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amount of compensation to be paid by the
Chinese merchants of Hongkong and Canton to the
Strike Committee in order to end the boycott,
and that the Canton Government would use its
influence to prevent the Strike Committee from
bringing up any other matter for discussion.
But Mr. Lo's memorandum shows that
, so far
from this being the case, the Canton Government
through Dr. C.C.Wu used its influence to obstruct
any negotiation on these lines and defined
the issue not in terms of a bargain for
"compensation" between Chinese merchants and
Chinese labourers, but as a political and patriotic contest with Great Britain in general and the Hongkong Government in particular.
3.
If that is the position, then
evidently no arrangement by compromise will be possible. I had thought that a majority of
members in the Canton Council of Government
sincerely desired a settlement, that the Canton Officials were, however, for political reasons unable to deal drastically with the strike pickets and that they, therefore, desired to use Hongkong money to buy off and so disband' the boycott organization, after which normal friendly relations between Hongkong and Canton could be resumed. The visit of Mr. Sung Tsz-man to me on the 19th December strengthened me in this opinion, as I could not otherwise explain his mission to Hongkong. I knew from Dr. To Ying- kwan that my letter of the 15th December to Mr. Wong Tsing-wai (vide enclosure No. 7 in my secret despatch of 23rd December) had caused much
searching