As these vessels carry a considerable quantity of cargo in their between decks, I think it better to adopt a tonnage check in preference to a space check.
If the space check were applied, these vessels when having a full complement of passengers could not carry cargo in their between decks; the between decks carried but a small proportion of their complement of passengers.
If occupied a portion with cargo, there would be a great difficulty in ascertaining if the vessel was not exceeding the number of passengers which she was rightly suited & carry.
The tonnage check allows two passengers for every three tons, gives each vessel a fair proportion of passengers.
The following is the number of passengers carried by these brief bay Copslain vessels ascertained through the Superintendent of Police.
Kuikeang from Canton 488 passengers, White Cloud from Macao 116 passengers, KimShan from Canton 818 passengers, and Ichang from Canton 1200 passengers. In the case of the Ichang, the number is greatly in excess of what a vessel of her capacity should be allowed to carry.
A vessel with such a large number of passengers on board cannot possibly be provided ...
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