1 nolosure 2
gott March, 1908,
65
might be come to with the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs by which a discretionary power might be vested in the
Governor of this Colony or in the British Consuls in China,
to enable them to grant protection or assistance in deserving
cases.
6.
The legal aspect of the question is ex-
pressed in a minute by the Attorney General, of which I enclose
a copy, and in which he refers to the case which has led me
to bring this matter to your notice. It is clear that the
indiscriminate issue of British-born Subject Certificates to
all whose birth entitled them to such Certificates would not
be by any means desirable if the proviso relating to non-
protection in China were omitted; at the same time it seems
hardly just to deny to a Chinese natural-born subject of His
Majesty, whose domicile is in a British Colony and who visits
China merely to engage in lawful trade at a Treaty Port, the
privileges which his European fellow-citizens enjoy throughout
the World, merely because such privileges might in some cases
be abused. The subject is not without difficulty and delicacy,
but I see no reason why some arrangement or compromise might
not be come to through the Foreign Office with the Chinese
Government, whereby the holders of all British subject
Certificates may be enabled to derive all proper benefit from
their status as British subjects. Should a British subject
who wears Chinese attire desire to trade at a Treaty Port I
see no reason why registration at the British Consulate and
notification to the Chinese Authorities should not give him
full protection, otherwise British nationality, unlike any
other European nationality by naturalization is a distinct
disadvantage