CO129-298 - Governor Sir Blake Administrator Major Gen Gascoigne - 1900 [3-4] — Page 261

COPY.

260

No.425.

Colonial Secretary's Office

Hongkong, 17th. March, 1900.

Siry

I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 19 of the 14th. instant, and to request you to be good as to inform the Viceroy that His Excellency the Governor has received with very great regret the copy of the Viceroy's despatch enclos- ed therein on the subject of passenger traffic on the West River.

His Excellency observes that the Commissioner of

Customs at Canton reports against His Excellency's suggestion,

but His Excellency is in a position to state that the suggestion

was approved by the Inspector-General of Maritime Customs.

His Excellency expected that the wish expressed by

the Viceroy on January 15th., that questions affecting Hong-

kong should be arranged locally, would have induced the Viceroy

to agree to His Excellency's proposals on this important sub-

ject, proposals that fell far short of the Inland Nrvig; tioni

righte consented to by the Tsung Li Yemen in February, 1898.

This expectation was strengthened by the fact that Her Majesty's

Neval forces are freely assisting inthe performance of protective

Anties on the West River for which the Viceroy's fovernment

is rimarily responsible.

The Viceroy'r inability to agree to His Excellency's

proposals imposes upon His Excellency, in the interests of the

trade of this Colony, the duty of submitting the position to

Her

jer Britannic Majesty's Consul,

CANTO N.