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Mr. Moss and Sir C. Clementi would appear to indicate.
The deletion of the detailed provisions of the original
Article II relating to salt may prove to have destroyed one
of the chief incentives to the Chinese Government to accept
the agreement. This was one of the articles in the
original Harris Convention on which the present agreement
is based. Reference to Sir B. Alston's despatch No. 191 of
April 13th, 1921, shows that after the negotiations had
been carried to a successful conclusion and arrangements had
been actually made for the signature in Peking of the Harris
Convention the Government of Hong kong suddenly withdrew and
refused to conclude the agreement. The principal reason put
forward for this change of front was that the agreement would
raise the price of salt for the inhabitants of Hongkong.
The deletion of Article II seems likely therefore to give
rise to considerable difficulties. The amendments to Arti cle
V delete the provisions relating to the free carriage of
Chinese mail matter, to which the Chinese Covernment probably
attach considerable importance, and have the effect of
limiting the operation of the Article to the two provinces of
Kwangtung and Kwang si. This limitation makes no substantial
difference so far as Hongkong is concerned but considerations
of high policy may make it inadvisable to lend colour to the
theory that China is divided into regional governments. The
new draft of Article IX omits the stipulations as to bonded
warehouses and appears to involve other alterations of
substance. With regard to Article X of the new draft it is
difficult to see how the Chinese Government can be expected
to grant privileges of the nature contemplated in respect of
goods....
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