SIR S.E.
effect. In the first place it appears to me improbable that the Inspector General would be willing to undertake a duty so far removed from his proper functions, and in the second the Chinese Government would most strenuously object at the present time to placing a number of gunboats on inland waters under the control of foreigners.
In the meantime
In any case the most practical measure is, it seems to me, to require all captains to take proper precautions, which appear to have been neglected on the *Sainam*, to guard against similar occurrences.
I have etc.,
(Signed) Lancelot D. Carnegie.
725
VII