The Government of India, however, "recognizing the necessity for extreme patience in dealing with the Tibetans, decided that it would be premature to make any formal complaint of their obstructiveness."[6] They wrote to the Government of Bengal that "The information in regard to the levy of duty at Phari and to the obstructiveness of the Tibetans was certainly unsatisfactory, but the Regulations only laid down that goods entering Tibet from British India across the Sikkim-Tibet frontier, or _vice versa_, shall be exempt, etc. Phari is a considerable distance from the frontier, and unless it could be shown that the duty to which Mr. White referred was a special one newly imposed it appeared doubtful whether the Government of India could enter a valid objection." “It has always been recognized,” continues the despatch, "that the utmost patience is necessary in dealing with the Tibetans, and having regard to the short time which has elapsed since the date fixed for the opening of the Yatung mart, the Governor-General in Council would prefer to make nothing in the nature of a complaint to the Chinese Government at the present stage."[7]
The Viceroy, accordingly, merely wrote to the Amban that he had been sorry to learn from Mr. White’s reports that he was disappointed at the existing conditions of trade between Tibet and Sikkim; that it would seem that Mr. White was of opinion that trade was unduly hampered by the action of the Tibetan officials at Phari; that His Excellency (the Amban) would be interested to hear the views which Mr. White had formed; and that he, the Viceroy, was confident that traders will, under the Amban’s directions, be allowed all the freedom and privileges permissible under the Regulations, and he hoped that before long they might be able to congratulate each other on successful trade development at Yatung. Certainly nothing could have been milder, more patient, and more forbearing—and also, as it proved, less effectual.
It was not only in trade matters that the Tibetans had shown a disregard of the treaty. In the matter of the frontier also they proved troublesome, and during his stay at Yatung Mr. White was informed that certain places in the north-east of Sikkim, and within the boundary laid down in the Convention of 1890, had recently been occupied by Tibetan soldiers. The Viceroy wrote to the Amban in August, 1899, pointing out that such incidents were not unlikely to occur as long as the frontier officials had no practical acquaintance with the actual border-line, and suggesting that it would probably be convenient to arrange that Frontier Officers should meet before long on the border and travel together along the boundary fixed by the Convention.