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Enclosure
3.
No. 3.
Aheady ~ 7223 77
H. B. M. Consulate-General,
Canton, January 21, 1914.
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Sir,
At the request of His Excellency the Governor I
proceeded to Hongkong on the 16th. instant to discuss the present
financial situation in Kuangtung.
Two days previously a paragraph in the native press
stated that the Tutu had arranged a loan of $10,000,000 with a
certain British engineer the security being the spirit tax, the
Canton Cement Works and the Kuper Island reclamation, or practical-
-ly that offered to Er. Hillier when in the South. So many inspir-
of news -ed item are inserted in the Chinese newspapers for the purpose
of creating confidence in, and maintaining the exchange value of,
local banknotes that I did not give any credence to this particu- -lar one, more especially as on arrival in Hongkong I found that
niether the General Manager of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank nor
the Government were aware of any such project. I accordingly after
discussion with Sir Henry May telegraphed you the following out-
-line of a scheme, which to us appeared feasible, and which seemed
a practical means of relieving the situation. The Intelligence
Report for the December Quarter 1913 gives a graphic picture of
the difficulties of the Government, to which have been superadded
a complete stagnation of the import trade from Hongkong into
Canton and the donger of another rebellion consequent on lack of
funds wherewith to pay the troops and to meet other engagements
falling due at the end of the Chinese year. The Government of
Hongkong are informed that there is a disposition on the part of
Chinese in the Colony to assist by subscribing to a domestic loan,
if the principle of foreign control be established, but as none of them have the moral courage to advocate its adoption, it would have to be dictated by the Central Government. The amount which they and their fellow-countrymen in Kuangtung could raise is put
at twenty million dollars, and I am informed that the Hongkong
and