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balance owing to his employers.
4.
The $2,000 deposit demanded by the Overseas Affairs
Bureau would appear to be in conformity with Article 9 of
the Chinese "Rules for the control of Contractors of
Labour for Overseas" which provides:
"Before a certificate shall be issued to him, a "contractor of labour shall deposit with a bank to be "designated by the Commission on Overseas Affairs the "following sum:
"(a) where the number of labourers to be recruited "does not exceed 200, a deposit of $2,000;
"After all the labourers shall have reached the place "of labour, the contractor shall return his certificate "for cancellation, when the deposit shall be returned "to him".
5. I told Mr. Chong that, as he was a Chinese citizen,
I was unable to intervene on his behalf with the Chinese
In considering this dedision I realised that
authorities.
any action I might take on Mr. Chong's behalf would
necessitate my informing the Chinese authorities officially
that he was the accredited agent of a British company to
recruit Chinese labour for British mines in Malaya, and I
felt that such official assistance was inadvisable.
6. I am forwarding copy of this despatch to His
Majesty's Ambassador at Paking and to the Colonial
Secretary at Hongkong.
I have the honour to be,
sir,
Your obedient servant,
(sd.)
S. Wyatt-Smith.
Consul.