Mr. Hay to Mr. Wu .
Washington , March 1, 1899 .
Sir: Referring to your note of the 18th ultimo, presenting further observations on the condition of the Chinese residents in the Hawaiian Islands, and alleging that injury and injustice would be done them by the legislation proposed in the bill to extend the present Chinese-exclusion laws to the islands, I have the honor to inform you that I am in receipt of a letter from Mr. Hitt, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, in reply to my letter of the 24th ultimo, sending him a copy of your note, wherein he says that the bill prepared by the Hawaiian Commission to provide a government for the Territory of Hawaii, and which he introduced into the House of Representatives on the 6th of December last, provides in the one hundred and fifth section (the one hundred and second as amended) that Chinese in the Hawaiian Islands may have one year in which to obtain certificates of residence.
Mr. Hitt adds that the bill has not been acted on by the House, and that owing to the lateness of the session and the condition of the public business it is doubtful whether it will be enacted during this Congress.
Accept, etc.,