Present:
):
Committee Meeting on 6th November, 5.15
Dim
173
Club "Konkordia".
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PEC R25 JANT
Messrs. Michelan (Chairman), Rosenbaum, Boolsen,
Hartman, Meyer, Siebert, Westendorff, Stepharius and
Lundt.
Position of the Imperial Consulate in Hankow as regards the selling of English textile wares.
Mr. Westendorff announces that the Imperial Consul in Hankow has issued a very strong declaration regarding the con- tinuation of trade with England and partly bases his view on conversations with Hankower Geruan merchants, who have apparently expressed the opinion that the withdrawal of all business con- tracts of German firms in China from England would be a severe
blow for the latter.
The German Association in Shanghai considers that the question must be regarded from a broader point of view, for in the event of German firms in China withdrawing from undertaking further orders from China to England, these orders would fall into other hands probably English, so that the only person to be damag-
ed would be the German merchant.
•
It is therefore resolved to send the following telegra to the Cerman Association in Hankow:- "Rohriche Diederichsen, Hankow for the German Association, Hankow. Consider your point of view in refusing local payments on bills of exchange for English goods fatal to German interests. Recommend a strict line being drawn between position of German firms in Germany, and German firma in China, because by the execution of your ideas only German firms will be punished, and in addition as exports from neutral China will find their way to England without German