74
Council
Board
of
Trade
E.L.
the orders of, and responsible to the Governor of Hong Kong, would be able to
Under important service in protecting and facilitating commerce. What the
Good conduct of such vessels as compared with the irregularities of the Volunteer vessels, now used for Convoys, would probably obtain for them a willing preference in employment, and that
Moreover an arrangement might be
Made with the Chinese Authorities, by
which the native fleets might be required to place themselves under the
Convoy
of these Vessels; and it may
be supposed that if the fees now paid for Convoy to the Vessels at present employed on that service are
sufficient to make it worth while those Vessels continue to ply, the
Fees which would be paid to the Colonial Guard Boats, and which might be fixed by a regular Tariff to be settled between the Government
of Hong Kong and the Chinese Authorities, would be sufficient to
defray