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determined to erect a light upon it.
The expense of placing efficient Lights on the shoal and of their future maintenance, which will be very great, is however a serious difficulty.
It does not appear to be a case in which application should be made to Parliament to defray the expense out of Imperial Funds, inasmuch as the benefit conferred will be confined to a particular class of Traders.
Nor is it a case in which the expense could properly be met by means of a toll to be levied on British ships or on Ships trading at British Ports, inasmuch as the toll would in that case be very heavy and would operate as a differential tax upon British Trade.
The case appears to My Lords to be one in which the expense should in justice be borne by all those, of whatever nation, who derive benefit from the Lights - that is, by the ships of all nations trading to Ports situate in China, or in European Settlements on its Coasts.
Under these circumstances, My Lords would be glad to know whether Lord John Russell thinks that it would be possible or desirable to communicate with the Maritime Nations whose ships navigate those seas, in order to ascertain whether they would be disposed to join this Country in charging a toll on ships in Chinese Ports, in the event of the Lights being established. Should they be disposed to do this, the British Government...