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to think that the removal of the restriction
would not only do no real harm but that it would g
rood. That foreign vessels en wed in thiscoolie trade do not come up to our standard is clear; not only is it stated in the Colonial Office memorandum, but
it is also affirmed in a report recently received from our Consul at Swatow and referred to in that paper, It
is in fact undoubted.
This being so it is clear that, if British vessels are excluded from this trade while foreigners ave admitted to it, not only will our shipping interest
suffer severely, and their foreign rivals be encour-
ared, but the emigrants themselves will make the pass-
ace under conditions far inferior to those prevailing
on British ships.
A ain, is there any proof, or is His Majest; 's
Government justified in assuming, that the conditions
or service of these emigrants will be co servile as
to counterbalance the conside ations I have indicated?
It is stated that the contracts have the approval of
the Government of China on the one hand and of the
Goverments of A..erica and Mexico on
the other.
The conditions of life for these coolies will
obably be far better in Mexico and certainly in
the United States, than they are in their own country,
and, in all the circumstances, is it not q ixotic
to penalize our own shipping trade and to throw bus -
iness into the hands of their competitors, because wo
think that, after t ese coclie emigrants are landed,
they may possibly have to serve under conditions which
do
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