§ MR. PENDERasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, What arrangement has been arrived at by the Government of Hong Kong with the Chinese authorities at Canton, in reference to what is known as the Blockade Question; and, if he would produce the Correspondence on the subject?
§ MR. J. LOWTHER,in reply, said, the Question, which was one of considerable difficulty, had for a long time occupied the anxious attention of Her Majesty's Government. Communications were at present going on between the Colonial and Foreign Offices on one side, and the Chinese authorities on the other; and he hoped the result of those communications would be that they would shortly be able to determine the amount of the duty that should be levied on the Chinese junks entering the port of Hong Kong. The Papers relating to the subject would shortly, he hoped, be laid on the Table of the House.