CO129-501-8 General policy in China 30-11-1926 - 30-11-1926 — Page 46

8.

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status of any kind": and further that the existing sub-stations

Changchow, Capsuimo on, Lai-chee-kok and fotochow - should

be removed to points outside the leased territory, as their

retention would be a fruitful source of friction and would

always be miscontrued by the Chinese mind. There were, as

Major-General Black pointed out, many points both on the

coast and on adjacent islands where the Chinese Customs could

establish new stations.

11.

I can find no reply from the Colonial Office

nor any communication from the British Legation on this

subject: but, as a matter of history, the view of Lajor-General

Black prevailed. The sub-stations of the Chinese Laritime

Customs have been removed to Chinese territory at Sham-chun,

Sha-tau-kok and along the coast of Mirs Bay, while the

officer of the Foreign Inspectorate, still called "Commissioner

of Customs for Kowloon and District", remains to this day

in Hong Kong island, only "unofficially acknowledged" in Sir

R. Hart's phrase, with a residence at the Peak and an office

in Victoria City. Moreover, the questions raised by lr.

Fleming in 1890 as to the exact position of the Kowloon

Commissioner, his powers, whom he really represents and to

whom he is responsible have never been answered.

12.

The only further event to record in this

connection is that, upon the opening of the Kowloon-Canton

Railway in October, 1911, it was arranged for the convenience

of through traffic that Chinese import duties should be

collected by the Kowloon Commissioner at the railway terminus

at Kowloon Point in British territory.

13./