24
- 2 -
new clause suggested in T. Amery's despatch, I should be glad to learn under what power it is
competent for my Government to legislate in the
proposed manner for places outside the limits of
the Colony, as the point would certainly be taken
on any attempt to enforce the penalty, and my legal
advisers are not aware of the answer.
If the power
in question, which my legal advisers have hitherto
been unable to discover, is a power to legislate
in respect of vessels registered in Hong Kong, I
would point out that the provisions of the Bill are
not wholly confined to vessels so registered.
In
3. The print of the draft Bill, as enclosed,
was circulated to my Executive Council and came up for
discussion on the 22nd August, 1929. It then
appeared that most of the members of the Executive
Council were not in favour of this legislation.
the first place, it was urged that the present time is inopportune for any legislation dealing with British navigation in Chinese inland waters: for, on the one hand, the subject has been raised in an
acute form in the discussions on the proposed commercial treaty between Great Britain and China, and the Chinese authorities are very reluctant to recognize any right of British ships to trade on Chinese inland waters; while, on the other hand, there is some ground for hoping that the right to trade by means of British ships from Hong Kong to certain places in the provinces of Kwangtung and
Kwangsi,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.