22
raising this alarm, I should have thought that
were not connected with defence, but the real grounds for apprehension, would be that
orders for machinery and equipment needed in
future would go to American firms rather than
British. Sir William Peel seems to take a less
apprehensive view than his predecessor and would
attach probably less importance than Sir C. Clementi of assuring
necd
to the desirability of continuing British control
of e.g. the China Light and Power Company. With
regard to that Company, he says that it holds no
monopoly and has no powers by legislation or
regulations. So long as in fact it received no
preferential treatment or protection from the
Government, it might have seemed hardly fair to
impose a new and important restriction on those
who control it, but/SeNo.1 in the attached file
72850 the Company has been assisted at Government
expense to buy a large plot of land in Kowloon for
the extension of its service to the New Territories.
We have heard no more of the designs of the
American syndicate in the meantime, but if one
was to be particularly suspicious it might be
apprehended that the syndicate has been waiting
for this development to take place knowing, as
they would, that the assistance which the Company
has received in extending its service to the New
Territories might not have been forthcoming so
readily after the transfer of the Company to
American control. The Governor turns down our
suggestion that the occasion might be utilised for
the obtaining of a guarantee of British control in consideration of the concession in Kowloon Having
"
16
•
regard to the legal position-(which I interpret as
meaning the lack of any legal position) The