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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, JANUARY 22, 1915.
DESPATCHES FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
No. 15. The following revised notices issued by the Foreign Office are substituted for those published in Government Notification No. 518 of the 24th December, 1914.
BRITISH SUBJECTS IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
Arrangements for Exchange.
Arrangements have been made for the reciprocal exchange of British and Austro- Hungarian subjects (civilians) at present detained in Austria-Hungary and the United Kingdom respectively.
The Austro-Hungarian Government agree to facilitate the departure from Austria- Hungary of the following classes of British subjects:-
1. Women and children.
2. Males outside the limits of military age, i.e., those under 18 or over 50.
3. Males of military age who are clearly unsuited for military service or unlikely to serve, such as physicians, surgeons, clergymen, priests, and the medi- cally unfit.
Foreign Office,
October 8, 1914.
Enquiries are being made as to the number of Austro-Hungarian subjects in the British Isles of military age who have not undergone military service, and, when these are completed, proposals will be made for the exchange of these persons for the same number of British subjects of a similar nature who are now detained in Austria-Hungary.
Foreign Office,
November, 1914.
MEMORANDUM AS TO TRANSMISSION OF MONEY AND LETTERS ABROAD AND DEPARTURE OF BRITISH SUBJECTS FROM GERMANY.
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is directed to state that neither messages, letters, nor money can be forwarded through the Foreign Office or the United States Embassy in London to individual British subjects abroad.
Payments of money to British subjects who are detained in an enemy country and unable to return to His Majesty's Dominions do not constitute an infringement of the Trading with the Enemy Proclamation, but it may be necessary to forward such remit- tances through a neutral country.
It is suggested that it may be found possible to forward the money through Messrs. Cook and Son or one of the principal banks.
Private letters to Germany and Austria-Hungary through neutral countries are now allowed to be forwarded subject to the usual conditions of censorship. Letters cannot, however, be forwarded direct to Germany or Austria-Hungary. British subjects and others wishing to communicate with friends in enemy countries must forward their letters through an agency in neutral country, and correspondents may select their own private agency. Letters must not, however, be sent through British or Foreign Embassies, Legations, or Consulates in neutral countries. Messrs. Cook and Son have, it is under- stood, expressed their willingness to arrange for the transmission of such letters, and applications for information as to the necessary stamps, &c., should be made to them.
Letters intended for transmission to enemy countries should be as brief as possible, should contain nothing but personal matter, and should, if possible, be written in the German language.
The address of Messrs. Cook and Son's head office is Ludgate Circus, E.C.
It should be noted that the Foreign Office, in making the above suggestions, cannot guarantee the safe delivery of either money or letters.