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"it will serve no useful purpose to draw the attention
"of the Chinese Authorities to the fact that the
"regulations are in some respects contrary to Treaty
"practice unless and until they are applied in such
"a way as to constitute an impediment to British
"shipping and trade".
Apart from general complaints, mostly from Messrs. Butterfield
and Swire, regarding the unsatisfactory position arising from
the prevalance of smuggling by the Chinese crews of British
ships, a specific case arose at Tientsin in September last
year over the smuggling of opium in Messrs. Jardine, Matheson
and Company's "Tingsang" in which the firm was fined the
maximum amount of 1,000 taels and protested through His
Majesty's Consul-General.
This case gave rise to the corres-
pondence with the Inspector General of Customs above referred
to.
4.
At the time of the receipt, in the middle of
February, of your despatch No. 1045 I had already decided (a) to
wind up the correspondence with 8ir F. Maze, which could lead
to no conclusion other than a controversy with the Chinese
Government on the procedure for carrying out the provisions
of the Treaty of Tientein, a matter which had been argued at
great length but without any definite result over sixty years
ago, and (b) to report the position to you for any instructions
you might have to give me, after first ascertaining the views
of the shipping Companies with special reference to the point
as to whether they really desired the matter to be taken up in
earnest with the Chinese Government. I accordingly addressed
to His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghai my despatch of 2nd
March above referred to and requested him to discuss the whole
question with the representatives of the British Shipping
Companies and ascertain their views.
5.
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