Enclours in Canton Ph. Despolil No 41.
C.O.
Minute of Consul-General's In erview with Mr.
nita at the latter's house, 10th May, 1940.
40
53838
838/34/60
41
Present:- Mensr #tark Toller, Kita, Hayasaki,
Price and Yoshioka.
2. REG
The Consul-Gene al prefaced his remarks by
With the Compliments stating that this first step towards the reopening of
- of the
Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
- 1 JUN 1940
Copy sent to
C
my of shipping
the Pearl River was a great disappointment to himself
and to Bitish interests.
There were three point ☐ in
particular to which he objected.
1. The Ja anese claim to station guards on the
"Patshan" hile she was in Canton. A British ship was
British soil and he had received the Ambassador's con-
firmation that this could not be tolerated.
2. The request contained in paragraph 7 of the
Supplementary Lemsandum, which in the light of the
"Patshan's" visit of April 23rd - 26th miŋounted to com-
pulsion, that ears. Butterfield & wire should belong
to the Canton Stevedore & Godown Association. This fira
were not even allowed to move cargo from their own ship
into their own godowns.
3. The list of restricted articles, totalling
over sixty, and representing some 80, of the port's
normal trade. Buch restrictions on articles of no
military importance like cotton yarn and sugar could
only create ost unfortunate impression and lead to
misunderstanding and discrimination. It was hoped that
the bulk of these restrictions would soon be removed
as they were a great deterrent to the resumption of
trade.
r. Kita replied:-
1. He was taking this matter up with the Japanese military authorities and hoped that a satisfactory settlement would shortly be reached.
8. (Here Mr. Hayazaki interposed that there must
surely be some misunderstanding, since it was not the
intention of the Japanese to create a monoply, to forge