B
5
G
H
=
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159
member of such Board. Otherwise I cannot conceive how the Government could be carried on with a Company of independent and probably insolent and overbearing Foreigners in the midst of the Colony - ruling and absolutely ordering, or at least interfering with all the immense Commercial transactions of the Port, without any right of appeal or (worse) appeal possibly through Her Majesty's Consul at Canton, an endless source of delay and irritation - conducing generally to an abortive issue.
18. Though I have not here dwelt on that branch of the question, I nevertheless trust it will not be forgotten that I have elsewhere shown ample grounds for disputing the alleged magnitude of the illegal trade said to be conducted between Hong Kong and China, a trade, which arises not so much from a desire to escape the payment of just duties, as from a wish to avoid illegal squeezes - whilst (in great measure) also caused by the inadequate provision made for the conduct and supervision of trade at a sufficient number of Ports by ...