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Chinese capital, and, by the mere fact of register-
ing themselves in Hongkong under the Ordinance,
become entitled to carry on a business in China
under British protection, or, in other words,
change themselves into "British Subjects
the meaning of the Treaty vis-à-vis their own Au-
thorities in their own Country.
within
I take as example an extreme case, and I am
perfectly aware of the difficulty there would
be in drawing a definite line between a genuine
British Company and a bogus one. Many English
names, I regret to say, can be easily borrowed for
a small consideration, and it is equally easy to
attribute to such names, as Shareholders, a capi-
tal they have not got; but as matters stand it is
not even necessary to have recourse to subterfuge.
So far I have only dealt with the general
In practice, I have no doubt but that
theory.
the Chinese Authorities would resent any interfer-
ence on behalf of businesses obviously carried on
by Chinese Subjects, and the inferences they would
draw would be that there were venal reasons for such
action. I think I may say that British Consuls
have been hitherto above any suspicion of venality,
and that such a suspicion would seriously impair our
are concerned.
influence with the Chinese when genuine British cases
The constant attempts made by Chin-
ese to get us to take up their cases are strong pre-
sumptive evidence of the extent to which this royal
road to British Protection will be utilized if the
new departure prove successful.
I trust His Excellency the Officer Administering
the Government will appreciate the danger and take
some steps to avert it. A modification of the Com-
panies Ordinance as applied to Chinese Companies
whose business is not carried on principally in
Hongkong might perhaps meet the case.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) R.W. Mansfield.
Consul.
by