429 was inserted in consequence of complaints made by the Hong Kong Government and with the view of arriving at a remedy for such complaints was apparently lost sight of, and states that one of the Chinese Commissioners contended on this ground that the principal object of the Commission was to devise means for the prevention of smuggling into China.
5. Mr. Stewart goes on to explain the difficulties that were encountered in the first instance in coming to an agreement as to the questions to be dealt with by the Commission; and the indifference of this Government in consequence of the cessation of complaints of interference with the junk traffic of the Colony, of which nothing has been heard for more than ten years. Since, assuming they were valid, things would remain as they were, there has been no desire felt here for the appointment of the Commission, which last met this year, not at the request of the Government of Hong Kong, but in consequence of the urgent insistence of the Government of China.
6. At the opening of the Commission, Mr. Stewart was asked by the Chinese Commissioners to state the complaints of the Government of Hong Kong. The reply was that this Government had no complaints.
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