CO129-531-15 Chinese customs- proposed agreement with Hong Kong 9-7-1931 - 17-1-1932 — Page 104

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10.

position to answer the question whether a solution on

the lines of the original draft agreement would be com-

meroially beneficial to the Colony or not; only the

Hongkong authorities and their experts could say.

sonally, I had never liked the idea of assimilating the

status of Hongkong to that of a Chinese Treaty Port, for

fear of promoting Chinese irredentist aspirations, and

I should prefer some other solution of the smuggling isman

But the crux of the whole question turned on whether the

advantage of securing a settlement of the latter problem

was commensurate with this inherent risk, and here again

the Hongkong authorities were the best judges. I st 111

adhere to the view that article 5, stipulating the grant

of inland waters privileges for Hongkong foreign flag

vessels plying direct to chinese non-open ports, was a

mistake and should be dropped. I added I was not unduly

alarmed at the prospect of failure to reach a settlement,

but was not without hope that some alternative solution

would be found,

7./