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with a view to receiving His Excellency's instructions.
The Ichang was built in Glasgow in 1873 and is registered in London as a vessel of 1,782 gross and 1,049 net tonnage.
The vessel has been running as a River Steamer on the Yangtze and Canton rivers prior to her arrival in China, and, until the passing of Ordinance No. 11 of 1876 regulating the number of passengers to be conveyed between Canton and Hongkong; the registered tonnage of the Ichang does not appear to have been disputed.
On the 19th December I received a letter from Messrs Butterfield & Swire requesting me to have the Ichang re-measured, giving as a reason for doing so that the British steamers Kiang and Kiukiang had had their tonnage adjusted. On the 20th December Messrs Butterfield & Swire informed me that their application for a re-measurement was partly based upon alterations that had been made in the Ichang since that vessel left England, asking that she be measured on the same principles by which the Tinshan and Kiukiang had obtained their present tonnage.
On the 27th December Messrs. Butterfield & Swire forwarded a certificate of the measurement of the Ichang made by Mr. R. St. Cairns, a Surveyor of the British Government.