1855, and your reply #42 of pic last, in which the subject of a Light House on the Bias Rocks was discussed.
I fear I may not have given sufficient description of the Island, as it is called, on the Pedra Branca, inasmuch as it is referred to in secretariat as "not merely within the Colonial Possessions of the British Government" and part of "the territories of another nation".
If another nation has any claim, the patch of soil accumulated within the dangerous coral reef of the Pedra Branca can hardly be called part of it. Now I am not aware that any authority has ever been exercised there by the Chinese or any other nation.
It is totally uninhabited and though known to Chinese mariners, I doubt if the Chinese Government have any knowledge of it.
My despatch above referred to has already expressed an opinion as to the levy of a toll in strong. Tour for the defrayal of the expense, and if I were to place before the Mercantile Community of Colony the proposal of such a toll, I feel certain that the answer would be that the whole trade with China was interested and that the whole trade with China should bear the burden.