To it, separated from the mainland, is perhaps the principal centre of distribution in all the east of the Canton Province.
I have not before me any statistics to show to what extent the junk trade between Hongkong and the east coast has been affected by the increased vigilance of the boats along that coast, but it is incontestable that, however completed, the right of the Government to protect its trade would result, as I have before argued, in a diminution of the trade of Hongkong. It was in the interest of this trade, which is not at all without significance to the manufacturer, that induced me to recommend that the Colonel should invite a branch of the Foreign Inspectorate to establish itself in Victoria Harbour. Such an establishment would have rendered unnecessary the presence of a steam cruiser service, with the expense of which the central government would have been glad to dispense, and the control of which is entirely in native hands, as though it was rendering service of intimidating the pirate, was also certain, sooner or later, to share away a large portion of the trade, or at any rate, a majority of the Chinese interested in the junk trade.
Grade 4.