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Political Adviser
As you are aware, K.C. Jay contacted me during the evening of Friday, 20th September, and asked whether he could Arrangements were see me urgently, preferably next morning.
made for a meeting at 11.30 a.m., but because of discussions with you and H.E., it was necessary for me to postpone the meeting until about 12 noon..
2.
Jay started off by apologising for requesting to see me urgently but said that although he had agreed with me to send a note immediately to CHOU En Lai's Secretary, he had not yet done so and would like to explain why.
3.
He then launched into a lengthy and detailed description of subjects he had been discussing with LI Choh Chi of the Bank of China:
(i) Peter Lok. Jay said that some time ago he had been approached with a request for support of an application by Peter Lok to join the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank. Apparently Peter Lok is presently (or until very recently has been) employed by the Bank of Canton. His father is an old friend of T.V. Soong (the father's job, apparently, was to procure women for T.V. Soong). In view of Lok's relationship and his own known Nationalist connections, Jay was much alarmed by this request and spoke to Peter Hutson stating that Lok's employment by the Bank would be regarded with great suspicion by the Bank of China. In the circumstances Hutson said that there would be no question of the Bank's employing Lok and accordingly Jay was satisfied with the position. Apparently later, however, Harold Lee approached Hutson and Gardiner (the Bank's Establishment Officer) on behalf of Lok, as a result of which the Bank agreed to employ Lok in its San Francisco branch at a salary of some HK$8,000 per month. It seems that Lok was rather indiscreet about his appointment, and the news soon came to the ears of Jay and LI Choh Chi. Jay immediately saw Jake Saunders (just prior to Saunders' recent departure from the Colony) and obtained from him an undertaking that he would have the matter investigated at once. Lack of action to cancel the appointment of Lok caused a high degree of agitation among the Bank of China's personnel who feared that Lok would have access to "important information" about the Bank of China's transactions, balances, etc. etc. The Bank of China had been putting pressure on Jay to stop Lok's
Jay appointment - which was due to begin on 1st October. claimed that recent discussions with Turner and Gardiner resulted in tacit agreement not to employ Lok but to pay him off: grandly, Jay commented: "they always do as I say".
rather
(ii) Self. To underline his last comment, Jay said that
He said that the Bank were that day flying Self out to Japan. he had arranged through Peking that the fine on Self should be a personal fine and not one on the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank: he showed me a copy of a receipt for the fine paid by Self to the Chinese Government in the sum of 50,000 JMP. Jay then went on to say that Self's "crimes" were very much worse than those committed by Johnston of the Chartered Bank ("crimes", explained Jay, to the Chinese were not necessarily what we would call crimes, but nevertheless they were taken seriously by them).
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