де
In any further communication on this subject, please quote
No.
address-
5168/37/10.
not to any person by name,
but to-
The Under-Secretary of State,"
Foreign Office,
London, S.W.1.
Confidential.
67 36
FOREIGN OFFICE., S...1.
25th September, 1930.
(30)
h (26)
Sir.
I am directed by r. Secretary Henderson to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter No.72751/A/1930
of the 12th instant regarding the negotiations for a customs
agreement between Hongkong and China, and to explain that
Lord Passfield was not consulted before the despatch of
Mr.Henderson's telegram to His Majesty's Minister at Peking
of the 21st August because, the telegram was intended merely
to elicit Sir Miles Lampson's views on the questions set out
in it, including the bearing of readiness or unreadiness to
meet Chinese wishes in such matters as the customs agreement
on Chinese aspirations for the recovery of the Kowloon
leased territories. There was no intention whatever of
suggesting that His Majesty's Government favoured the early
return of these territories to China; on the contrary, the
purpose of the telegram was mainly to promote consideration
of the policy best adapted to retain them in British
occupation.
2.
A copy of Sir Miles Lampson's reply to Mr. Henderson's
telegram is enclosed. As regards the first paragraph, I am
to observe that the Secretary of State had no thought, as
His Majesty's Minister supposes, of raising the question
of the leased territories with the Chinese Government or
of endeavouring to strike a bargain.
The Under-Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.
3.