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The British delegation pointed out various objections to the alternative proposal of an international commission of enquiry into the Shakee incident. These objections are re- ferred to more fully below, in the account of the subsequent meeting of Friday the 23rd July.
The British delegation put forward a loan proposal which is referred to again in the account of the meeting of the 23rd July.
The next meeting was held on Friday the 23rd July.
The British delegation made a short statement explaining why they did not reply in detail to the statement made by the Chinese delegation at the opening of the meeting of Wednesday, the 21st July. This short statement, and also the written statements made by the Chinese delegation on the 16th and 21st July and by the British delegation on the 19th July, are being published separately.
The Chinese delegation made a written statement as to the terms of the proposal for an international commission of enquiry into the Shakee incident. A copy of this statement is annexed hereto.
To this proposal the British delegation, at this meeting and at the meeting of Wednesday the 21st July, pointed out, inter alin, the following objections :-
(a) The lapse of time since the occurrence of the incident to be enquired into would make the enquiry of no value, owing to the inevitable decay in the value of human testimony as an event recedes into the past, the difficulty of tracing witnesses, and the difficulty of securing the attendance of witnesses, many being scattered and many being of non-British nationality. Some of these considerations would apply with far less force, or not at all, to the Chinese case
(b) It might be difficult to secure the co-operation of other Powers who would be
interested or involved.
(c) The proposal would cause great delay, possibly of a year, and it offers no immediate solution of the boycott, but, at best, a long deferred solution. (d) The members of the commission of enquiry, though eminently fitted to ascer tain facts if any reliable and complete body of testimony could be placed before them, might not be equally fitted to assume the unlimited duty of making "recommendations for the complete and final settlement" of the boycott, and could not be placed in full possession of all the political and economic considerations which might be involved.
Put very shortly, the chief objections were (1) the impossibility of a satisfactory enquiry at this late date, and (2) the fact that the proposal would defer the solution of the boycott for many months.
In spite of all the above objections the Chinese delegation pressed for the refer- ence of the proposal to the British authorities and the British delegation undertook so lo refer it.
The British delegation made a written statement on the loan proposal put forward at the meeting of Wednesday the 21st July. A copy of this statement is annexed her to The Chinese delegation expressed their desire to refer this matter to their Government
The Conference thereupon adjourned sine die, in order to enable the British de legation to refer the enquiry proposal to the British authorities and the Chinese delegas tion to refer the loan proposal to their Government.
First Annexure.
The Chinese and the British delegation have, in their respective statements, defin- ed the anti-British boycott issue in terms which now necessitate resort to an impartial Commission of Enquiry for its settlement.
The Chinese delegation formally propose that:--
(a) such a Commission of Enquiry be constituted,
(b) the Commission is to be made up of a Chinese and a British Member with a Chairman to be agreed upon, whose country is not directly involved in the dispute,
(c) the Commission shall be empowered to determine the question of responsibility for the Shameen-Shakee shooting on June 23, 1925, and to make recommen- dations for the complete and final settlement of the resulting anti-British boy- cott in the Liang-Kuang,
(d) the Nationalist Government and the British (including the Hongkong) Govern- ment agree to be bound by the findings of the Commission and to carry out and enforce any and all recommendations made by it,
(e) the Commission is to be opened at the earliest possible date, and
(f) in order to meet possible difficulties of the British in the case of witnesses who have already made written statements to them on the case and who are dead or cannot be traced or otherwise cannot attend before the Commission, such statements can be submitted at the Enquiry.
Second Annexure,
The Chinese delegation have asked for a written statement on the loan proposal put forward at the meeting of July 21
The details of the necessary formal agreement would take some time to settle and would be outside the duties of this conference, but the main features of the proposal can and should be indicated now
The proposal is made in order to show the sincere good will which Hongkong feels towards Canton, and in order that Hongkong may assist in the development of Kwand Tung in some way which may be of mutual benefit to the province and to the Colony. We realise that the prosperity of Kwong Tung and the prosperity of Hongkong are inseparably bound up together.
We
The object of the loan would of course have to be mutually agreed upon. have suggested a loan for the development of the port of Whampoa. because, while we think that that object would benefit Hongkong only indirectly, we are anxious to show our good will by selecting an object which we understand is favoured by the people of Canton. We are quite prepared to consider any similar object of mutual benefit which may he suggested by the Chinese delegation.
The adoption of the Whampoa proposal would be subject to both parties being satisfied that a scheme sound from the engineering point of view is possible at a reason- able cost. The amount which we have in mind is a sum of about $10.000.000.
One object of the loan, whatever main object he chosen, would have to be the con- struction of the loop line to connect the Canton-Ħankow railway and the Canton-Kowloon railway.
Adequate safeguards for the proper expenditure of the funds and for the payment of interest and the repaynient of capital would have to be provided.
A condition of the loan would be the complete cessation of the boycott and of all other anti-British manifestations throughout the territory controlled by the Canton Government.
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