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Fees to be taken for duties performed under the Merchant Shipping Act 1854"
I
Shipping
I am to acquaint you for the information of the Duke of Newcastle that the Fees established by this Ordinance very greatly exceed those levied in other colonies for similar duties performed under the Merchant Shipping Act 1854.
My Lord desires me to refer to the letter from this Board of the 20th March 1856, in which was inclosed a Table of Fees to be taken for acts performed in pursuance of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854, which has been prepared by the Commissioners of Customs and approved by this Department as a model scale for the guidance of the colonial authorities in fixing the remuneration to Shipping masters or other officers charged with the duties in question.
My Lords are unable to judge what are the special circumstances which render it necessary to fix the amount of remuneration to the principal officer of Customs at Hong Kong upon so high a scale as that established by the Ordinance under consideration, and they do not therefore suggest that this Ordinance...