CO129-435 - Governor Sir May & Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1916 [9-11] — Page 130

CONFIDENTIAL.

HONGKONG.

128

53149

Rest

REG? 6 Nuvit

GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

11th. September, 1916.

کم

Sir,

APOT 3

In continuation of my Confidential Despatch of

the 23rd August, I have the honour to forward ten copies of a further revisé of the Anglo-Chinese Customs Agreement, which

has been finally concurred in by Mr. A. H. Harris.

2.

The amendments in this revisé, which have been made at the request of Mr. Harris, are as follows:-

(a). A sub-section (i) has been added to Article I, and (b). A sub-section (b) has been added to Article II.

An undertaking on these lines was informally agreed upon with Mr. Harris in 1911, but it was lost sight

of.

(c). The concluding paragraph of Article II has been re-

-written.

(d). Article XIII (h) has been re-written and is now marked (g). It appears that the Chinese Customs have a fixed standard of exchange at all their stations, the rate varying in different localities. The revised clause meets the objection previously raised by this Government that water-borne goods from and to Canton were more lightly taxed than rail-borne goods.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

ANDREW BONAR LAW, M.P.,

80..

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(e)