Mr. Brenan to Sir Miles Lampson.
11 enclosures
No. 51
(and 1 copy)
Copies to:- F. O. No.34
Hongkong, No. 142
H.B.M.Consulate General,
Canton.
April 16th, 1928
SI
sir,
In my despatch No. 25 of the 14th March, I
reported that the Governor of Hongkong, during his
visit to Canton, had reached an agreement on the
subject of the Chinese telegraph office in Hongkong
by which the Peking appointee was to be removed and
Canton was to be allowed to appoint a commercial
agent to control the office, instead of an official.
A fuller account of the arrangement was given in the
minute of the discussions enclosed with His Excell-
ency's despatch to the Colonial Office of the 15th
March, of which a copy, No.22. was sent to Peking.
The arrangement, however,, has since fallen
through over a dispute as to the Chinese title of
the proposed Canton nominee. The Canton authorities
2.
were quite prepared to appoint a merchant as agreed,
and in fact did appoint a Mr.Kong Siu Lui (
>
a coal merchant resident in Hongkong, who is a British
subject and is personally acceptable to the Hongkong
Government.
They however wished to make the appoint-
>
ment in the following terms (
(Chinese merchant resident in Hongkong appointed by the
Kwangtung Provincial Government to be Superintendent
of the Chinexe Telegraph Office in Hongkong).
The
point about this title is that it describes the
incumbent as a "Chu Chang" (i
a "Chu Chang" (1.e. an official) and it
emphasizes/