CO885-11 — Page 51

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سلسلسا

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

90

ENCLOSURE IN NO. 5.

Copy of decoded telegram.

From H.M. Consul-General, Shanghai, to Governor, Hongkong. Date: 9th January, 1926.

Secret. My telegram of 24th December. Mr. Kwik Djoeneng, of Hongkong, who bears a letter of introduction from Colonial Secretary dated August last and who appears to have access to reliable information, requests me to send you the following message:-

Begins. Kwik Djoeneng has received a promise from Wu Pei-fu to attack the Red Government at Canton provided Attack that funds up to 12 million dollars are available. would be from Pukien, Kiang-si and Hunan, under the personal direction of Wu, who assures success within three months. Only half the amount required has been provided, and K. desires to know whether the Hongkong Government will purchase his property at North Point in order to enable him to find the balance. He estimates the value of the property on completion of reclamation__next August at 13 million dollars, and if the Hongkong Government will pay him half this amount and retain one million dollars for payments due under reclamation contract, he will finance Wu to the extent of five and a-half million dollars. If he can sell his property he will proceed to Hankow and arrange with Wu personally. Ends.

With reference to above, K. appears to be convinced that peace- ful settlement between Hongkong and Canton is impossible on any basis which will be a safeguard to the future interests of Hongkong and Straits Chinese, and I learn from another source that a representative of the overseas Chinese is here prepared to offer two million dollars towards an anti-Red campaign.

CONSUL-GENERAL, Shanghai.

C6253/26S.

91

No. 6.

The Governor of Hongkong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Secret.

SIR,

(Received 5th March, 1926.)

Government House, Hongkong, 26th January, 1926.

Mr. O'Malley, the newly-appointed Counsellor to H.M. Lega- tion at Peking, arrived in Hongkong on his way north on the 23rd January. On the following day Sir James Jamieson, who is stay- ing as my guest at Government House, Mr. E. R. Hallifax (the acting Colonial Secretary) and I had a discussion with him, at whuch Sir James laid before us the attached memorandum of his views on the points raised in Foreign Office telegram No. 15 of the 12th January, of which also I enclose a copy. This telegram is similar to your telegram to me dated the 16th January.*

2. On the 25th January a conference took place at Government House, over which I presided, there being present Admiral Sir E. Alexander-Sinclair, General Luard, Sir James Jamieson, Mr. We had all read and con. E. R. Hallifax and Mr. O'Malley.

sidered the memorandum by Sir James Jamieson which forms the first enclosure in this despatch; and we also had before us your telegram of the 16th January* and the Foreign Office telegram of the 12th January.

3. Our first decision was to repeat the suggestion made in my telegram to you, dated the 14th January,† and in paragraph 7 of my secret despatch of the same date, that His Majesty's Govern- ment should ascertain whether the League of Nations, including the Chinese representative, could be moved to pass unanimous censure on the present Cantonese Government for its defiance of treaties. It is possible, and even probable, that the officials of the Canton Government in their present mood would ignore such a censure. We therefore suggest that His Majesty's Government should go further and ascertain whether, if such censure is ignored, all the Maritime Powers would be prepared to institute a boycott of Canton until such time as Canton removes the anti- British boycott. It might be pointed out to the Powers that the avoidance of Hongkong by non-British shipping at the dictate of the Canton Strike Committee is an unfriendly act; but we do not. of course, forget that non-British shipping has derived consider able advantage from the anti-British boycott and that it may, therefore, be difficult to prevail upon the Powers to pass a self- denying ordinance of the kind which we suggest for the benefit of British trade in Kuang-tung. Moreover, we do not suppose that in any event it would be possible to obtain Russian consent to a boycott of Canton or to prevent Chinese steamers and junks from trading with Canton unless force is used. Accordingly, if

No. 5. *C 1288/26; not printed.. †C 1289/28S; not printed.