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he was acting on behalf of the group above referred to. He asked whether I would approach Messrs. Butterfield and Swire and Jardine, Matheson and Co. in this matter. I replied that I could not do so, and that it was for the firms concerned, if so advised, to approach this consulate. It was obviously quite impossible for me to discuss any proposal of this kind unless I was asked to do so by the British shipping mpanies concerned. Since then I have heard no more of the matter, and I doubt whether the offer referred to is to be taken seriously.
9. Another indication that the Chinese Government are preparing to develop their mercantile marine is shown by the anxiety of the Chinese Admiralty to obtain as many trained mercantile marine officers as possible. It will be remembered that Captain K. N. Humphreys, C.B., R.N. (retired), arrived a short time ago from home to take up the post of naval instructor in the nautical school about to be established in Shanghai in the Marine Department of the Chinese Maritime Customs (see my despatch No. 275 of the 14th September), and recently the Naval Board of the Chinese Administration of Marine Affairs wrote to the superintendent of the cadet training ship "Conway at Rockferry, Birkenhead, and to the superintendent of the cadet training ship "Worcester," inquiring whether ten Chinese youths could be sent to each of the ships in question for training. In recent years four Chinese young men obtained Board of Trade certificates after service on the Blue Funnel Line ships, and the companies owning these ships (the Ocean Steamship Company (Limited) and the China Mutual Steam Navigation Company (Limited)) are now taking four more. Rear-Admiral C. C. Hsü, who is the official chiefly active in these matters, also recently approached the North German Lloyd and Rickmers Lines at Shanghai, with a view to having Chinese cadets trained on German merchant ships, but I learn that he was informed that at present such a proposal was not practicable.
I have, &c.
C. F. GARSTIN.
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END