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 85

C. O.

85

Mr.

Mr.

Mr.

Sir C. Parkinson.

Sir G. Tomlinson.

Sir C. Bottomley.

Sir J. Shuckburgh.

Permt. U.S. of S.

Parly. U.S. of S.

Secretary of State.

DRAFT.

of destination, subject to their being

supervised by a Chinese Maritime Customs

staff under the Hong Kong Customs

authorities.

This draft was accepted

by the Hong Kong Government, the

Inspector-General of Customs and the

Nanking Ministry of Finance. It was

on the point of signature when the whole

project was torpedoed by the successful

opposition of the Canton Delegation in

the Central Executive Council of the

Kuomintang, and it is understood that

this was due partly to the threat which

the agreement would have constituted to

the Cantonese vested interest in

smuggling and partly to the desire to

retaliate against the Central Government

FURTHER ACTION.

for the institution of a customs cordon

round the new Chinese Free Port of

Chungshang through which the Minister

of Finance had found that extensive

smuggling