17 ENT
3.
officially of his arrest by the Hongkong authorities.
- at the
7. The situation became more difficult, when instance throughout, it appears, of the Japanese Consulate- General at Hongkong - the British press at Ilongkong on December 18th mentioned Richard's arrest. On December 19th, the Hongkong correspondent of the London "Daily Express" called upon me to make enquiries. I told him (Mr, Norman Stockton) privately an outline of the true facts, but for publication asked him to state that I had no official information, and that I should take action as soon as the Hongkong Government made complaint to me about the arrest of this alleged British subject with a Hongkong passport. I communicated accordingly with the Hongkong Govern- ment unofficially. The Hongkong papers gave no further trouble. On December 28th, I received a letter in perfect English from Richard's uneducated Chinese wife, informing me of his arrest, to which I replied on December 29th that she should address the Hongkong Government and that upon receipt of complaint from them, I would at once make enquiries. Yesterday and today happened the events mentioned in paragraph 4. Today I have received a report from the Hongkong Government regarding Richard's detention, and requesting me to take appropriate action.
Addressed to Foreign Office Savingram No. 1 (by air mail); repeated to Embassy Peking Savingram No. 4, Embassy Shanghai Savingram No. 6, Governor Hongkong Savingram no. 1 (all by
safe hand).