E.
57.
Enclosure No. 1.
ys-
Lovernment House
Hay Hay, 20th March, 1928.
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that I have
received a telegram from the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, dated 13th March, approving the proposal made
in my telegram of the 20th February that I should notify
Mr. Lai Cheuk Pan (3) that I cannot permit him
卓彬
to function any longer in Hong Kong as Superintendent of the
Chinese Telegraph Office; that he must vacate the premises
at once and hand over to the Electrical Engineer of the
Hong Kong Public Works Department, who will temporarily
act as custodian; that I should then endeavour to arrange
that the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company should assume
control of this office under a working arrangement with the
Canton authorities; and that meanwhile telegraphic messages
between Canton and Hong Kong should be handled by the
Government wireless stations at both ends.
2.
You will recollect that at the conference which
I had with Marshal Li Chai-sum at Canton on the 10th March,
at which you were present, the Cantonese Authorities urged
that I should not close down, even temporarily, the Chinese
Telegraph Office in Hong Kong, but that I should allow
the Canton Government to nominate a superintendent of
this office. It was then agreed between Marshal Li and
myself that the Canton Government should be permitted to
send a Cantonese merchant to Hong Kong to be manager of this
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S CONSUL-GENERAL,
CAN TO N.
office,