CO129-470 - Public Offices - 1921 — Page 555

(4).

is explicitly dependent upon their offers being as good as any competitor's. The United States Government will hardly wish to deny that such a provision is wholly inconsistent with the idea of a monopoly, in which all possibility of competition is eliminated. No Government can look for advantageous terms for the supply of goods for public utilities unless the interests of the con- tractor are safeguarded. The grant of preferential rights in such cases acts both in the public inter- est and in that of the contractor, and tends to encourage development and progress.

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In the very case cited by the United States Government in support of their arguments, that of the China Electric Company, the same point was carefully studied by His Majesty's Government, whom it appeared that the rights acquired by that Compeny did not conflict with the treaty provisions against monopolies and could not be objected to on other grounds. Consequently, although unaware that the United States Government had disavowed the Company's preferential rights, His Majesty's Government refrained from questioning those rights. In the present case where the rights of the Sino-British Company appear to be much the same His Majesty's Government see no reason to depart from the conclusions reached regarding the

China Mectric Company.

United States Government appear to intimate

that,

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