354
Conclosure 2. 11th July, 1904.
themselves out to commit assassination that they may do it with impunity provided they take care to keep out of the reach of British Courts, and that they will be screened by the Provincial Government". He noted that the Hongkong Government did not think that there was sufficient evidence to convict Li Ka Cheuk of complicity and considered that there was still less to produce against Tak, the Acting Viceroy, who had moreover since died. He considered also that in the absence of direct proof of the Provincial Government's complicity we could not enforce payment of compensation to the widow and family of the murdered man.
3.
When writing this Despatch Sir Ernest Satow had not before him the informations sworn on the 17th June, 1903, of which copies were enclosed in the original of the Despatch to you of the 20th June, which further established the complicity in the murder of Tung Cheung, Yeung Tsing Kai and Ng Shui Shang. Copies of these informations were subsequently sent to Peking and also to the Acting Consul-General at Canton with whom the Officer Administering the Government discussed personally the further steps to be taken in the matter of prosecuting these three persons in the Chinese Courts. As a result of this discussion it was decided to drop for the present the bringing of a formal charge against Yeung Tsing Kai for the reasons given in Mr. Campbell's letter No. 54 to His Britannic Majesty's Minister at Peking of which a copy is enclosed.
4.
It will be seen from that letter that Mr. May and Mr. Campbell agreed that the charges against Tung Cheung and Ng Shui Shang (alias Ng Lo San) should be prosecuted