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bodies were thus found in the morning.
9. The regulation, then, prescribed by the Venice Convention for totally different conditions, is mischievous in Hong-Kong, and is calculated to produce the result that it was intended to prevent, while at the same time inflicting an injury to the trade of the port, the extent of which may be realized if we accept the statement made to me by business men who know intimately the state of the Colony, that from the third port in the world an exodus has taken place of from one-fourth to one-third of the working Chinese within the past three months.
10. For these reasons, however theoretically advisable the provision in the Venice Convention may be, I earnestly urge that discretion be left to the Governor of Hong Kong to ignore it in reference to Canton in the interests of public safety when the Viceroy of that province agrees in the advisability of such action.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient
Humble Servant,
Harry Blake
GOVERNOR, &c.