CO129-373 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 286

i.

285

Enclosure 8 in No. 1.

Sir F. May to Consul-General Jamieson.

Sir,

Government House, Hong Kong, September 2, 1910.

you that IN reply to your letter of the 30th ultimo, I have the honour to inform Messrs. David Sassoon and Co. and Messrs. E. D. Sassoon and Co. are not the only persons who have protested against the regulations to which you refer. Repeated protests have been made by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, and joint representations were also made on the 10th ultimo by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China, the Mercantile Bank of India and six other European hanks established in this colony. Moreover, I am not aware that His Majesty's Government have accepted the regulations as being in conformity with the existing treaties. I am also at a loss to understand your reference to Kowloon as a "Chinese port of entry."

2. I am informed that the regulations and tax in question have been successfully resisted by His Majesty's consul at Swatow, as well as by the French consul at Canton on behalf of a French firm, MM. Sales et Cie.

3. I enclose herewith in original four receipts dated the 30th ultimo for payments of the tax.* These receipts have been handed to this Government by Messrs. E D. Sassoon and Co.

Gentlemen,

I have, &c.

F. II. MAY,

Officer Administering the Government.

Enclosure 9 in No. 1.

Mr. Thomson to Messrs. D. Sassoon and Co.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hong Kong, September 2, 1910.

WITH reference to my letter of the 27th ultimo, I am directed to forward for your information the enclosed copy of a letter from His Britannic Majesty's consul-general at Canton dated the 30th ultimo, and of the reply of the officer administering the Govern- ment dated the 2nd instant.

2. His Excellency will be glad to receive from you such evidence as may be in your possession of the statement in your letter of the 29th ultimo that opium is now being shipped by Chinese merchants and consigned to a French firm, MM. Sales et Cie., at Cauton, under the protection of the French cousul at that port, and that opium sold by this firm into the interior without payment of the new levy.

goes

I have, &c.

Sir,

Enclosure 10 in No. 1.

A. M.

Mr. Max Müller to Sir F. May.

THOMSON,

Colonial Secretary.

Peking, August 20, 1910.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches of the 2nd and 5th instant in regard to the enforcement of the Kuangtung opium regulations at Swatow. I have again brought to the notice of the Chinese Government the manner in which the additional tax is being levied there, and have stated that, if the procedure described in the letter from the Swatow raw opium dealers to the Hong Kong dealers is correct, in my opinion, it unquestionably constitutes a tax on raw opium. As you are aware, on the 29th July I protested against the seizure of several balls of opium On the covered by transit passes at the li-kin station of Ketyung Fort, Swatow. 16th instant I renewed my representations to the Wai-wu Pu, pointing out that up to the 4th August the opium had not been released, although the Viceroy at Canton

* Not printed.

7

was believed to have reprimanded the authorities at Swatow for action taken there. The Wai-wu Pu repeated their assertion, and there had been no breach of the treaty, but that the Chinese dealer had been guilty of a breach of the regulations.

As I have already informed your Excellency in my telegram of the 9th August, 1 made a strong protest, both verbally and in writing, against the illegal proceedings of the Chinese authorities at Sainshui and Suntong. The Wai-wu Pu promised to call at once for a report, and, as the promised information had not arrived, I renewed my representations in regard to this incident on the 16th August. I pointed out that, so far as I was aware, the opium had not been released nor the fine remitted. I stated that British trade was being seriously interfered with, and that British firms had already incurred large financial losses for which they would undoubtedly prefer claims later.

Sir,

I have, &c. (In the absence of His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires),

ERNEST SCOTT,

Enclosure 11 in No. 1.

Sir F. May to Mr. Max Müller.

Government House, Hong Kong, September 3, 1910.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge with thanks your Excellency's letter of the 20th ultimo, and to forward herewith in original and translation a copy of a letter addressed to Messrs. E. D. Sassoon and Co. by the Canton Opium Guild. These documents were handed to this Government by a representative of Messrs. E. D. Sassoon and Co. on the 1st instant.

I have, &c.

F. H. MAY,

Officer Administering the Government.

Enclosure 12 in No. 1.

Canton Opium Guild to Messrs. E. D. Sassoon and Co.

Canton [undated]},

(Translation.) Dear Sirs,

WE beg to inform you that a few days ago the Canton Viceroy received a wire from the Wai-wu Pu, stating that the British Minister proposed to double the tariff duty if the prepared opium tax is allowed to be removed. The Viceroy asked the directors Hu and Chong of the bureau for the suppression of opium for advice. They strongly objected to the British Minister's proposal on grounds that this tax is levied on prepared opium and divided into ten stages from 30 cents a tael to 3 dollars a tael, and will bring an income of five to six millions yearly, and inside three years the Canton revenue will be profited by 20,000,000. The British Minister's proposal is simply a trap to give us a bait, no doubt; the foreigners have a bad heart.

We are surprised to note again the statements made by the directors of the bureau that this tax is on prepared opium, and that it is a matter of internal administration. How would they explain that the tax has to be paid before sale is effected, and what about the security? Now the bureau declared to the Viceroy as well as to the Wai-wu Pu that the tax is levied on prepared opium, and at the same time forces the raw-opium dealers to pay it.

We hope you will be good enough to point this out to your Minister, and beg him to protest strongly.

Yours faithfully,

TUNG FOOK TONG.

ου