Macau is only 40 miles from Hong Kong and the inconvenience of coming to this place is very little indeed. And not the legalization of Emigrants by the Canton government at Macau, which of course will make Hong Kong or Canton itself the place of Shipment, I should have implored Her Majesty's government to have reconsidered the question after being fully acquainted with the facts which have lately obtained official notoriety.
There is no "Consul" at Macau. A Consular Agent had been appointed at Macau in consequence of the events which had given to Macau a transitory importance as a place of Shipment for Chinese produce. But that Agent, engaged in business as a Ship Surveyor would not have appeared to me a functionary either sufficiently independent or adequately remunerated to be entrusted with duties so onerous as those confided to the Immigration Agent who in the interests of humanity itself is required to possess means of information from the Coolies which I am sure was excluded. She is ignorant of the language, and has no interpreter attached to the agency.