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of this expedient were adopted. It would be open to the Government to refuse clearing certificates to ships shipping Emigrants at the closed Ports, or to place Emigration Officers at these Ports, or to send such an officer thither when a ship required to be cleared - or to bring the ship for clearance to an open (or British) Port. It may be that, in circumstances upon which it is beyond our province to form any judgment, the adoption of these courses will be considered unavoidable, but I question whether this will improve the character of the Emigration.
287 Actual or attempted murders which have taken place in Chinese Emigrant ships are ascribed, mainly indeed, to the Brokers or the sub-agents of the Coolie trade (complained of), but partly also, we believe, to the bad character of the Emigrants, who are said with such probability, to have been in some cases the scum of a seaport population in a locality where thieving and piracy were the ordinary means of making a living. It is evident that this element of mischief must be aggravated by confining the Emigration to the