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332 Gloucester Building,
Hongkong.
14th August, 1939
56
Dear Sir Archibald,
tirade
M
Morton Smith has come to me this morning in a
continuing state of surprise and perturbation from a per-
sonal but not private conversation he had on Saturday with
Shou J. Ch'en, the manager of the Hongkong branch of the
Bank of China. It appears that on reference being made to
the recent slump in the national dollar, which Ch'en attri-
buted wholly to the "Anglo-Japanese Customs agreement", he
launched out into a virulent and all embracing anti-British
the English of today are a degenerate race, not to
be believed or relied upon England had sacrificed Czecho-
Slovakia to save her own skin Chamberlain was the world's
biggest coward China was chalking up the score and would
demand every penny back when the time came etcetera, etcetera.
I have heard similar sentiments from the most unlikely
lips when the wine was in and the wit was out, but I think
it is significant that a man in Ch'en's position should have
given expression to such views when he was apparently not
drunk. When I called on him some months ago he was friendly
and courteous.
The incident is trivial and I am reporting it,
unofficially, merely as a straw showing perhaps the direction
to which the wind is once more veering.
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) J.C. HUTCHISON
His Excellency Sir Archibald Clark Keer, K.C.M.G.,
The British Embassy,
27 The Bund,
Shanghai.
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