No. 336.

Mr. Watson to Mr. Fish.

NEWPORT, R. I., July 30, 1874. (Received August 3.)

SIR In reply to your letter of the 27th instant, which I received last evening, I have the honor to inform you that I telegraphed to you this morning as follows: "The boundary line between Labrador is a line drawn due north and south from the Bay or Harbor of Ance Sablon, inclusive, as far as fifty-second degree of north latitude. (See Imperial Statutes 6, George IV, cap. 59.) Labrador is under the jurisdiction of Newfoundland."

I informed you at the same time that I should communicate to you the dispatch on the subject which I expect from Lord Dufferin, so soon as I receive it.

I regret much if you have been put to any inconvenience by the delay in replying to your note to Sir Edward Thornton, of the 19th of June last.

I have, &c.,

No. 337.

R. G. WATSON.

Mr. Watson to Mr. Fish.

WASHINGTON, September 3, 1874. (Received September 5.) SIR: With reference to the conversation which I had the honor to hold with you to-day on the subject of the recent suppression of the coolie trade at Macao, and the suspicions which, in consequence of the subsequent increase of the Chinese emigration to San Francisco, are entertained lest a portion of this emigration should surreptitiously be diverted to Peru or Cuba, I do myself the honor to transmit to you herewith for your information the copy of a dispatch and its inclosure which has been addressed to Lord Carnarvon by the governor of HongKong. I have, &c.,

[Inclosure.]

R. G. WATSON.

Sir A. E. Kennedy to the Earl of Carnarvon.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

Hong-Kong, May 22, 1874.

MY LORD: Adverting generally to the correspondence between the government of Hong-Kong and Her Majesty's government on the subject of the Macao coolie trade, I have the honor to transmit, for your lordship's information, a return of the number of coolies shipped from Hong-Kong to San Francisco between 9th January and the 16th May, 1874, showing a total of 7,591, and to this return may be added the ships now preparing for departure, carrying 930 and 2-1 respectively, making a total of 8,802 shipped in less than five months.

I confess that I cannot but regard this growing trade with suspicion, and I think the attention of Her Majesty's consuls in America, Cuba, and Peru should be called to it. The direct trade in coolies between Macao and the two latter countries being for the present prohibited, attempts to meet their demands will surely be made through indirect channels.

Judging from the personal knowledge I possess of San Francisco, and the char

acter of the persons engaged in the transport of coolies between Hong-Kong and San Francisco, I can see no insuperable obstacle to the export of coolies from the latter port (or even their transshipment) to Peru and Cuba.

This course would be less lucrative to coolie traders than the direct trade from Macao, which is at present prohibited, but it would still yield a large profit.

Having regard to the urgent demand for coolies in Cuba and Peru, and the abundant means of supply here, and the enormous profits of the carrying trade, it must be expected that no means will be left untried to continue the traffic, which is, I fear, only for a time suspended at Macao, where there are still a number of coolie ships under the Peruvian flag lying idle.

In the case of the Florencia, lately reported on by me, I am informed on authority which I cannot doubt, that the coolies to load her outside the harbor of Hong-Kong were absolutely contracted for, and ready at Macao for shipment.

Had this venture succeeded, the remaining ships at Macao would undoubtedly have followed her example.

I am happy to believe that I am supported by all respectable persons, and the public opinion of Hong-Kong, in the repressive measures which have been adopted to avert the scandals of the coolie trade from our port.

I have, &c.,

A. E. KENNEDY,

Governor.

No. 338.

Mr. Watson to Mr. Fish.

WASHINGTON, September 9, 1874. (Received September 10.) SIR: I have the honor to state to you that I have been directed by the Earl of Derby to express to you the acknowledgment of Her Majesty's government for the readiness with which you have been so good as to meet their wishes, as proposed by them through me, with relation to the arrangement for the payment of the award under the mixed commis

sion.

