PARAPHRASE TELEGRAM from the Governor of Hong Kong to the
Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Dated 27th Juby,
(Received Colonial Office 12.15 p.m. 27th July, 1925.)
Priority.
Very secret and immediate.
The collapse of the strike is taking place. There is
however an imminent danger of worse. Unless immediate steps
are taken to reopen trade with Canton geheral bankruptcy
may be involved. Informal negotiations have been going on
between bertain leading Hongkong Chinese the party in Canton
(anti Bolshevik) which controls considerable majority of
troops. The negotiations have now reached a point where that
party considers itself in a position to suppress the Reds and
to reopen normal relations with the Colony. It is a matter
of£.s.d. In my opinion if a grave disaster is to be averted
it is essential that I should have authority to expend up to one million dollars of Hongkong money on the project.
I think I could do with considerably less. In the event
of failure the loss would not be great as a large part of the payment would in any event be conditional upon prior
restoration of normal conditions. Absolute secrecy would be
preserved and the Cantonese parties concerned would be under
the impression that the Chinese merchants of the Colony were
putting up the funds. So far as this Government's accounts
are concerned the payment could be concealed as loss on the
guarantee to the Native Banks. The sole object of providing the money is to put the forces on the side of law and order
in a position to eject the communists from Canton. There is
no question of subsidizing an outside party to attack
Canton.
The success of the project would repay the Colony
a thousand fold.
Failure would only entail a mall loss.
Intervention
A
654