With the exception that the fee of 10 dollars for Emigration House is omitted, (Article 5) that the employment of Native Doctors in Emigrant ships is not left to the option of the Master (Article 7 & 5; Article 04). 470 may be due to his belief that Legislative sanction be required for certain portions of the regulations, and this, he adds, he will obtain should it become necessary.
Nothing occurs to me to add to my despatch, but to express my judgement of the Emigration Officer (Article 22) 9832 and that three Medicines, Tincture of opium, and Cholera Pills, are added to the List of European Medicines. There is no objection to these alterations. The latter is the most important improvement. No reason is assigned for the omission of the Depôt Licence fee. Perhaps it is due to the want of Legislative authority for the tax.
Indeed, the Governor states in his report of the 3rd ultimo, to which I would beg leave to refer. But after all, if Chinese labourers from the mainland cannot, as Mr. Sampson reports, be procured for shipment from Hong Kong to our Colonies without the inadmissible intervention of Native agency, and if Chinese Emigration from Hong Kong to "Foreign" countries be altogether prohibited, as Lord Clarendon recommends, there will be little or nothing for the Regulations to act upon.
I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most Obedient humble servant; T. F. Wade