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officers whose duty it was to take deposits, in order to comply
with injunctions to clear incoming ships with every reasonable
MEEKRNEYZÉS speed, wrote receipts in such a manner se to sacrifice
accurɛay to quickness; even so, observations show that deposit
paying passengers take twelve times as long to deal with as those
already in possession of our documents; and it needs little arith-
metic to see what this means in the ones of a shipload of 800
passengers of thom 95% enter on those terms.
I had fallod to forence the dificulty that my officers
might take other than Hong kong currency; just as anyone might
fail to foresee that with a fully equipped branch office in
operation in Macau, and application agencios at work in other
ports, the bulk of passengers would continue, without perceptible
improvement, to come in without any a tempt to comply with the
requirements of the Ordinance in their port of emberkation,
although the vernacular press throughout China, and shipping
agents everywhere, had knowledge of our intended restrictions
on entry. I at once made proposals for stricter rulos regarding
enbarkation of passengers for this port; and in the meantime
stopped acceptance of any but H.E. currency, and endeavoured to
avoid the handling of cash by my outdoor staff. One shipping
aɔmpany co-operated to the extent of itself taking the cash from
its passengers and issuing to each secured passenger a transferable
deposit receipt, against which my officer is ued his official
receipt in the name of the passenger; the company's receipts were
then negotiated with the shipping company for a cheque for the
total amount; other companies declined to have anything to do
with such measures, and to cffect the same object in their case
I granted to a money-changer the privilege of sending a represen
tative on board each ship to be examined, there to exchange arry
foreign currencies and to take any amounte tendored in I.K.
currency, giving to my officer a cheque equal to the total amount
of deposit receipts issued to passengers, Those matters are
mentioned here, because I am aware that criticism has been
directed against my department in reg rd to the cxchange rates
on which the money-changers work. That these rates are to sy
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