, this

Colony will receive concessions from China of greater value

than are those which it makes to China in return, and I

therefore trust that Your Lordship will authorize me by

telegram to inform Mr. Harris that the proposals embodied

in the draft Convention have the approval of His Majesty's

Government, and that he is at liberty to lay them before

the Inspector-General of Imperial Maritime Customs. I may

add that, from my conversations with Mr. Harris, as well as

from the attached final letter, I infer that it is

probable that the draft Convention in its present form

would be approved of by the Chinese Central Government at. Peking as well as by the Authorities of the Liang Kuang Provinces. I hope that the Central Government will authorize

the local Cormissioner of Customs to negotiate the pro- -posed Convention with this Government in the same manner

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in which His Excellency Wei Han has been authorized to negotiate locally the Railway Working Agreement: and I

would