451 ?
carried out it would be advisable,
in order to prevent crowding and its attendant evils, that the number of Passengers should be limited according to the tonnage of the vessel. With this limitation and a system of boat regulation in force, a considerable number of free Chinese Passenger traffic might then far more safely be allowed for this and the Treaty Ports in China.
7. Regarding the Messageries Maritimes it will be satisfactory to your Lordship to learn that their complaint has been based on a misunderstanding. It has been made clear to them that on leaving the Colony for Shanghai or Saigon they have to comply with the Emigration Rules when carrying more than twenty Passengers.
This restriction is not peculiar to Hong Kong, as has been pointed out to them here, inasmuch as it only affects Vessels proceeding on voyages declared to be Emigration voyages than ordinary voyages which are Revenue voyages, i.e., voyages made for the conveyance of goods, mails, or passengers within certain categories, to or from the Ports mentioned.
And it is Saigon in which the Company is most interested and to which their Passengers mostly travel, from where they of course take fresh tickets to the Strait Settlements or elsewhere).