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find that legalised Coolie emigration from China was initiated there in 1859 but the Imperial Chinese "emigrants' act was passed in 1853, on a recital that "abuses have recurred in carrying emigrants from Ports in the China Seas; and without going further back I believe that the earliest Ordinance now in force in reference to emigration is No. 11 of 1857. Several other enactments are scattered in the Ordinances up to 1867 so that the Law is not quite clear. In that Year an Ordinance, No. 12 of 1867, was passed under express direction in a despatch from Mr. Hardwell of the 26th February 1866, founded on evidence of at least gross negligence in the shipment of Coolies from this Harbor per the "Firestone". The object of that Ordinance is stated by the Governor that the emigration from this port would be of a creditable kind. On the second reading on June 29th 1867, Mr. Whittall and I submitted that Chinese emigration was so tainted that it could not be regulated for ameliorating the Coolies' condition but that it ought to be entirely prohibited.
The Ordinance was however
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