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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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to
letter, the London Chamber took up the matter which the system of rewards offered by the very strongly, as will be seen by-a despatch they Customs Authorities at Saigon works to the addressed to Lord Salisbury, which, with your serious detriment of trade, and to ask you permission, I will now read. It is as follows:- lay it before His Excellency the Governor with "Botolph House, Eustcheap, the request that he will be good enough to London, November 11th, 1898. represent the case to the Governor-General of "My Lord, I am directed to inform you Indo-Ching, to the end that the shipowners that the East India and China Trado Section engaged in this trade may be relieved from the of this Chamber had under its consideration at disability under which they now suffer. its last meeting a communication from the 2.-Considering that the utmost possible Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce, deal-precautions are taken, both by the steamship ing at length with the terms of the Anglo-owners and the masters, to prevent any smug- Chinese Convention to secure an extension of the boundaries of Hongkong, signed at Peking on the 9th June last, and which have been made public, and regarding which the Hong- kong Chamber have, I understand, made representations to Her Majesty's Government. "The Hongkong Chamber takes strong ob- jection to the clause of the convention which provides that within the city of Kowloon the Chinese officials now stationed there shall cou- tinue to exercise jurisdiction, and that the existing landing-place near that city shall be reserved for the convenience of Chinose ressols.
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This is regarded as tantamount to having a foreign authority exercising jurisdiction in British territory, and to the establishment of a Chinese port within Hongkong Harbour for the use of Chinese war vessels and Customs cruisers, a position absolutely without parallel.
"To the conditions laid down in the conven. tion, the East India and China Trade Section are informed there is universal objection in the colony of Hongkong, where the opinion obtaius that these conditions will effectually hamper the development of trade and industry, which might otherwise have been confidently expected.
C
The Hongkong Chamber are further pro- foundly convinced that the freedom of the port can only be properly safeguarded by the with- drawal of the Chinese Customs Stations →to Chinese territory, and the refusal of permission to the Chinese Customs officials to collect duties either in the colony or its waters.
"I am directed to inform your Lordship that the East India and China Trade Section of this Chamber are entirely in accord with the views expressed by the Hongkong Chamber, and I am desired to express the hope that arrangements may yet be made between Her Majesty's Gor- ernment and the Government of China by which the objectionable features of the arrangement re- ferred to may be removed, and the colony, with its enlarged area and its improved strategical and defensive conditions, be enabled to reap the full advantage of the security obtained, and the development of commerce, which, as a free port, should become more and more marked.-I am, &c.,
(Signed)
"KENRIC B. MURRAY,
"Secretary.
The Most Noble the Marquess of Salisbury." The Committee having expressed their satis. faction with the energetic audunphatic man- ner in which the London Chamber had backed up the Chamber's representation, the meeting terminated.
(Correspondence.)
CABLE RATES BETWEEN INDIA AND
EUROPE.
Hongkong Goueral Chamber of Commerce,
Hongkong. 2nd June, 1899. Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge recipt of your letter of the 14th April enclosing copy of a despatch addressed to the Government of India on the question of reducing the Telegraph rates between India and Europe, aud I am directed to inform you, in reply, that the mat- ter is receiving consideration by my Committee. In the meautime, your letter and enclosure have been published in the local papers for the information of this community.—I am, dear sir, yours faithfully,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX.
Secretary. A. E. Lowson, Esq., Secretary, Madras Cham
ber of Commerce.
SYSTÈM OF FINES FOR SMUGGLING AT SAIGON.
gling of opium on board, it is certainly a strik- iug comment ou the working of the system of rewards to informers adopted at Saigon that the fines paid by British and German steamers during the past four years should have aggregated some $60,000. The rewards offered are so large (about forty times the value of the drug) as to tempt nuprincipled persons to try and arrange bogus smugling with a view to turning informers.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commercs,
Hongkong, 3rd May, 1899. I am instructed to transmit to you copy of a letter addressed to this Chamber by the British and German shipping firms of this colony, calling attention to the manner in'
3.-It would undoubtedly tend to assist the owners and mastors' of vessels trading in these water if the Hongkong Governments would constitute it a punishable offence for any per- sou to convey opium on board of any steamers without the knowledge or conscut of the master or the officer in charge; and to facilitate cou- victions, the master or one of his officers should, in the opinion of the Committee, be allowed to institute the prosection and not the Opium Farmer.
4. Trusting that His Excellency the Goy. ernor will be able to induce the French Au- thorities to adopt a system for the detection of opium that will bear less hardly upon ship- owners. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant,
R. CHATTERTON WILCOX,
Secretary.
To Hon. Colonial Secretary, Hongkong.
