CO129-548-4 Railways Amendment Ordinance 1934 and further amendment 6-4-1934 - 15-11-1934 — Page 8

Nox CONFIDENTIAL.

Sir,

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

2°

HONG KONG,

8

17th April, 1934.

I have the honour to refer to my despatch

No.257 of the 17th April, 1934, forwarding for the

signification of His Majesty's pleasure an Ordinance

intituled "An Ordinance to amend further the Railways

"Ordinance 1909".

2.

Section 5 of this Ordinance represents an

attempt to deal with difficulties which have arisen in

connection with the admittedly anomalous position of

the Chinese Maritime Customs Officers exercising their

functions at the British terminus of the Railway. It

is an obvious convenience to all concerned that passen-

gers to Chinese territory travelling by through expresses

should be able to pass their baggage through the Customs

before boarding the train; and facilities for this are

provided for in the Railway Working Agreement. At the

same time it is clearly undesirable that a foreign

organisation operating on sufferance in British Territory,

should be given power to confiscate articles placed upon.

the train without payment of duty. With the increase in

the Chinese tariff and the consequent growth of smuggling

into China the number of such articles discovered has

increased.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER, G.B.E., M.C., M.P.

&c.,

&C.,

&c.