93
Upon seeing his name appended to it, he at once
contradicted himself and said he had signed it. Asked when he
did so,he said at the end of last year. He further stated
that Ex-Sergeant Tang Chung had written to him from Canton,
and that he had gone there and signed it in the presence of
Tang Chung and of no one else. Asked who wrote the Petition
he replied the British Consul. Asked what was the purport of
the Petition, he replied that it prayed for pension for the
banished detectives.
Wke?
I consider it extremely doubtful whether the
man ever signed the Petition at all.
Two of the signatories of the Petition, whose
signatures Mr. Au Fung Chi considers dissimilar (Nos.5 &13)
are in the employ of the Shamien Municipal Council as Con-
stables.
Accordingly I wrote to H.B.M's Consul at Can-
ton and asked him to question them as to whether they had
signed or not.
The Consul reports to me that the Constables
say they signed the Petition some two weeks ago.
Mr. Brenan adds "They were not very clear
about the contents of the Petition but thought it would have the effect of re-instating them in the Hong-Kong Police. The Petition was prepared, they say, by a Chinaman returned from
America. Other signatures had been obtained from other parts
of the Province."
Even
te
}