CO129-265 - Public Offices & Others - 1894 — Page 219

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Sir,

213

H.M.CONSULATE

Canton, 4th July, 1894.

I have the honour to enclose a copy of a re- port, by Mr Vice Consul Bourne upon the Bubonic plague which has during the last three months carried off so many victims in this city and in the neighbouring Colony of Hong Kong.

The ravages of the plague nave been terrible enough, but Mr Bourne's paper shows how in these coun- tries the calamity may be aggravated by a failure on our part to make allowance for Chinese sentiment, and how an additional danger may be created by inju- diciously assuming that what is best for us must be

best for the Chinese.

A copy of this report has been sent to

Her Majesty's Minister at Peking.

I have etc,

> Her Majesty's Under Secretary of State

Foreign Office.

(Sd) Byron Brenan