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could be relied on to work well with the Ambassador and the Consuls General. Unfortunately tact or judgment were not Sir E.Stubbs' strong points.
I could not but agree that that was very much our view and I said that, so far as the Department were concerned, we were prepared to suggest to the Secretary of State that an exchange should be arranged for Sir E.Stubbs in order to secure harmony, but not, of course, as a penal measure. As a matter of fact it would be convenient from the Colonial Office point of view for quite other reasons if we could have an exchange of Far Eastern Governors.
Sir William Tyrrell volunteered the suggestion that Sir Laurence Guillemard should go to Hongkong. The Foreign Office would feel quite safe with him.
I said so far as the Department were concerned we
should be glad to see him leave Malaya as, in spite of his many strong points, no one could say he was an economist.
On the understanding that I would submit a proposal for an exchange when I had the opportunity Sir W.Tyrrell Was content to wait and will try to restrain the hostility of the Foreign Office department to Sir E. Stubbs, which I gathered he did not share, and will also try to induce Lord Curzon not to take any action in the matter.
I annex a memorandum by the Far Eastern Department dealing with the incidents mentioned by the Foreign Office. I did not show it to Sir W.Tyrrell both in view of the turn taken by our talk, and because it does not seriously controvert the Foreign Office memorandum. It seems very desirable to deal with the
question
question as a matter of general policy and public convenience, and not on the basis of a judgment on the Governor's handling of certain incidents, in regard to which endless controversy might arise.
29th August, 1923.
3.4.