CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 279

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wrote to our agent in Paris, in which the details of

the matter are fully stated.

Our friend Mr. Genestal

the Mayor of Havre, who has interested himself in the

matter, has written a letter to the Havre Chamber of

Commerce which clearly sets forth the arguments in favour

of the admission of these goods at the minimum duty of

25 francs per 100 kilos, and we beg to enclose herewith

a copy of his letter. We also enclose a copy of the

letter addressed by the Chief of the Administration in

Paris to our agent there, from which you will see the

grounds on which the Administration base their interpre-

tation of the regulations.

It has been suggested to us by our friends in France

that if our Foreign Office would place the matter before

the French Government and in the interests of not only

Canadian but British citizens would ask for their inter-

vention the French Government, in view of the friendly

relations prevailing between Canada and France and bet-

ween France and Great Britain and in view of the under-

taking which exists to grant France the benefit of the

minimum tariff and to grant to England the benefit of

the

the most-favoured-nation treatment, would willingly

instruct the Director of the Customs Administration to

interpret the regulations with regard to transhipment

a little more broadly and in such a way as to permit

of these goods being entered at the minimum duty.

We understand that the difficulty arises through

a departmental regulation interpreting the law and not

from the organic law itself and that the French Govern-

ment would be disposed to grant full consideration to

any representations which might be made to them by you

in supporting our objection to a too narrow interpreta-

tion of the law. It does not seem reasonable to us,

especially in view of the fact that there is no direct

line of steamers trading between Vancouver and Havre,

that the mere transhipment from one British steamer to

another British steamer belonging to the same owners

in a port of a British Crown Colony where no goods of a

similar nature are produced, should cause goods of

Canadian origin to forfeit the benefit of the minimum

tariff which they would otherwise be entitled to enjoy,

and which we understand, has been secured to Canada by

treaty.

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