CO129-552-6 Traffic of arms to China 2-1-1935 - 27-12-1935 — Page 372

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licenses are issued without awaiting an

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expression of the desires of the Chinese Government.

I may state, in this connection, that it is the

practice of the Department to grant, without

reference to the Chinese Government, licenses

covering shipments to China of comparatively small

quantities of small arms (such as shotguns,

revolvers and sporting rifles) for the retail

trade. During recent months shipments of this

category to Hong Kong have reached such

proportions as to cause suspicion that the articles

were not for consumption by the normal retail

trade. I, therefore, instituted an investigation

of the situation, as a result of which I am

informed that when an exporter in the United States

obtains an export license stating, on the basis

of information received from the consignee in

Hong Kong, that Hong Kong is the destination of

the shipment, the consignee may,

the consignee may, before the

shipment arrives, register with the Hong Kong police

the sales contract showing that the shipment is in

reality destined to China, and that in such cases

the shipment is considered as being in transit and

is permitted by the Hong Kong authorities to

proceed to China. Thus in the absence of any

knowledge with regard to who the actual importers

in China may be, it obviously is impossible to

determine whether the goods in question are in

reality destined for consumption by the normal

retail trade in China or whether they are to be

put to other uses with regard to which the National

Government desires to maintain effective import

control. I understand further that under the

procedure/