Inland Waterways of South China has thr been narrowed down to a point which has ren dered it a mere farce.
In consequence of this action of the Chinese Authorities, the Steamboat Companies, who had beon induced by this supposed concession to construct boats specially adapted for the trade, now and themselves compelled to withdraw some of the vessels and, in effoot, to retire from a trule which they had hoped to create by the provision of better facilities for more rapta communication.
The appeal of the Steamboat Companies to Her Majesty's Representative at Peking has been without affect, but the matter is one of such great importance to the trade of the Colony that they have now requested the Chamber to bring it to the attention of Her Majesty's Government through another channel. The Committee therefore trust that His Excellency the Governor will have the kindness to lay the question before the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who is known to take a lively insterest in all that appertains to the progress of British trade.
As that progress has been checked and thwarted not alone by this open attempt to mis- construe the larms of an agreement but also by the effort to divert trade from foreign steamers by the grant of preferential duties on junk-borne cargo and by the grievous failure of the Kwang- tung Authorities to maintain order on the West River and in the district watered by it, no resource is left to the Chamber but to place the circumstances in the possession of the Govern- ment in the hope that Sir Claude Mao Donald will on his return to Peking come armed with definite instructions to take the necessary atops to render this concession a real benefit inatend of a hopeless sham.
A copy of the memorandam on this question of inland waters navigation addressed by the Steamboat Companies to Her Britannic Ma jesty's Chargé d'Affaires is enclosed for the ia- formation of His Excellency the Governor. I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
W. CHATTERTON WILCOX
Baronside d'Asire Pelag
Secretary
HAM
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