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✔ Enclosure in Sir J. Jordan's Ne,
No. of April .1915.
Chairman of Hongkong General Chamber of Commerce te 24516
H. . Minister, Peking.
April 10, 1915.h
P
28 MAY 15)
Sir,
.001)
I beg to inform you that the Committee of the Hongkong Gneral Chamber of Commerce have recently had under consideration the terms of the new Agreement which it is under- stood Japan has recently submitted to China and which is now under discussion between the two Governments.
that
The enclosed copy of the Agreement is tht which has been received from a reliable source and which we believe to be correct.
This document contains in all 20 articles.
clause
is reported that a further olame has been added but we are given to understand this last is merely a repetition of the Preamble of Section IV.
It
The Committee of this Chamber after carefully considering the articles cannet but consider that many of them amount to a serious infringement of the policy of "the open doer" and "equality of opportunity" to all the Treaty Powers alike and have, therefore, laid their views before His Excellency the Governer of Hongkong. We also consider it as well to address Your Excellency on the subject and trust that our representations will receive Your Excellency's careful cesnideration.
The Committee is, of course, unaware of the viewB held by H.'s Gavernment on the subject, as practically no infor- mation has as yet been given by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the House of Commons, but it was reported in a recent Reuter's telegram that one or two questions had been answered,
in a very guarded manner; one of these messages seems to imply that H. M's Ministers were not seriously exposed to the Japanese demands.
·
It has been alleged, ith what truth we are unable
to