Proceedings which had taken place recently in the Police Court at Hongkong, which proved, it was alleged, that emigrants shipped from Hongkong without "official supervision or enquiry of any description." And that the duties of the Officer of the Emigration were held to consist in going on board the ship shortly before her departure and reading over to the emigrants a copy of the contract which they had signed.
In transmitting Senhor L. Be Fernandez's report to the Colonial Office, I called attention to the remarks of the Editor of a paper, and suggested that the Governor of Hongkong should be requested to report on the subject. I did so, not from believing that the remarks of the Editor could be well-founded, but only that silence on the subject might not be construed into acquiescence or indifference.
19th June last, a dispatch, No. 343, on the subject has been received from Sir R. MacDonnell, enclosing a report from the Emigration Agent, Mr. Thomas Hall, in answer to comments which had been made on the Hongkong Emigration in a letter to the Foreign Office from the Consul.