Hongkong. 26th April, 1899. Dear Sir,- We beg to draw the Chamber's attention to the way fines are imposed on vessels at Saigon, should any opium be found on board of them not manifested, with a view to repre sentations on the subject being made to the French authorities, so that shipowners may be relieved to a reasonable extent of the disabilities under which they now labour.
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June 10, 1899.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) LAUTS, WEGENER & Co. JEBSEN & Cn.
BRADLEY & Co
SANDER, WIELER & Co. EAST ASIATic Trading Co.
G. Harling,
General Manager,
DODWELL & Co., LD,.
E. S. Whealler,
Manager.
SIEMSSEN & Co.
GIBE, LIVINGSTON & Còi BUTTE. FIELD & SWIRE MELCHERS & Co.
p.p. JARDINE Matheson & Co.,
C. W. Dickson..
R. Chatterton Wilcox, Esq., Secretary.
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce.
Colonial Secretary's Office,
Hongkong, 19th May, 1899. Sir, I am directed to acknowledge the re- csipt of your letter of 3rd inst, and its enclosure relative to the system of rewards obtaining in Saigon for the discovery of smuggled opium on board vessels arriving at that port, and the abuses arising from that system, and to state that Her Majesty's Cousul has been requested to make a representation on the subject to the French Authorities with a view to the adoption of a system that will bear less hardly on ship-
owners.
With regard to the suggestion contained in paragraph 3 of your letter, I understand that what the shipowners desire is that if the master of a vessel finds on arrival at Saigon that opium has been smuggled on board his ship by some person in Hongkong he should power to prosecute that person on his return, but the difficulty of obtaining proof against the offend- ing party would appear to render any such enactment of little practical use,
On the other hand if the discovery were made prior to the departure of a vessel from Hong- kong or on the voyage, legislation would appear to be unnecessary, as in the first case the master could band the Opium over to the Police, and in the second take charge of it and inform the Customs' Authorities on arrival at Saigon.· ́
I shall be glad to be furnished with the further observations of the Chamber on this subject for the information of His Excellency the Governor.-I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
There is no doubt that smuggling does exist but it bas been shown in several instances that it is planned and carried out chiefly by people
(signed) J. G. T. BUCKLE, in Saigon who are induced, by the large rewards
p. Colonial Secretary. given by the Saigon authorities for discovery The Secretary, Chamber of Commerce. of any opian not manifested, to engage in this trade.
We would mention that all possible precan- tions are taken on the part of captains and off- cers to prorent smuggling, by searching pas sengers and their luggage when coming on board, and by searching repeatedly the vessel .ou the way to Saigon in order to discover any contraband. but the opium is generally so cle verly concealed that it is but seldom discovered.
We beg to suggest that representations be made to the French authorities at Saigon, re- questing them to entirely do away with the system of rewards to informers; and, if this should not be considered advisable, to reduce the rewards to such a level that informers can no longer find it a profitable business to smuggle opium on board and afterwards lay information against the steamer. We may mention that the reward given to informers is at present $20.00 for every tael of Opium discovered, the value of such tael, being about 50 cents.
We further beg to suggest that representa- tions be made to the Hongkong Government, with a view to making it a punishable offence to bring opium on beard of any steamer here without the Captain's or officers knowledge and consent, and that persons violating this rule be prosecnted by the Captain or his representatices and not by the Opium Farmer.
To illustrate the gravity of the situation, we may mention that the fiues paid by British and German steamers trading between this Colony and Saigon during the last four years aggregate about $60,000, not counting the very heavy legal expenses incurred, In not a single in- stauce has suspiciou fallen on the Captain or Officers as being in any way connected with the fraud,
Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce
Hongkong, 6th June, 1899. Sir-I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter (No. 812) of the 19th ult replying to the. representations made by this Chamber as to the frequent and heavy fines inflicted on British and German ships at Saigon for seizures of opium at the instance of paid informers, and am instructed to express the satisfaction of the Committee at the action taken by the Govern- ment in the matter.
Customs
At the same time I would respectfully call the attention of the Government to a fresh and very recent proof of the manner in which the system adopted by the French Customs Au- thorities is surely rendering trade with Saigon impossible. The German steamer Ingrahan, which had gone to that port for a cargo of rice, was on the point of leaving for Hongkong on the 19th ult., when, acting on the informa- tion laid by an informer, some officers boarded the ship and discovered some opium. A Saigon paper, recording the seizure, says the officers went almost straight to the hidden contraband. The result was a heavy fine, which was subsequently reduced, but the ship was not released until after a de- posit of $12,000 had been made by the agents. The French journals at Saigon fully recognise the injustice done by the system of paying such large sums to informers, opening as it does the door to fraudulent concealment of small quanti- ties of the drug on board for the purpose of giving information against the vessel.
con.
With reference to the suggestion made in paragraph 3 of my letter of the 3rd ult., cerning which you ask for further observations, the Committee desire me to point out that if
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