5.
24
$3552/36
of cheerfulness in Hong Kong; everybody was pleased by it and by the
way in which it went off. It certainly also met with the grateful
appreciation of the visitors themselves; the telegrams and letters
received from the Chairman and Mayor in acknowledgment of our
hospitality reflect a pleasure which was obviously genuine. It
would indeed have been a serious omission not to have made the
contact that has been made with the new regime in Kwangtung. At
the same time it would be stupid to ignore the fact that the
Chinese conception of cooperation is to do the receiving while the
other cooperator does the giving. I am not unduly disturbed
therefore by their recent resuscitation of the claim to jurisdiction
within Kowloon City, which I am reporting in a separate despatch; it
merely requires to be rejected. But the resurrection of the
question at this juncture typifies the natural Chinese reaction to
a call for cooperation - 'let us see what we can get out of it'.
It is a businesslike, if not a generous, reaction; and the value
of the visit will be measured by the number of cases in which
Hong Kong and British traders find themselves able to do a deal
with Cantonese clients. A friendly atmosphere has been achieved
for such bargainings and a favourable soil; all that the Hong Kong
Goverment can now do is to keep the soil watered and the
atmosphere warm and to hope and watch for the growth of a harvest.
I have the honour to be,
اسا
Sir,
Your most obedient, humble servant,
A Caldecot
Governor, &c.