NE CONFIDENTIAL.
C O 47081
Ky Lord,
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONGKONG. 19th, June, 1919.
610
With reference to correspondence ending
35042/19
53599 /
53599/2
with my telegram of the 7th. June, I have the honour to
report the further steps which have been taken in connection
with the Hongkong South Development Scheme.
2.
It had been recognised that, as pointed out in Mr. Long's Confidential Despatch of the 21st. November, 1918, the draft agreement contains no provision for its can-
-cellation, and that Mr. Long's unconditional approval,
subject to the condition as to the financing of the scheme,
had been communicated to the promoters. But on the other hand
the agreement was of the promoters' om seeking; they were
asking for a concession which this Government was prepared to grant; and it was they who found themselves unable to proceed because of war conditions. It was thought that the Government
could not be indefinitely bound by an offer which the other party, for whatever reason, declined to accept, and so final- -ly a term of six months was set to the period during which the offer could be kept open.
3.
It must be remembered that during the
years of the war conditions had been changing in the Colony; the southern part of the Island for instance had been made much more accessible than heretofore by the provision of a
HE RIGHT HONOURABLE
FISCOUNT MILNER, G.C.B.,
&c.
J
&c..
&c.
go od