Enclosure No.4.
Hon. Colonial Secretary,
54
At about 1030 am. today, Messrs. Deacons rang me
up and said that a new Peking Government nominee had been
authorized to take over the management of the local Chinese
Telegraph's Office. The latter was to be handed over to
him by previous arrangement, at 12 noon. Messrs. Deacons
went on to say that they had heard that there were two armed
watchmen on the premises, and asked if I would send a couple
of Police to see that there was no breach of the peace. A
European and a Chinese detective were accordingly sent to
Messrs. Deacons' Office, with verbal instructions from the
Chief Detective Inspector that they were to keep the peace,
if necessary, and also to verify whether the two watchmen
had permits for their arms. I heard later that the new
nominee arrived at the Chinese Telegraph vffice about 12 noon
and that the present holder, Mr. C. P. Lau, was not there.
After waiting for about an hour for Mr. Lau, the new official
apparently took over charge. At about 5 p.m. under instruct-
ions from you, I went with Mr. McNamara of Messrs. Deacons,
to interview the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The latter
asked me to go to the King Edward Hotel, find Mr. C. P. Lau
and re-instate him in his office. did so, Un arrival ɛ t
the Chinese Telegraph Company's Office, I found two men
there (in addition to the old staff) who had been brought
in by the new man. Üf one of the two had some of the office
keys. He handed these back to the person he had received them from. He also handed over to Mr. Lau a sum of about
$138, which he had collected in the course of the day; Mr.
Lau gave him a receipt for this. I then told the two new men that they were to leave and not return until the Hong Kong Goverment had consented to a change in the management.
(Sd).
P. P. J. Wodehouse,
1st September, 1927.