that it was not impossible that they, i.e. his
166
administration, might be able to come to terms with the
Cantonese about the repair and working of the line.
Sir C. Clementi expressed the fear that it was very
unlikely that they would be able to do so. The
Director General insisted on his point about Mr.
Chen going to Hongkong. Sir C. Clementi said he
wanted it to be understood that there was nothing
personal in his attitude. He would be delighted to
welcome Mr. Chen (who had been sent to Mukden by
the Ministry of Communications to meet His Excellency)
in Hongkong and if Mr. Chen were successful in
arranging matters with the Cantonese, he, Sir C.
Clementi, would be only too pleased. But he must
warn the Director General and Mr. Chen that the
Cantonese authorities were not easy people to deal
with;
the last Manager of the Chinese Telegraph
Office in Hongkong who had gone to Canton had been
arrested by the Cantonese who had imprisoned him
and tried thus to blackmail him into giving up
his seal, which had consequently been taken over and
since retained by His Excellency; he hoped that
Mr. Chen would have better luck; but if he, Mr.
Chen, came to Hongkong and found it was impossible
to do anything with the Cantonese, His Excellency
hoped that the Director General would then agree
with him that the best thing to do, in the interests
of all concerned, was to close the office and work
by wireless, pending the time when banditry and
piracy should have been suppressed and China unified
when all these difficulties over the working of the
Chinese Telegraph Office in Hongkong would disappear.
Mr. Wang endeavoured to explain that the division
of the Chinese Telegraph Administration was more