CO129-521-12 Chinese Customs- proposed agreement with Hong Kong 2-4-1930 - 16-6-1930 — Page 46

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and

accordingly proposed to Hong Kong a Customs Agreement to

provide for a limited power for Chinese Customs Office.

vessels to operate in Hong Kong waters with the active

assistance of Hong Kong Government officials. Sir Cecil

Clementi and his advisers strongly disliked the idea of

Chinese Government officials with their well-known capacity

for anti-British political intrigue operating in Hong Kong.

He had every justification for this view from his experience

of the activities of the Kuo-Min-Tang, and of the operation

in Hong Kong of the Chinese Telegraph Office. In the

interests, however, of good relations and the suppression of

illicit trade, the Governor was prepared to come to an

agreement to protect the Chinese Customs Revenue, but he

demanded a quid pro quo in the interests of legitimate

Hong Kong trade with China.

The counter-draft which Sir

Cecil Clementi presented to the Chinese Customs has been

rejected by the Nationalist Government.

Negotiations are

now on foot for approaching a solution on different lines.

The one prepared by the new Governor, Sir William Peel, is

that the Government of Hong Kong should appoint officers, at

the expense of the Chinese Maritime Customs, to detect

smuggling