PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
ག ་།།
سلئسلائسلسا
Reference :-
C.O.882/11
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
SIR,
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Enclosure 2e in No. 23.
MINISTRY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (No. 668) Canton,
27th September, 1927.
I have the honour to acknowledge your letter stating that the Governor of Hong Kong has called your attention to the conduct of the Nung Man, stationed near the British border at Shataukok, who have invaded British territory. Upon its receipt I wrote to the appropriate authorities asking them to look into the matter and to restrain the Nung Man. It is requested that you will so inform the Governor of Hong Kong.
Wư CH'AO-CHU,
Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Enclosure 3 in No. 23.
CONFERENCE AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE, HELD ON 16TH SEPTEMBER, 1927.
SUBJECT:-
PRESENT:-
His Excellency the Governor,
H.B.M. Consul-General, Canton,
The Commodore,
Commander Fitzgerald,
Colonial Secretary,
Secretary for Chinese Affairs,
Attorney-General,
Harbour Master,
The Hon. Mr. D.. G. M. Bernard, and
The Hon. Mr. W. E. L. Shenton.
Abuse of British Flag on Chinese Inland Waters.
It was agreed that steps ought to be taken to stop the abuse of the British flag. The present position appears to be that the Hong Kong Government has no power to refuse the British flag provided the Merchant Shipping Act is complied with. This makes it possible for ships wholly owned by Chinese, who need not even be British subjects, provided they form a company registered in Hong Kong (with its principal place of business here), to claim the right to fly the British flag. The Consul-General, however, under King's Regulations can refuse to certify to the Chinese Customs that any particular vessel is entitled to British protection in Chinese inland waters under the pro- visions of section of King's Regulation No. 5 of 1915, and should any ship (Sc. claiming the British flag) engage in trade without the Consul-General's certificate, the ship can be arrested by the Consul. Some doubts were expressed by the Attorney-General as to the exact legal power of the Consul-General to refuse his certificate in certain cases; but the Consul-General stated that he was prepared to use his own discretion in the matter and leave any aggrieved party to appeal.
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His Excellency considered that it was essential that no ship should fly the British flag on Chinese inland waters if it was not entitled to protection; therefore, great care should be exercised in Hong Kong in registering, as British, any ships which the Consul-General would not protect. Before, however, Hong Kong can refuse the flag to any ship entitled to it under the Merchant Shipping Act, it would be necessary to amend the law, and doubts were expressed as to whether the Board of Trade would agree to the necessary amendment. Mean- while, the Consul-General will refuse protection to all ships whose owners have made no attempt to comply with the Canton Consular District General Regulations (King's Regulation No. 5 of 1915), but in those cases where application for permission to trade in inland waters has been made under these regulations, the Consul-General will not finally refuse to certify to the Customs that the vessels are entitled to British protection until he has consulted with Hong Kong. At the same time the Harbour Master will advise the Consul-General through the Colonial Secretary of any applications for registration of ships likely to ply on inland waters, and will give the applicants a printed notice (of which the Consul-General will supply copies) set- ting out the requirements of the King's Regulations.
The impropriety of any ship, flying the British flag, engaging in smuggling or otherwise breaking any laws of China applicable to such ships was mentioned and the Colonial Secretary was in favour of refusing protection to ships flying the British flag if charges of smug- gling could be brought home to them; even though they might otherwise be entitled to such protection.
The Consul-General set out the difficulties of proof in such cases. It was suggested that smuggling could be largely prevented if the Chinese Maritime Customs, who are entitled to search British ships, would do their work properly before ships reach Chinese searching stations which have no legal right to search. Doubts were expressed as to the reliability of the Maritime Customs in such a case.
The suggestion was also made that if a ship used the British flag for smuggling purposes, the Chinese Maritime Customs might at the instance of the British Consul-General refuse to grant it a pass to trade in the West River.
As regards action by the Navy in respect of British ships flying the British flag the Consul-General was anxious that reference to him should be made wherever possible before Naval action was taken. The Commodore, while insisting on the necessity of leaving a wide dis- cretion to the Naval Officer on the spot, agreed that the general policy should be that action will be taken if a ship, flying the British flag, is fired on, or if British lives are in danger, or the ship is being forcibly moved against her will under arrest by Chinese Authorities. In other cases the Naval Officer-in-Charge will wireless to the Consul-General and wait approval of any action proposed.
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