Copy
(F 2159/281/10)
Copy to: Foreign Office No.47.
No. 5 (8/72J/39)
British Embassy,
Tokyo.
27 the January, 1939.
13
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
Your Excellency's despatch No.59 (K:MT) of the 10th
November last in regard to the case of the s.s. "Asian".
2. On the 11th January Mr. Cunningham, Counsellor of
this Embassy, called upon the Director of the East Asia
Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to discuss
this case with a view to its reconsideration by the
He pointed out to Mr.
Japanese authorities concerned.
Kurihara that at the time of the detention of the vessel
by the Japanese authorities there were on board all the
papers which it was customary for British vessels to carry,
that these were sufficient to establish the fact that she
was a British ship, and that although enquiries could have been
made quickly at Hongkong the vessel had been detained for
nearly two weeks and had further suffered damage by being
driven in a heavy sea. In addition to using these arguments,
which together with other relevant considerations were
set out in my Note to the Japanese Minister for Foreign
Affairs No. 40 of the 9th September last (see my despatch
No.54 of that date), Mr. Cunningham reminded Mr. Kurihara
that in their Note No. 182 of the 4th October, 1937 (copy
of which is enclosed herewith), the Japanese Government
had agreed to our contention that it was for the British
authorities to satisfy themselves of the validity of the
transfer/
His Excellency
Sir Geoffry Northcote, K.C.M.G.,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief,
Victoria. Hongkong.