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FIDENTIAL.
atome
Gournay
Sir,
for
CO
39338
16:24 DEC 101
501
Government House
24th. November, 1910.
Enclosure 1.
I have the honour to enclose a
letter addressed to the Colonial Secretary by Monsieur
Gaston Liébert, French Consul in Hongkong,covering an
application from a French Company to give public exhibi-
-tions of Aeroplanes, and apparently to establish in this
Colony a branch of the "Société d'aviation d'Extrême-
-Orient". Monsieur Liébert wrote also privately to my
Private Secretary asking that I would accord an interview
to the representatives of the Society.
2.
It appeared to me that to accord
permission to a Foreign Company to make Aeroplane or
Balloon ascents in a fortress like Hongkong, would expose
our defences to scrutiny, and would form a precedent from
which it would be difficult to recede if applications were
made by Germany, Japan, or other Powers. I wrote privately
in THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LEVİŞ HARCOURT, M.P.,
&co...
&C. 1