377
Concession
learnt that before any concession of the kind can be obtained it will be necessary for the Government of this
the
Colony to notify its desire to
join the Convention through the Diplomatic Channel to the Russian Government, which will then give notice of the fact to all the adhering States. I should add that this has to be done through the Russian Government because the last conference was held in the Capital of that state. It took place at St. Petersburg in July of the year 1875; and was attended by representatives
of the Indian and almost all the
Government Telegraph Administrations in Europe and Asia.
For the purpose of inducing
Your
Government to
join
the St.
Petersburg Convention, I am instructed
by my Directors to point out to you
that at present the Government charges an additional rate on all Telegrams passing through India from Countries not adhering to the Convention. As Netherlands India and Cochin China adhere, they pass messages to or from Saigon at a less rate than
they do those from this Colony, and
when we remonstrated, we were told that it was because Hongkong was a non-adherent.
As
your
Government possesses
No Telegraph lines to which the International
Convention