91
is true, been made by the Hongkong Government Surveyor; this
had been applied for with a view to the vessels being measured
for a British Certificate but was being used for the purpose
of the French Consul granting a French Certificate.
2.
The application was accordingly refused
and ordinary River Stemmer Certificates governed by the regula-
tions in Table 'D' of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance were
issued to the vessels in question. These Certificates allow
for a considerably less number of passengers than would be
the case were special licences, governed by the conditions in
Table 'F' of the Ordinance, issued. Such licences have applied
only to British River Steamers,
3.
The French Consul then interviewed me in
the matter and I informed him that I was not able to consider
for the purposes of our Ordinance a Certificate issued by the
French Consul as equivalent to one issued by the Authorities
in France and that as regarded the issue of special licences
to the two French Vessels I did not feel justified in extend-
ing any special advantages to these vessels which traded bet-
ween a British and a Chinese Port and received a subsidy from
the French Goverment of 172,000 francs per annum and were
thus placed in a position of advantage compared with the Bri-
tish vessels carrying on the same trade.
4.
The French Consul replied with arguments
which he subsequently embodied in the Memorandum dated the
27th. December of which I annex a copy and of which a copy
has been sent by him to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in
Paris.
5.
With regard to what M. Liebert terms the
question