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 86

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smuggling was being carried on.

There matters have rested until now;

but new possibilities have been opened

by the fall of the old regime in Canton

and the recently acquired ascendancy

of the Central Government in the South.

The former Provincial authorities

deeply involved in the status quo have

to some extent been replaced by

officials, who, if not necessarily

pro-British, are at any rate likely to

view the question of trade with Hong

Kong from the point of view of its

importance to China as a whole rather

than to Canton.

!