CO129-558-11 Mission of Sir F. Leith-Ross to China- proposals for a Hong Kong - China customs... 29-9-1936 - 30-12-1936 — Page 68

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trade through Hong Kong. The first is not likely to be cheel d

got except at an extortionate price; the second might

well be got as part of an agreement on the lines of the

chaft 1930 Customs Agreement curses & lo..

Customs Agreement.

12. A draft Agreement was negotiated in 1929/30

whereby the Chinese Maritime Customs were to be enabled

to operate in Hong Kong in collaboration with the Colonial

Government's Imports and Exports Department and to

collect in Hong Kong the Chinese customs dues on goods

destined for China. This

eement failed to secure

Agreem

ratification only through the last minute factious

opposition on the part of representatives of the late

régime in Canton. Rumour alleged this opposition to be

personal due to the interests of that régime in the smuggling trade

which the Agreement was designed to check.

13. In return the Agreement provided for the

retention of Chinese national status as regards customs

by goods shipped from one Treaty Port to another via

Hong Kong. There is in fact an administrative order of

the Chinese Maritime Customs already in operation on this

subject but it is uncertain how far the order is

effective and whether it extends to all goods. It would

be better to have the matter regularised in a formal

agreement. There were also provisions regarding salt,

Chinese coastal traffic and navigation of Chinese inland

waters which are not immediately important.

14.

Agreement

nt on the 1930 lines would not

prejudice the position of Hong Kong as a free port and might

be expected to benefit both the Colony and China (the

latter