The Under Becretary of State
-3-
522 10/6/1915.
confirming this next day in a letter to "H.Steger, Esq.,
C/o Messrs.Reuter Brockelmann & Co., Shanghai." and three days
later in a letter to the Texas Company, New York.
You will note from this cable which we quote that the
liquidators went out of their way to consult Mr. Steger instead
of us or the Texas Company on a matter of the first importance,
1.e. the renewal of the leases of the godowns, and it was only
when this was communicated to us by the Texas Company that we
were able to settle the matter over the heads of the liquidators
and their friend Steger.
As we could not understand this attitude at all, we then
and there telegraphed to Cheetham:
"Don't cable through New York or Reuters.
disconnect them absolutely from Texas business."
In the circumstances therefore, it would not be sur-
prising if at some time Mr.Cheetham had harboured the notion
that the arrangement was only a temporary one, nor would the
apparent solicitude of the Attorney General in Hongkong for
the interests of Reuter Brockelmann & Co., as quoted by the
liquidatore, tend to weaken that view, in spite of our specific
advices to the contrary. Letters may even have passed which
the censors in Hongkong may have construed as bearing out the
theory of a dummy arrangement, but we are so sure of our posi-
tion in regard to Cheetham that we have cabled to Messrs. Johnson
Stokes & Master requesting them to take effective steps to
thoroughly investigate the position and defend our interests,