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Sir,
I have read the correspondence enclosed in Your Excellency's Despatch Confidential No. 5432/1905, on the subject of the recovery under Article XXIII of the Tientsin Treaty of debts incurred in Hongkong by Chinese subjects who abscond to the mainland, and I may state at once that I am in general agreement with the contents of the minutes by the Colonial Secretary and Attorney-General dated July 27th and July 29th, 1905, respectively.
As the Colonial Secretary has said the difficulty "is the desire or the power (in some cases both one and the other) on the part of the Chinese officials to carry out their obligations under the Treaty", and this difficulty is in no way confined to the enforcement of Article XXIII.
As regards Your Excellency's views I would offer the following observations:-
(a). The past practice is correctly explained in paragraphs 15-19 of the Colonial Secretary's Minute.
...
Bir Matthew Nathan,
K.C.M.G.,
etc. etc. etc.
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