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9.
It was clear that His Majesty's Goresent wight without hesitation support (a) of the above proposals. If any foreign
agent was to control and work these cables for the Chinese Government it must clearly be the Cable Companies who had an established claim to the position by virtue of having laid the cables and controlled them since they were first established. Nor was it unreasonable that arrangements should be taken in hand betimes seeing that there was a likelihood that the Chinese might endeavour to exercise their option and terminate the axiating agreements in 1925. As to (b) of the proposals, the position was not quite so clear; but in view of the Posteater General's opinion that no monopoly would be involved which could reasonably be objected to, it seemed legitimate to fall in with the Companies' desires on that head also. As regards (c) however, matters were not so easy. His Majesty's Government would hardly acquiesce in the acquisition by another Power of such a monopolistic right, and to support a demand for its extension in favour of a British company would scarcely harmonize with the general British policy of opposition to monopolies in China. Only recently there have already been difficulties with the United States Government over the Marconi
contract, but even in that case it has been a matter of defending an existing right, not of supporting an extension of such right. In the present instance it was not a question of the maintenance of an existing right but of its extension. 10. Sir John Pender was accordingly invited to call and on June 2nd the difficulties of the situation were fully explained
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