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16. I proceeded to Canton in "CIC-LA" on 12th November, the first possible opportunity, to see for myself the state of the river and affairs at Canton itself, and to visit the gunboats. I found that there was no military necessity whatever for the continued closure of the river to free navigation. The channels in use were almost identical with those through which ships proceeded to and from Canton during the Chinese regime, and close to the banks the peasants were working in the fields. Passages had been cleared through the various booms, and the majority of the Japanese transports were at anchor below the Bocca Tigris forts, which appeared to be very little damaged by the Japanese attack on them. One or two isolated groups of ocean going ships were anchored in the deep water channel some way up the river, but the whole of the carriage of supplies to Canton was by means of smell shallow draught craft. At Canton itself the silustiɔn was quiet. The city itself was almost entirely deserted, and to drive through it was to receive the impression of the City of London on a Sunday afternoon. The damage it had sustained from the fires started by the Chinese on their evacuation w88 not nearly as extensive as one had been led to believe, and the behaviour of the Japanese troops was exemplary.
I formeu the opinion after consultation with the British Consul-General there, that there was no material obstacle to an immediate
resumption.....