COPY.
0149 2731 (D.M.1)
Sir,
CONFIDENTIAL.
C.O.
543
26453
RECO (Price) 21 JUL 01
26.6.01.
I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to request that you will lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty the enclosed report of the Governor of Hong Kong, which has been received from the Colonial Office, bringing to notice that Russian naval officers are believed to have recently sketched from Russian war vessels in the territorial waters of Hong Kong, the defences of that fortress.
Mr. Brodrick would be glad to be favoured with Their Lordships' views as to whether the local ordinances prohibiting the sketching of forts can be held to apply to foreign officers on board foreign war vessels within the territorial waters of a colony, and, if so, whether any action is possible, or expedient, to enforce such prohibitions in these cases.
The Secretary to the Admiralty.
I have, &c:
(Sgd) E. W. D. Ward.