13
7.
may, however, be that the expense involved would be heavier
than that incurred in defraying the extra expenses of
diverting one of Messrs. Butterfield and Swire's vessels
plying between Hongkong and Amoy to call in at Swatow.
The matter would appear to be one of some urgency,
as Messrs. Butterfield and Swire may at any moment withdraw
their vessels from this unremunerative service, leaving the
British community to their fate, or alternatively put in a
bill for compensation to His Majesty's Government for discharge
of this service on the ground that it has been undertaken at
the request of the Hongkong Government and does not come within
the province of their own interests.
8.
>
I am accordingly to suggest that the position should
be examined as soon as possible at an interdepartmental
conference between this department and the Treasury, the
Admiralty and the Board of Trade, to whom letters in this
sense are also being sent.
I am,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
Gangs Mounary
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