In any further communication
on the subject, please quote
C
No. 48656/T.
за
C. O.
14109
RLC
TREGE
AAR 15
FOREIGN OFFICE
144
March 23, 1916.
and address-
The Under-Secretary of State,
Foreign Office,
London
Confidential.
Sir :-
I am directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to request that you will inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies that a reply to your letter No. 11903 of the 13th instant has been delayed pending a decision as to the reply to be made to a protest from the United States Government against the
removal of a party of enemy subjects from the
United States 8.s."China" by His majesty's Ship
"Laurentic" on the high seas.
I am to state that His Majesty's Government
are maintaining that the arrest of this party was
justified, on the ground that strong reasons
existed for believing that it consisted of an organi-
sation for promoting dissension in India and for
attacking British and allied seaborne trade,
which was moving from Shanghai to manila.
The two doctors who were members of the party
and who are mentioned in the telegram of the 8th
instant from the Governor of Hong Kong which was
enclosed in your letter, are not entitled to re- lease, since the agreement between His Majesty's
Government and the German Government for the re-
ciprocal release of doctors applies only to doctors who were in the respective countries or their
Dominions
The Under-Secretary of State,
Colonial Office..