This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[22531]
No. 1.
[June 30.]
SECTION 1.
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.~(Received June 30.)
THE Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and is directed by the Secretary of State to transmit, for the information of Sir Edward Grey, with reference to the letter from the Foreign Department of the 17th instant, a copy of a despatch, with inclosures, from the Governor of the Straits Settlements, on the subject of attempts to boycott Japanese goods in the Straits Settlements.
Downing Street, June 29, 1908.
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Governor Sir J. Anderson to the Earl of Crewe.
Government House, Singapore, May 28, 1908. I HAVE the honour to forward, for your Lordship's information, the inclosed translations of two Notices in Chinese which were posted and circulated respectively in Singapore early in the present month, together with a Report by the Secretary for Chinese Affairs regarding the attempt to establish among the Cantonese residents in Singapore a boycott of Japanese goods similar to that attempted in Canton and Hong Kong.
2. The Japanese Consul made representations to me that the boycott was extending to Singapore, and that serious injury to Japanese trade was apprehended, and I informed him that every one in the Colony was free to buy and sell from and to whom he pleased, and that, as long as there was no intimidation or illegal pressure brought to bear, the Government could take no action, but that if he could bring to my notice any authentic instances of such pressure or intimidation I would see that the matter was taken in hand, and in the meantime I would instruct the Secretary for Chinese Affairs to make inquiries as to the progress and position of the boycott in Singapore.
3. The Report now forwarded embodies the results of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs' inquiries into the matter.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
JOHN ANDERSON,
(Translation.)
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Report upon the Japanese Boycott.
IN the first few days in May I had inquiries made as to the probability of the Japanese boycott reaching Singapore, and could hear of no movement in connection with The Chinese Chamber of Commerce had had no message from China, and I concluded that nothing would probably be done here. The "boycott" has in Canton been worked in a very different way from the American boycott. It has had official support in private, but been publicly disavowed, and its leaders have carefully avoided any form of public appeal which would give the Japanese Government good grounds for action.
2. It appears that about a week after my inquiry the leading Cantonese firms here, who are practically all branches of firms in Canton, found the pressure put on them in private letters from Canton to start a boycott here too strong to resist, and they therefore agreed to take action. They were not, however, at all keen in the matter, and the action they took was a compromise based on their wish to save their faces" with their friends in China, and their desire to do as little as possible to interfere with local
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