Foreign Office
April 8th 1886.
Sir,
I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 3rd instant, No. 50264, in regard to an intended Chinese expedition against piratical and smuggling craft said to abound in the neighbourhood of Macao and Hongkong.
I am to state to you in reply that His Lordship concurs in Earl Granville's proposal to approve ... under Secretary of State for the Colonial Office.