Enclosure No. 1.
No. 161
Copies to - Peking No. 59.
F. 0. No. 40.
H.B.M.Consulate General,
Canton,
April, 26th, 1928.
Sir,
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with reference to my despatch No. 140 of the
13th April I have the honour to enclose a translation of
a further letter from the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs regarding the appointment of kr. Kong Siu-lui (1)
as Superintendent of the Chinese Belegraph office in
Hong Kong, It requests a definite reply as to whether or
not he is to be allowed to take up this post.
2. In the ordinary course of events, I should
have replied referring to my previous communication of
March 30th, and stating that Mr. Kong could take up his
post as soon as he was appointed Commercial Agent in the
terms stipulated and not otherwise, but in view of the
recent telegram from His Majesty's Minister objecting to a Canton nominee of any sort, I do not know what to say.
3. Prior to writing me the enclosed letter,
Mr. Chu brought up the subject in conversation and went
over all the old arguments why Canton should have the
appointment. I replied at length that the question was
a difficult one for us owing to our interests in North
China; that Your Excellency had tried to meet Canton's wish-
es by a compromise; that your proposal had been rejected
and that so