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with a view to inducing the Chinese Authorities to take the necessary steps for punishing the perpetrators in this instance and for checking such outrages in the future.
Whether the representations made by His Majesty's Government to the Imperial Government at Peking will have any lasting good result still remains to be seen, at present there appears to be little evidence of improvement, but our reason for addressing your Lordship is that we have recently been informed His Majesty's Minister at Peking has received instructions not to support a claim put forward by the owners of the "Sainam" for consequential damages,
This decision on the part of His Majesty's Government cannot but have a very serious effect upon the future of our trade with China, and we have therefore considered it imperative to telegraph to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs protesting against this decision and requesting that the instructions sent to His Majesty's Representative in China be suspended pending receipt of our written protest.
The trade between the Colony of Hong Kong and the upper sections of the West River has been opened up and developed chiefly by the enterprise of these British Steamship Companies who have
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