CO129-531-15 Chinese customs- proposed agreement with Hong Kong 9-7-1931 - 17-1-1932 — Page 97

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danger. He was, however, fully alive to the desirabili-

ty of assisting the Chinese in every way to repress the

smuggling that was taking place through Hongkong, and

hoped to come to an agreement on the scheme of "dual

control" drawn up by Mr. Lloyd, the superintendent of

Customs and Excise. I told sir william Peel that I

agreed with these views, and that I had come to feel

that the right thing to do was to drop the previous draft

agreement and concentrate on the smuggling problem. I

did not think the Nanking Government would be in a posi-

tion to turn down any soheme that offered a reasonable

chance of protecting its revenues, merely because it did

not give the Customs the position of independence that

it hoped to acquire in the Colony and its watera. The

thing to aim at was discussion by experts of both sid es

on the spot, by dint of which it might be possible to

arrive at some scheme which could eventually be submitte

to the ühinese and His Majesty's Governments. I saked

. Ingram to endeavour to persuade the Inspector-Gener-

al/