18
3.
These wholesale smuggling activities, which are arranged
by firms operating in Hongkong, are conducted both by day
and by night.
It is my intention of course to persevere with
preventive operations on land, but the extent to which the
trade has grown and the stretch of the coast line of Mirs
Bay involved are such that land operations offer but small
prospect of success so long as the smugglers are able to
avail themselves of the facilities afforded them by virtue
of their immunity from interference in the waters of the
Bay up to high water mark, which enables them to select
their own time and place for landing and thus to elude,
more often than not, the Chinese Customs preventive patrols
on shore. And in this connexion I beg to leave to remark
that, the right of patrolling and of searching vessels
plying on the waters by which the smuggling places concerned
only can be reached being denied to China, and such denial
creating a severe and at present an insurmountable obstacle.
in the way of safeguarding her revenue and preventing the
clandestine importation of contraband, it is not unreason-
able for China to hope that the Power assuming that right
will discountenance and prevent by every possible means.
practices tending to her loss so far as such waters are
concerned.
A position having been reached when it has
become a matter of urgency for me to report the situation
to the Inspector General of Customs for further report to
the Chinese Government if he considers necessary, I have
the honour to request the Hongkong Government's kind
consideration of the conditions of smuggling as explained,
and to enquire whether that Government are able to see
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