§ MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, in regard to the new Commercial Treaty between France and China, it is proposed, in conjunction with the other "Treaty Powers," to enter into negotiations with the Imperial Government of China with a view to opening to international commerce of the Port of Nan-Ning, on the upper part of the Canton River?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)Her Majesty's Minister 255 in China has been instructed to ask the Chinese Government to give such facilities for the navigation by foreign steam vessels of the Canton River and other waterways of Southern China as will enable British trade to compete on fairly equal terms with the trade across the frontier of Tonquin, which has been opened to Prance by the Commercial Convention of Tien-Tsin.