No. 62.
C. O.
16557
RECO
REG? 27 JUN 19
British Consulate,
Canton, May 16, 1899.
546
Sir,
In continuation of my No.55 of the 9th instant, I
have now the honour to enclose translation of a despatch from
the Viceroy in reply to mine requesting him to depute a spe-
cial Weiyüan to deal with the case of the murder of the mes-
senger Tang-Cheung.
I gather that the Viceroy considers that the arrest
and punishment of the murderers should be left to the Local
Authorities, and I have accordingly furnished him with trans-
lations of all the documents bearing on the case, and request-
ed him to strictly enjoin upon them to exert themselves to ef-
fect the arrests as soon as possible. I have however pointed
out that the entrusting of the case to the Local Authorities,
who are already overburdened with business, is not such a sa-
tisfactory course as that of placing it in the hands of a spe-
cial Weiyüan who has no other affairs on hand.
I have &c.
(Signed) R. W. Mansfield,
Consul.
The Honourable
The Colonial Secretary,
Hong Kong.