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Enclosure 2.
CONSOLATO GENERALE D'ITALIA,
WANTON.
.OGE IDHARI MAR JAFKMED JU21100
„DKONDUCE ROUAAYOO
„diel „ytavideī „AJSI
MOTI
No. 82.
of
Jal
OGGETTO
Italian Arrested.
Sir,
14th February, 1916.
608
bna got no rot Jtel meoƐ lo aman add to nali
TobreasɗmA,1,I.H ."vreli oyneI" ni visunat d38 no eroga,nil
eren aint lo mar a tadt bemtotni need aad nodridash da
dead tel ni griqqida bailla ddiw szoltatai of sesogong ns ntin anillevast nation là ĐÓ ĐI BIỂN BỈ
-quiz de stelvanoð neifaði to šyolque na sa troqasaq nallaði
.erogasnić mrotni yibnik .90q
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Honourable
I have been informed that the Italian citizen Boehm, passing through Hongkong on his way to Singapore to take up his post in the Firm of the Italian Consul in that city, has been arrested on Saturday 12th February, 1916, and shame fully treated..
As I remarked to you verbally on a former similar occasion, the unjust and illegal treatment of Italian citizens in Hongkong has been unfortunately too frequent. So frequent that I had, with regret, to draw up a long exhaustive list (with documentary proofs) for our Foreign Office. In this instance I can speak therefore with greater force, as I have before me the experience of the past, and besides it so happens that Mr. Boehm and his family are known in Hongkong.
I must therefore ask you to state the reasons for the
arrest of Mr. Boehm or to release him at once.
The incident acquires greater gravity from the dis- graceful way in which Mr. Boehm was treated; he was put in a cell without glass-panes in the window and had to sleep on boards without a blanket. In all civilised countries, e man is considered innocent until his guilt is proved, it was therefore most shameful that an innocent Italian Subject should be treated in such a manner and I must request that the Police Authorities responsible for this outrage shall be properly and publicly punished.
Mr. Claud Severn,
Colonial Secretary.