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on reports that in his opinion a good light on the adjacent Cape of Good Hope would in all probability have prevented the loss of both these vessels and would be of great service to vessels frequenting these seas.
In this opinion Her Majesty's Government concur, but it appears to them that the dangers which at present attend the navigation of the China Seas, as evidenced in the cases to which I have referred, suggest the question whether the time has not arrived for nations who have commercial relations with China, to represent to the Government of that Country the mutual benefit which would arise were the Chinese Government to undertake, as one of its regular functions, the exhibition of Lights, and the placing of Buoys in such places on the Coast of the Chinese Empire as may require them.
Japan, in her recent Commercial Treaties with England, France, Holland, and the United States, has undertaken to construct Light Houses and lay down buoys with the view of facilitating the navigation of her Coast and Harbors, and it appears to Her Majesty's Government that an effort should be made to induce the Chinese Government to adopt a similar course.
Her Majesty's Representatives at Washington, Paris, and accordingly have been instructed to bring the subject to the