NO SECRET.
Copies to:-
Canton No. 25.
Peking No. 7.
Sir,
62720/29
182
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG
7th February, 1929.
130m
30035/27
(see also 578 in 30035/27
I have the honour to invite your attention to my Secret despatch of the 12th August, 1927, and
especially to its thirteenth paragraph on the
position which would arise in Hong Kong, were the
Foreign Inspectorate of the Chinese Maritime Customs
to be abolished. The maintenance of the integrity
of the Chinese Maritime Customs under its Foreign
Inspectorate is, in my opinion, essential for the
protection not only of British trade but of all
foreign trade with China.
It is the buffer between
the foreign trader and Chinese officialdom, and it is
also the one firm rock in the shifting sands of
Chinese finance.
Incidentally it also insures the
maintenance of the lighthouses up and down the China
Coast a matter of great consequence to all foreign
shipping.
2.
This fine service is now menaced with
disintegration.
The dismissal of Sir Francis Aglen
from the post of Inspector General, which he had held
for many years, was a severe blow to the Foreign
Inspectorate; but the circumstances in which
Mr. A.H.F. Edwardes, who succeeded him as Officiating
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LIEUTENANT COLONEL L.C.M.S. AMERY, M.P.,
&C.,
&c.,
&c.
Inspector