the 25th. instant. Mr. Kwong enquired if Mr. Smyth possess-
48
-ad the qualifications he had enumerated. To this I could
only reply that he was strongly recommended by the Hongkong
and Shanghai Bank who would certainly not recommend an
unsuitable person,
and unless his references when they
arrived were satisfactory, Your Excellency would not urge
his appointment. He said that he was in favour of employing
an Englishman as Assistant Chief Engineer, and that he had
written to Mr. Kindor and others to see if they could re-
-commend a suitable man. He would lay what I said before
the Directors and full consideration would be given to any
testimonials which might be put in on behalf of Mr. Smyth,
but at present obviously he could not commit himself.
I was on the whole very favourably impressed by Mr. Kwong and am inclined to think that
he would, if it is in his power, favour the appointment of
a British Assistant Chief Engineer. There seems a good
deal of sense in his ideas as to the necessary qualifica-
-tions, and perhaps certificates could be forthcoming on
the points mentioned. I shall do my best to urge his ap-
-pointment on hearing further from you.
I should like to ... that in
the