なだ
ARSCH OF BRITISH PROPERTY ON SEAMEKI: repert en
RESTRICTED
F 20191
7 F
British Consulai
Canton
1718
Condral,
22nd Jamary, 1948,
No.1A(& 5 copies)
Copieds Governor, Hong Kong No.1A
Foreign Office Ho.lA
sir,
K
I have the honour to give below the facts in so far as I have been able to ascertain them regarding the arson of the British Consulate-General and other British buildings on Shameen, which sccurred on the afternoon of lóth January.
2.
A large procession had been organised for that day as protest against the Kowloon City evictions. Educational institutions, the Press, certain trades Unions and the younger mombora of tne Chambers of Commeros, were the min originators. Attendance appears to have been solicited personally by such officials as the Commissioner of Education, while the Undergraduate organisers in such relatively rightest institutions as Ling Nam University had sufficient power to induos attendance by suon means as looking all students out of their rooms on the appointed day for the parade, The Nationa 1 Chung Shan University, with its many communist cells, doubtless played a more aggressive part and many of these cells were probably mreful to utilise an opportunity to embarrass the local Government by pushing mtters to extremos. The original plan had been for the procession to pass through Shamsen but at a stormy meeting at which at least one General was called a traitor, Shameen was cut out. On the evening of 15th, that is to say the day before the procession was due to take place, Dr. Soong had asked me to visit him in his house where he informed me that, (as already reported in a letter of l6th January to the Governor of Hong Kong, copied to the Embassy) he had ordered the procession not to pass through Shameen . He further explained that,while he considered that he was in a strong enough position to control matters in the South, he was very apprehensive to what might occur in Central and Horth China if the Kowloon City question were to boil over.
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The sam day I had telegraphed to H.E. The Governor of Hong Kong a request that an officer be permitted to fly down to Hong Kong, on instructions of the Central Government, with #81,000,000,000 as consolation money for the Kowloon evicted squatters. At 10.30 A.M. on the morning of the lớth January I received a reply granting permission but requesting me to explain to Dr. Soong, unless I saw any objection, that that sort of thing only aggravated the situation. I at once went along to see Dr. Soong with thâs monzago . He stated that as he had ordered the procession not to visit Shame en he was doing this to show the people that he was not unfriendly. I took advantage of the occasion to draw Dr. Boong's attention to statement in a Hong Kong paper, which he had not seen, that the Governor had warned General Li Chai-sum and the Democratic League Leaders not to exosed correct limits in criticism of the President of a friendly State and I prooseded to show Dr. Soong a copy of the actual warning, of which he took notes. I also handed him a letter
from Your/........
His Majesty's Ambassador,
British Embassy,
Nanking.
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