Dear Sir,
Canton, 25th July, 1899.
The Undersigned British firms beg to bring to your notice that they have received a letter from a number of silk dealers referring to the unsettled state in the chief silk districts near Canton, which renders it impossible to them to duly deliver to us the silk previously sold to us for forward delivery.
(Not attached).
We beg to enclose a copy of said letter received by us, giving details of a few of the robberies, pirates and blackmailing cases committed lately.
Since several weeks our native friends have daily been reporting to us such cases and explaining to us why the deliveries of silk should come in so slowly, but instead of diminishing, the danger to the trade in general, and particularly to the silk trade (owing to the great value of silk), has been growing daily so that the interests of the foreign firms in Canton are now seriously affected.
R.W. Mansfield Esq.
Her Britannic Majesty's Consul
CANTON