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to those contemplated by Her Majesty's Government.
That the Colonial Office and Board of Trade
were in the meanwhile consulted with a view to the
preparation of a Draft Ordinance To be passed by
the Legislature of Hong Kong for the enforcement
of the proposed Regulations.
That the Board of Trade had now communicated
a Memorandum which they had received from their
Solicitor stating that he had been unable to sat-
isfy himself that the Government of Hong Kong had
any power under the Chinese Passenger Act of 1885
to make Regulations in respect of vessels proceed-
ing to sea on voyages of less than seven days du-
ration.
That the reasons for this view were fully set
forth in the memorandum by Mr Murton C.B. which
accompanied the Board of Trade latter of July 10th.
That this Memorandum was subsequently con-
sidered in conference by the legal advisers of the
Colonial and Foreign Offices respectively who con-
curred generally in the views expressed by Mr Murton,
and it had therefore been considered desirable to re-
submit the papers to us in order to obtain our opin-
ion on the specific point raised in his Memorandum.
and in the event of that view of the construction of
the Act being considered correct, on the further
question, whether a short amending Act should not be
passed, or some other, and if so, what stepe should
be taken to confer upon the Government of Hong Kong
the powers necessary to enforce Regulations of the
nature desired.
That the papers previously submitted to our
predecessors which included a copy of the Chinese
Passenger Act of 1855 were sent for convenience of
reference
Mr Bertie further stated that he was to request
that we would take the papers into our consideration
and that we would favour Your Lordship with our
opinion on the questions submitted in his letter,
and with any general observations which we might
have to offer on the matter.
We have taken the papers into our consideration
and
and