No.
Q:PLC
#
NUMBER AND DATE SHOULD BE QUOTED IN REFERENCE
TO THIS LETTER
TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS
'SECRETARY.HONGKONG”
Govt., A.B.C. 5TH EDNIL
BENTLEY'S 2ND PHRASE CODE.
>
AIR MAIL.
COLONIAL SECRETARY'S OFFICE,
HONG KONG,
3rd March, 1938.
18
54080/147
My dear Gerard,
/
For once I am not writing about currency.
The Bishop of Hong Kong, who interests himself in
many things besides religion, is concerned with
enquiries and schemes relating to agricultural
indebtedness in Kwangtung and to a minor degree, our own New Territories. He is hoping to get Rockfeller money for an experiment on some scale in loaning to
villagers with the object, so familiar to us in
other parts of the world, of getting them out of the
hands of the money lenders.
2.
As you will remember we have experienced
difficulty in finding any documentation about what
has been done on the subject elsewhere. So far as I
can see Mauritius, although a good precedent in
principle, is not likely to be much use in practice
because there it is a planter and not a peasant
problem. Probably the closest precedent with which
we have been concerned is Zanzibar. I do not know
how far that has got or whether there is anything in
the way of an ordinance which could be used as a
model for the Bishop's project. I have, however,
promised to give him any help I can and if you could
G.L.M.CLAUSON, ESQ., C.M.G., O.B.E.,
LONDON.