17
"fee of $3,000 per ton was offered. The
"persons concerned were afraid, however,
"that there would be difficulty in gaining
"the sanction of the French Parliament
"in Paris and perhaps the matter was not
"taken any further. "Extract ends
•
You will realise the undesirability
of such reference to a foreign power based
only on summise in a published Government
report and I shall therefore be glad to
know whether the version of the report
containing the above statement is
authentic and as published in Hong Kong
and if so to know why the passages in
question were included .
If above version is authentic the
references to French Government in the
report should be deleted before it is
printed in the Annual Volume of Departmen-
tal Reports.