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were there as marauders, trespassing upon what was, de jure, and by previous possession, British territory.
Since that expedition the island of Pratas has remained uninhabited and unexploited.
Upon the return of Mr. Newman from Tonkin in December last he decided to return to Pratas as soon as practicable and work the Phosphate and Shell systematically, and Mr. Langton Wilkinson arriving recently from Shanghai, they decided to work in co-operation.
We feel, in begging you to act for us with the Home Authorities, that we are not (having regard to the enormous commercial value of the small area whose annexation we desire) asking you to undertake any light task, but when one understands that the products of Pratas will, in the course of a few years, make us a return of some lakhs, if not millions of dollars, you will recognize, and doubtless you will bring the authorities to recognize too, that such an affair is infinitely better in British than in alien hands.
We