CO129-287 - Public Offices & Others - 1898 — Page 422

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Chinese capital, and, by the mere fact of register-

ing themselves in Hongkong under the Ordinance,

become entitled to carry on a business in China

under British protection, or, in other words,

change themselves into "British Subjects

the meaning of the Treaty vis-à-vis their own Au-

thorities in their own Country.

within

I take as example an extreme case, and I am

perfectly aware of the difficulty there would

be in drawing a definite line between a genuine

British Company and a bogus one. Many English

names, I regret to say, can be easily borrowed for

a small consideration, and it is equally easy to

attribute to such names, as Shareholders, a capi-

tal they have not got; but as matters stand it is

not even necessary to have recourse to subterfuge.

So far I have only dealt with the general

In practice, I have no doubt but that

theory.

the Chinese Authorities would resent any interfer-

ence on behalf of businesses obviously carried on

by Chinese Subjects, and the inferences they would

draw would be that there were venal reasons for such

action. I think I may say that British Consuls

have been hitherto above any suspicion of venality,

and that such a suspicion would seriously impair our

are concerned.

influence with the Chinese when genuine British cases

The constant attempts made by Chin-

ese to get us to take up their cases are strong pre-

sumptive evidence of the extent to which this royal

road to British Protection will be utilized if the

new departure prove successful.

I trust His Excellency the Officer Administering

the Government will appreciate the danger and take

some steps to avert it. A modification of the Com-

panies Ordinance as applied to Chinese Companies

whose business is not carried on principally in

Hongkong might perhaps meet the case.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) R.W. Mansfield.

Consul.

by