CO129-392 - Governor Sir May - 1912 [9-10] — Page 320

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Inspector-General of Customs to H. M. Minister.

Peking, 21st. September, 1912.

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. 112

My dear Sir John,

Your letter of 1st. August concerning the Chinese Government's contribution towards the cost of maintaining the Gap Rock Lighthouse was handed to me on my return from Peitai- -ho at the end of the month, and I regret that my absence and the necessity of obtaining some information have prevented me from replying before.

I have no record of the negotiations that pre- -ceded the conclusion of the 1888 arrangement referred to by you, as all Inspectorate archives were destroyed in 1900, but, from what I can gather from the correspondence with the Kowloon Customs at the time, there was never any intention that the Chinese Government's contribution towards either the first cost or the maintenance of tuis light should be other than a purely nominal sum. The Hon kong Government assured full responsibility for both construction and maintenance, and, though it is true the cost of both largely exceeded the estimates, there does not appear to me to be any adequate reason why China should now be asked to contri- -bute an annual sun in excess of what is required to maintain a similar class light on the China Coast, in order that in this way a burden, which properly belongs to the tax-payers of the Colony, may be placed on her shoulders, and she may be made to share retrospectively the expenditure on the Gap Rock Light during the last twenty years. I know of no circumstances today in regard to this light that differ in any essential respect from those which existed in 1888 or that would appeal to the Chinese Government as any reason for departure from one of the fundamental principles of the agreement, namely, that the light should be constructed and maintained at the expense of the Colony.

While this is my view regarding the request

for an annual contribution of $10,000 towards the maintenace ex-