I beg to take this opportunity of saying that I have sent instructions to Mr. Howard, who may be expected to arrive at New York in the course of a day or two, to proceed by the earliest opportunity to Washington with a view to no time being lost in communicating with you, so far as may be necessary, for the further arrangements of this matter. I have, &c.,

No.339.

R. G. WATSON.

Mr. Cadwalader to Mr. Watson.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, September 19, 1874.

DEAR MR. WATSON: I believe that Mr. Fish arranged all the details concerning the payment of the amount awarded by the late commission with yourself and Mr. Howard before his departure.

The drafts have been drawn, and I shall be prepared to deliver them, and take the receipts on Monday, the 21st, as agreed upon. As no hour appears to have been fixed, I shall be ready at 12 o'clock, unless some other hour may be more convenient to you.

Very truly, yours,

No. 340.

JOHN L. CADWALADER.

Mr. Watson to Mr. Cadwalader.

WASHINGTON, September 21, 1874. (Received Sept. 21.)

SIR: I have the honor to request you to inform the Secretary of the Treasury that Mr. Henry Howard, of this legation, and myself have been named by Her Majesty's government as joint agents for the distribution of the award made by the commissioners of the mixed commission, appointed under the XIIth article of the treaty signed at Washington on the 8th of May, 1871, between the United States of America and Her Britannic Majesty, and that, until further notice shall have been given, the drafts on the United States Treasury which have been delivered to Mr. Howard and myself this day by the United States Government in payment of the said award will be indorsed by us.

I herewith inclose, in duplicate, my own signature and that of Mr. Howard.

I have, &c.,

R. G. WATSON.

No. 341.

Mr. Watson to Mr. Fish.

WASHINGTON, September 21, 1874.

dis

(Received Sept. 22.) SIR: I do myself the honor to transmit to you herewith copy of patch which I have received from the Earl of Derby, Her Britannic Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, by which I am appointed by his lordship to act with Mr. Howard, while I may be the representative of Her Majesty's government in the United States, as joint agent with him for the distribution of the award of the commission which was established under the XIIth article of the treaty of Washington. I have, &c.,

R. G. WATSON.

No. 284.]

[Inclosure.]

The Earl of Derby to Mr. Watson.

FOREIGN OFFICE.

SIR: I transmit to you herewith, for your information and guidance, a copy of a dispatch which I have addressed to Mr. Howard, appointing him specially as Her Majesty's agent for the distribution of the award of the commission established under the XIIth article of the treaty of Washington.

You will see, from this dispatch, that it is the intention of Her Majesty's government that there should be two agents-Mr. Howard, who should undertake the correspondence with the claimant, and the details of the distribution, and Her Majesty's representative at Washington, who should act jointly with him in signing the receipt to be delivered to the Government of the United States, and in indorsing the checks on the United States Treasury for the several separate awards, and who will also satisfy himself that the parties claiming to receive payments are the persons properly entitled thereto.

It is unnecessary for me to recapitulate the instructions then given to Mr. Howard, to whom Her Majesty's secretary feels confident that you will readily afford all the assistance and support in your power in the discharge of the duties he is called upon to perform.

I have only, therefore, to appoint you to act with him as joint agent, for which your character as Her Majesty's chargé d'affaires will be a sufficient qualification. I am, &c.,

No. 342.

DERBY.

Receipt signed in duplicate by the British agents on payment by the Secretary of State of the amount awarded to British claimants by the United States and British Claims Commission, September 21, 1874.

The undersigned, Robert Grant Watson, esquire, Her Britannic Majesty's chargé d'affaires, and Henry Howard, esquire, Her Britannic Majesty's agents in this behalf, do hereby declare that they have, on this twenty-first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, received from the United States of America the sum of one million nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand eight hundred and Lineteen dollars in gold, being the amount awarded by the commissioners, to be paid by the United States of America to the government of Her Britannic Majesty, in accordance with the award which was signed at Newport, Rhode Island, United States, on the twenty-fifth of September, 1873, by the said commissioners of the mixed commission, appointed under the twelfth article of the treaty signed at Washington,