CO129-271 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1896 [1-4] — Page 547

on

be good enough to lay before His Excellency the Governor the accom fanying correspondence, which though written in advance of the proposed Ordinance and with only a vague knowledge of the intentions of the Government,

has a

direct bearing very the contents of that document. To facilitate reference and render the correspondence complete, the letter addressed to you 10th December bearing the joint signatures of five Shipping~ Firms in the Colony is included.

The rules for the regu lation of British ships carry- ing Chinese passengers on short voyages which it is proposed to

exhaustively dealt

enact are

with in the above letters, and it seems unnece

to pro

recessary

long the correspondence by re

produding

544

producing in entirety the arguments adduced, or to enter fully into the reasons advanced for opposing legislation, which in the opinion of the writers, would necessarily prove hurt- ful to British Shipping trading. in Chinese waters, but refer -

ence

may perhaps be advan- tageously made to some of the mote salient points.

It may be safely Excelleney

sumed that His Excellen

very fully alive to the im-

is

as

mediate connection between.

the shipping trade of Great

Britain and the advancement

and prosperity of her Colonies, an axiom which has

special significance when applied to Hongkong where the resources in other directions are

unusually

limited, and it is on these

grounds