2
Enclosure 4.
261
charge be removed from the Register.
7.
I referred these suggestions to
the Attorney-General who is of opinion that both of them
are based upon the misconception indicated in his further
minute of the 16th. instant of which I also enclose a copy
that they did not call for any action on the part of this
Government, and that in any case it would be impracticable
to give effect to them.
8.
In a subsequent discussion I have
had with Sir Henry Berkeley on the subject he told me that
it would be possible to legislate to prevent any registra-
-tion in the Colony of Companies owning or formed to own
newspapers in China or to remove from the register any
Company of which the directorate had been convicted of an
offence by a British Court in China but he was decidedly
averse to such legislation, which would have undesirable
results, being enacted on account of the mistaken idea that
the registration of a Company at Hongkong furnished pro-
-tection in the event of unlawful acts being committed by
it in China. In the face of this opinion I do not propose
to take further action in the matter unless by Your Lord-
-ship's