Admiralty
***
(Copy)
The Crown
Gentlemen,
64
Government Emigration Board
8 Park Street, Westminster
19th March 1864
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th instant enquiring whether, under the circumstances mentioned, Mr. White, the registered owner of the Barque "Ardville", could be compelled to repay, under the Passenger's Act, money advanced by the Government of Hongkong for rescuing from shipwreck the Passengers of that vessel.
We gather from the Correspondence which accompanied your letter that the ship, which is a British vessel, sailed from some Port in China with Chinese Emigrants on board bound for San Francisco – that she was wrecked on the Pratas shoal, and her passengers taken off in a Chinese Junk, and brought to Hongkong. As the Passenger Acts apply only to vessels which sail from the United Kingdom Ports, exclusive of Hongkong, and not to vessels proceeding from Foreign Ports, the "Ardville" does not come within their provisions. No steps, consequently, can be taken under those Acts for enforcing the repayment of the money advanced by the Government of Hongkong to remunerate the persons who rescued the Passengers from the Wreck.
I return the enclosures which accompanied your letter.
(Signed) S. Walcott
Governor
Page 13
***
caus