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THE
Hongkong
Government
GAZETTE.
NEW SERIES.
VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 8TH AUGUST, 1857.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
VOL. III. No. 110.
The Contract for publishing this Gazette, entered into on the 24th September, 1853, was terminated on the 30th ultimo ; and notice is hereby given, that a NEW SERIES of this Gasette will be published hereafter, to commence from the 7th instant, under a New Contract, and that
"THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE" will, as before, be the only Official Organ for PROCLAMATIONS, NOTIFICATIONS, and PUBLIC PAPERS, of this Government.
By Order,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 2d July, 1855.
No. 118.
JOHN BOWRING.
PROCLAMATION.
W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.
By His Excellency SIR JOHN BOWRING, Knight, LL.D., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Hongkong and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of the Trade of British Subjects in China.
Whereas the Commands of Her Most Gracious Majesty The QUEEN, conveyed through The Right Honour- ble Henry Labouchere, M.P., Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, have been received, approving of and confirming the two following Ordinances, namely:—
Ordinance No. 14 of 1856, entitled—
"An Ordinance for Fees and Costs ;"
Ordinance No. 4 of 1857, entitled-
"An Ordinance for amending the Ordinances therein mentioned :"
Now, therefore, it is hereby declared, that the said two Ordinances have been so approved and confirmed as aforesaid.
By His Excellency's Command,
GOD SAVE The Queen.
W. T. BRIDGES, Acting Colonial Secretary.
Given at Victoria, Hongkong, this 7th Day of August, 1857.
No. 119.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Circular, received from The Right Honourable The Secretary of State for the Colonies, is published for general information.
By Order,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 7th August, 1857.
W. T. BRIDGES, Acting Colonial Secretary.
CIRCULAR.
DOWNING STREET, 4th June, 1857,
St.-You are aware that it was provided by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, that from and after the 1st of May, 1855, an rial Number would be appropriated to every British Ship, and that such Number would be permanently marked upon her beam-end, and entered upon her Certificate of Registry.
By that means the identity of every British vessel is established throughout the world.
But in order to realize that advantage fully, it was necessary to enable Ships to communicate by Signals their distinctive Numbers to her Ships at Sea, as well as to Signal-Stations on Shore; and the enormous extent of the British mercantile navy made it impracticable devise the means under any of the existing Codes of Signals, to signify or telegraph the special Numbers of vessels readily.
That difficulty led the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, to appoint a Committee of experienced Officers to consider hole subject of Telegraphic Communication at Sea, and that Committee have recommended, and Her Majesty's Government have ded, a new Code of Signs or Signals which are represented, with slight variations, by the Flags now employed in Marfatt's Code, so
these are applicable.
Of that new Code I now transmit to you one copy, which you will deposit in the hands of the Resident functionary at the Chief Signal *tion of the Colony, under your government, whose business it is to attend to the Signals of Ships.
The object and character of that Code, and the advantages which it possesses over all other Codes now in use, are sufficiently plained in the Report of the Committee, and in the remarks which preface the Book,
la truth, no British vessel should be without that Code, and I earnestly recommend to you to impress upon the mercantile interests Hongkong, the great advantages which they cannot fail to secure by taking care that their vessels are provided with copies of the book, **k is published by Mr Mitchell, 54 Gracechurch Street, at the price of 78.
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