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the subject, in which he states. It appears by the Colonial Secretary's letter to you of the 25th of October, that the Governor of Hong Kong desires the Colonial Authorities should communicate directly with the Chinese officials on the mainland at the other side of the harbor adjoining the British territory at Kowloon, it being alleged by the Acting Superintendent of Police that difficulty and inconvenience are caused by what the Colonial Secretary is instructed to call the "supposed want of power" in the Colonial Authorities to communicate directly.
I think, as regards the principle of such direct communication, that the Despatch of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies addressed to Sir Hercules Robinson on the 25th of January, of which I enclosed you an extract in mine of the 8th of April, leaves no doubt whatever of the decision of Her Majesty's Government on this head. The Duke of Buckingham distinctly states, for Sir Hercules Robinson's guidance and information, "that the public Service cannot be effectively carried on unless