97
Copy.
F 2345/G.
SECRET
Sir,
Then she be
A
sand Blepas
to Jovernor giving
(substance of pare
у
Foreign Office,
15th April, 1935.
3.
نے دن
With reference to your secret letter No.53560/35 of the
8th instant regarding reported Japanese activities in Macao, I am
directed by Mr. Stanley Baldwin to state, for the information of
Secretary Sir P. Cunliffe Lister, that on the 10th instant a
communication was made to the Portuguese Charge d'Affaires in the
sense of the decision reached by the Cabinet on the 27th ultimo
(Cabinet Conclusions No. 17(35)).
2.
M. Fernandes was informed of the substance of the
reports which have been received and asked whether he had any
knowledge of the proposed transactions. He replied that he had none
as regards Macao but that enquiries had been made by Japanese
private individuals of the Portuguese Legation at Tokyo as to the
possibility of acquiring land for settlement purposes in Timor.
Nothing more had, he said, come of this scheme as it had been
discouraged by the Portuguese Government. He readily promised to
telegraph to his Government to ascertain what truth there was in the
reports regarding Macao. At this juncture, the hope was
expressed that the project, if it proved to be a serious one,
would be nipped in the bud.
3. On the 12th instant, the Portuguese Charge d'Affaires
stated that the Portuguese Government had "called to themselves"
the matter raised by His Majesty's Government, in order that it
might be duly studied at Lisbon. This decision, it was explained,
meant that the Portuguese Government had suspended all further
action pending an examination of the whole question; they had not,
it appeared, had previous knowledge of the case. On being
The Under Secretary of State
Colonies
reminded