CO129-407 - Public Offices & Others - 1913 — Page 254

y reply to this Letter

uld be addressed :—

The Secretary,

Cuntorn House,

London, E.C.."

and the following number quoted.

No. 2114

1913

зе

C.O.

3863

REC? Rro 3 FEB 13

249

Custom House, London,

1st February, 1913.

Sir,

No

In reply to Lir. Read's letter of the 18th ultimo,

2006/12/13, 1 am directed by the Board of Customs

and Excise to state that if notice is received before the arrival here of a consignment of opium from Hong Kong they will arrange for a special examination of the goods by their officers.

In regard to this examination I am to observe that as opium is not liable to duty on importation into the United Kingdom it would not be weighed by the Officers of this Department, the weight declared for Statistical purposes by the importers being accepted unless obviously inaccurate. I am in the

circumstances to suggest, as an alternative to taking

tas an exact account of the weight of opium landed in any particular consignment, that the consignments in question (which are packed, and shipped under Revenue control in Hong Kong) should have official seals placed on the packages before shipment and that the number of packages should be advised to this Department so that the officers on the arrival of the goods could satisfy themselves that all the packages shipped are duly landed with the seals intact.

The