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سلئسلسا

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

| ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE

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the Government of Canton for the purpose of negotiating a settlement between that Government and the Government of this Colony. It shall be glad if you will be good enough to inform Mr. Wong Tseng-wai accordingly.

3. I understand it to be the desire of Mr. Wong Tseng-wai that the discussion should take place in Canton and he has intimated to me verbally through Dr. To that, if you or your representative desire to watch the discussions, he on his side will appoigt Mr. Fu Peng-sheung, Commissioner for Foreign Affairs at Canton, to be present at the meetings for the same purpose. This Govern- ment has no objection to such a procedure, which, no doubt, will also have your concurrence.

4. It was at one time suggested on behalf of the Canton Govern- ment that the formal conference of plenipotentiary delegates should be preceded by an informal discussion between Mr. Wong Tseng-wai on the one hand and Sir Shou-son Chow and Dr. Kotewall on the other; but I now understand from Dr. To that this is no longer the view of the Canton Government and I agree that it will be better to dispense with any such preliminaries.

5. I shall be glad to learn from Mr. Wong Tseng-wai whether the conference can be held at once.

6. When I have official confirmation of the appointment of the Canton delegates I shall announce publicly the appointment of the Hongkong delegates.

H.B.M. Consul-General, Canton.

C.9515/26S.

No. 15.

I have, &c.,

C. CLEMENTI,

Governor, &c.

The Governor of Hongkong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. (Received 3rd May, 1926.)

Secret.

SIR,

Government House, Hongkong, 27th March, 1926.

In continuation of my secret despatch of the 24th March,* I have the honour to inform you that Mr. N. Fitzmaurice, H.M. Vice-Consul at Canton, was sent to Hongkong by Sir James Jamieson and called on me at Government House to-day to ex- There were also present on this plain the situation in Canton. occasion Mr. E. R. Hallifax, "Mr. J. H. Kemp and Mr. D. W. Tratman.

• No. 14.

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2. Mr. Fitzmaurice informed me that on the 26th March he visited separately Mr. Fu Peng-sheung, Mr. Sung Tsz-man and Mr. C. C. Wu, and that he had shown each of them the Chinese version of my official despatch to H.M. Consul-General at Canton dated the 24th March (enclosure No. 3 in my secret despatch to you of that date*). He ascertained from them that Mr. Wong Tseng-wai was ill in bed and that Mr. C. C. Wu was temporarily. acting for him as Chairman of the Canton Council of Government. All three agreed, however, that the official despatch should never- theless be addressed to Mr. Wong Tseng-wai, and they confirmed the fact that the Canton Government had decided to appoint three members of its Council of Government, namely Messrs. Sung Tsz-man, C. C. Wu and Ch'an Kung-pok, and to negotiate a settlement with three officials of the Hongkong Government to be appointed by me, namely Messrs. Hallifax, Kemp and Tratman, But all three demurred to the fourth paragraph of my official despatch. They said that the Canton Government would prefer that informal preliminary discussions should precede the opening of a formal conference.

3. You will remember that, according to the report of Mr. Wong Kwai-hei, which forms the second enclosure in my secret despatch of the 18th March, Mr. Wong Tseng-wai desired that Sir Shou-son Chow and Dr. Kotewall should go up to Canton to have an informal discussion with him first, adding, however, that, if the Hongkong Government desired to have an official meeting, he would be prepared to meet its wishes and that he would also be prepared to appoint Government officials of equal standing to meet and negotiate with officials appointed by the Hongkong Government. In view of this report the joint letter of Sir Shou- son Chow and Dr. Kotewall to Mr. Fu Peng-sheung, which forms the third enclosure in my secret despatch of the 18th March,† was written and sent. But Dr. To Ying-kwan, on his return from Canton on the 23rd March, reported to me (vide enclosure No. 2 in my secret despatch of 24th March*) that it is the desire of Mr. Wong Tseng-wai that the official delegates should meet directly at an earliest convenience, so as to avoid any further mis- understanding and misinterpretation of the whole matter after being cleared up by me again this time.' He also reported that a proposal that Mr. C. C. Wu and I should meet in Macao first before the official negotiation had not been approved by Mr. Wong Tseng-wai and his Council. I may here remark that I never myself made any such proposal, nor was it my wish to meet Mr. C. C. Wu in Macao, nor did I send any message to Mr. C. C. Wu by Mr. Ip Wing-chuk, although I have always said, and Mr. C. C. Wu well knows, that I should welcome a visit from him to me in Hongkong at any time. In fact I sent him a written invita- tion some months ago, which he declined (please see the seventh paragraph of my secret despatch of the 23rd December, 19251).

4. Mr. Fitzmaurice now informs me that, while it may have been the wish of Mr. Wong Tseng-wai to dispense with informal preliminary discussions, Mr. C. C. Wu, Mr. Sung Tsz-man and

*No. 14.

#No. 13. ‡ No. 2.

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