CO129-399 - Governor Sir May - 1913 [1-2] — Page 287

CONFIDENTIA L.

Sir,

Lupt

C.O.

7205

285

MAC 13)

GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

HONGKONG. 23rd. January, 1913.

70% 675/12

36909

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt

of your Confidential Despatch of the 26th. November last relative

to the French Tariff on goods trans-shipped in Hongkong.

2.

The requirements put forward by M. de Selves in his Despatch of the 30th. October, 1911, are:- (a).A Certificate of Origin.

(b).A Certificate of the French Consul at Hongkong that

(i). the Merchandise has not been tampered with in

any way nor has the packing been altered but

that it has been trans-shipped in the state

in which it arrived in the Colony:

(ii).the trans-shipment has been made between

vessels belonging to the same Company.

There would be no difficulty in complying with requirements (a) and (b) (i) but no Company other than the Ocean Steamship Company and the China Kutual Steam Navigation Company could comply with (b) (ii). There would, however, appear to be no valid reason for the imposition of this condition provided that the first two conditions are complied with.

3.

With regard to the query in the last paragraph

of His Majesty's Ambassador's Despatch of the 2nd. "ovember last

merchandise

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LEWIS HARCOURT, M.P.,

&0..

&C.,

&c...