between Japan and Hongkong.
Taken by surprise and failing
to be convinced of the reason being sufficient to come to
such a decision, the Japanese Ministry wired back, asking
for the matter to be given favourable reconsideration and
suggesting that it was prepared to agree to discontinue
the service in case any unforeseen difficulty might arise
in the future. As a reply to the above the Government of
Hongkong stated that they were not in a position to accede
to the request for the reason that all traffic chains were
then controlled by the Advisory Board in London which was
considering the problem in general.
Thus, as far as the local authorities were
concerned, the negotiation was virtually brought to a
standstill and promised no progress to ard a staisfactory
solution of the question.
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132