I must have since appointed to the situation (Colonial Surgeon) announcing that the Hospital was ready for the reception of patients. Of that Letter I beg to submit a Copy as published under date the 3rd of that month, and likewise a Copy of a further notification dated the 16th of the same month, defining the rules to be observed with respect to the admission of British Merchant Seamen into the Hospital.
Since then it has become necessary to define rules for the discharge of unemployed [or in other words destitute] British Seamen from the Hospital, and the inclosed Transcripts of a Letter & its accompaniment addressed to Lieutenant Pedder, the Harbor Master & Marine Magistrate of this Colony, on the 7th instant, will inform your Lordships how that matter has been regulated.
I trust that H.M's Government will approve of the arrangements now reported, but I repeat my conviction that something further will be bound to be indispensable, and I respectfully recommend the following points for consideration.
1. That the right to discharge British Seamen in China, under any circumstances, or by any authority, whatever, be entirely abrogated.
2. That the preceding rule should be made applicable to all persons serving on board H.M's or the E.I.C's Ships of War.
3. That when seamen serving in H.M's or E.I.C's Ships of War are entered for a limited time, and that time may expire when the vessel is on the China Station, the persons entitled by their agreements to be discharged, should, unless they choose to re-enter, be sent to England at the public expense.
4. That when seamen are entertained in India or elsewhere [out of the United Kingdom] whether on board H.M's or the E.I.C's Ships of War or on board Merchant ships, that they should be sent back to England, the place whence they were brought, at the public expense in the former case, and at the expense of the Owners or Consignees of the Vessels in the latter case.
5. That when seamen from Merchant Vessels have been sent to Hospital, and may not be able to return to their duty when the Vessel to which they belong shall be ready to depart, they should not be allowed to sail until ample provision is made for them.