In any further communication
on this subject, please quote
No. 130638/10F.
And address,
not to any person by name,
but to-
"The Under-Secretary of State,"
Foreign Office,
C
0
522
57565
REC
October
IRr.
E UCT '7
7.
FOREIGN OFFICE
71919.
London, S.W.1.
r
Sir: -
I am directed by Earl Curzon of Kedleston to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th ultimo
45825/1919 ,and to state that after careful consideration
His Lordship sees no reason for reopening at the present
time the question of the legality of the China Companies
System and the validity of the Hongkong Ordinance of
1915 or for stating a further case for the Law Officers,
in view of the opinion which their predecessors have
already pronounced upon the subject.
I am to add that, from the first paragraph of their
letter of July 23rd, the British American Tobacco Company
appear to be under a misapprehension as to the status of
the China Companies in question and I am to suggest that
Viscount Milner should point out to them that China Companies though registered in Shanghai are in fact in-
corporated in Hongkong under the Hongkong Ordinances and
The Under Secretary of State,
COLONIAL OFFICE.
that
J
!