Enclosure 2.
215.
His Majesty's Consulate-General,
Canton, 7th July, 1904.
Sir,
I called yesterday on the Viceroy, in pursuance of the verbal understanding which I came to with His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government at Hongkong on Friday last, to discuss the question of South African Emigration and endeavour to facilitate the shipment of emigrants from Hong-Kong.
I pointed out that Hongkong was the most convenient port of shipment; that every arrangement had already been made there, without cost to the Chinese Government; that to establish Emigration Agencies at all the Treaty Ports of Kuang-tung would entail needless expense and trouble to both sides; that the fees accruing to the Chinese Authorities under the Convention would be paid on all emigrants shipped from Hongkong; and that satisfactory arrangements could be made to enable the Viceroy to assure himself that the shipments were being conducted with proper regard for the health of the emigrants and in strict accordance with the terms of the Convention.
The Viceroy said that since he last wrote to me (see enclosures in my letter No. 210 of July 9th.) he had telegraphed to the Chinese Minister in London with regard to the status of Hongkong in this matter, and in reply he was warned that emigration to South Africa at places other than Treaty Ports should not be allowed. He also mentioned that he was not yet in possession of the Regulations referred to in Article V. Until he received these he felt unable to do or propose anything at variance...
...with the instructions he had already received.
[...rest of the text is not properly OCR-scanned and contains a lot of garbled characters...]
Page 235
[...the rest of the page is not properly OCR-scanned...]
To
The Principal Secretary.