3
LOO
5
the Ehlutes and other customary Honours which have been hitherto paid to the British Ministers accredited to China and Japan.
2. I have caused search to be made for precedents on this subject, and I am informed that the latest instructions upon it are those contained in the despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Governor of Hongkong No. 135 of the 6th October, 1879. That despatch, however, simply forwarded to the Governor for his information and guidance, a copy of a letter from the Foreign Office, enclosing correspondence on the subject with the Admiralty.
3. It appears from the letter of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in his letter to the Admiralty of the 9th September, 1879, that the Foreign Office is of opinion that it would be inexpedient to discontinue these salutes in the case of Her Majesty's Ministers accredited to China or Japan, or of the Chinese and Japanese Ministers accredited to Great Britain, although the practice hitherto followed,