CO129-457 - Public Offices - 1919 — Page 682

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an application, for remuneration in respect of the work I have

carried out in this matter, to be transmitted, if you see fit,

to the Secretary of State for the Colonies or the Government

of Hongkong.

I should mention in the first place that if in the ordinary

course of events the Colonial Governments concerned had effected

their purchases through a Saigon rice-exporting firm it would

probably have had to be done on a commission basis of 2 or 21%.

A partner of Messrs Grammont & Cox, a leading firm of Saigon,

informed me that the French Government have paid his firm a com-

mission of 2% on purchases of rice effected on their behalf,

while another firm, the Societe Franco-Belge, offered the Dutch

Consul to purchase rice on behalf of the Netherlands East Indies

at a commission of 2%, which offer was, however, not accepted,

the Dutch Consul making the purchases direct. But it is unlikely considering the standards of commercial morality prevailing here,

that such a commission would have represented any preponderant

proportion of the charges that would have been indirectly paid

by Colonial Governments, which would probably have included con-

siderable commissions from the firms supplying the rice (all, of

course, being allowed for in the ostensible contract price). On

the other hand, the exporting firms, with their greater exper-

ience and opportunities of buying in smaller quantities, would,

if commissions were not allowed for, probably have been able to

purchase rice a little cheaper from the Chinese than an official

buyer could, though of course the price to be added for the ex-

port licenses would always have remained for the export firms,

to settle. The business methods of these firms have already

been dealt with in my previous despatch sufficiently fully, I

think, to show that it would have been undesirable for any

British/