CO885-11 — Page 28

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

EPEL C.O.882/11

سل السلسا

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

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entirely successful, for on December 18th Mr. Wong Tsing-wai wrote me a letter, of which I enclose a copy, and which was handed to me on December 19th by Mr. Sung Tsz-man, the Head of the Canton Treasury. Mr. Sung Fsz-man spent the night of the 19th December with me at Government House and returned to Canton on the 20th December accompanied by Mr. A. G. M. Fletcher. I had a very full discussion on the present situation with him at Government House on the afternoon of 19th Decem- ber, when there were also present: Messrs. A. G. M. Fletcher, J. H. Kemp, E. R. Hallifax, and D. W. Tratman. I attach a note prepared by Mr. Tratman of the conversation which then took place, from which you will see that the two points empha- sized by Mr. Sung Tsz-man as necessary for a settlement of the strike were: (a) compensation of the strikers for the period during which they had been out of work, and (b) re-instatement of strikers in their original jobs.. As regards re-instatement, this is, of course, impossible in those cases where jobs in which strikers were previously employed have since been filled by other men. I pointed this out to Mr. Sung Tsz-man, and during the course of subsequent conversation he appeared to agree that this matter also was at bottom one of compensation, and that there- fore from his point of view there was really only one demand to be pressed, namely, that of money payment by employers to strikers. Payment such as this can, of course, only be con- sidered as blackmail; nevertheless I believe that most of the Chinese merchants in Hongkong and several British merchants would be prepared to pay blackmail rather than to allow the existing state of things to continue. This is certainly the view of the two Chinese members of the Legislative Council. All official opinion in Hongkong is emphatically against making any such payment and it would be out of the question that the Hong- kong Government should be concerned in negotiations for such a payment. Nevertheless, if it should appear that in the last resort a settlement can only be obtained by such payment, and if Hongkong merchants, Chinese and European, prefer to pay the money rather than suffer their present loss of trade, I doubt whether the Hongkong Government would be justified in obstruct. ing a settlement on these lines. The matter has not yet, how- ever, gone far enough for me to give a final opinion, and I shall address you further on the subject after Mr. Fletcher's return from Canton. He is due back to-day.

I have, &c.,

C. CLEMENTI,

Governor, &c.

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ENCLOSURE 1 In No. 2.

His Majesty's Consul-General, Canton, presents his compli ments to His Excellency the Governor of Hongkong, and has the honour to transmit herewith copy of the undermentioned paper.

Canton, November 4th, 1925.

Description of Enclosure,

NAME AND date.

From Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, Canton, 2nd November, 1925.

SUBJECT.

Expulsion of anti-Reds from

Hongkong.

From Commissioner of Foreign Affairs to H.M. Consul-General. 2nd November, 1925.

(Received 3rd November, 1925.)

Ch'en Ch'iung-ming and Wei Pang-p'ing: request for their expulsion from Hongkong and suppression of their activities. No. 61.

SIR,

I have the honour to inform you that the National Government has just received a confidential report stating that the rebels Ch'en Ch'iung-ming and Wei Pang-p'ing have gone into hiding in Hongkong, where they have secretly established an organisa- tion for plotting nefarious activities in the hope of promoting dis- turbances in Kuang-tung, and I have been instructed to take the matter up with you.

I would observe that the real reasons why soldiers have caused utter misery to all living beings in Kuang-tung and Kuangsi for year after year are because such rebels as Ch'en and Wei, whose savage disposition is not dead, are very keen on stirring up insur- rection, and because Hongkong permit them to establish organi- sations for stirring up strife, with the result that they have acquired a base of operations for displaying their frightfulness. The robbers, apart from the fact that the Canton disorders are not yet over, are assuredly a calamity for Kuang-tung, and are also far from being a blessing to Hongkong. I take this oppor- tunity of raising the question and of lodging an emphatic protest. I would also ask you to request the Governor of Hongkong to give orders for an investigation into the organisations estab- lished at Hongkong by the rebels, Ch'en Ch'iung-ming and Wei Pang-p'ing, for fomenting disorder, and for their immediate suppression. I would further request that the rebels, Ch'en and Wei, be expelled from Hongkong territory, with a view to the preservation of peace in Kuang-tung and Hongkong and the maintenance of friendly relations between China and Britain.

Hoping that you will favour me with a reply.

I have, &c.,

FU PING CH'ANG.

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