CO129-317 - Governor Sir Blake - 1903 [4-6] — Page 67

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gott March, 1908,

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might be come to with the Secretary of State for Foreign

Affairs by which a discretionary power might be vested in the

Governor of this Colony or in the British Consuls in China,

to enable them to grant protection or assistance in deserving

cases.

6.

The legal aspect of the question is ex-

pressed in a minute by the Attorney General, of which I enclose

a copy, and in which he refers to the case which has led me

to bring this matter to your notice. It is clear that the

indiscriminate issue of British-born Subject Certificates to

all whose birth entitled them to such Certificates would not

be by any means desirable if the proviso relating to non-

protection in China were omitted; at the same time it seems

hardly just to deny to a Chinese natural-born subject of His

Majesty, whose domicile is in a British Colony and who visits

China merely to engage in lawful trade at a Treaty Port, the

privileges which his European fellow-citizens enjoy throughout

the World, merely because such privileges might in some cases

be abused. The subject is not without difficulty and delicacy,

but I see no reason why some arrangement or compromise might

not be come to through the Foreign Office with the Chinese

Government, whereby the holders of all British subject

Certificates may be enabled to derive all proper benefit from

their status as British subjects. Should a British subject

who wears Chinese attire desire to trade at a Treaty Port I

see no reason why registration at the British Consulate and

notification to the Chinese Authorities should not give him

full protection, otherwise British nationality, unlike any

other European nationality by naturalization is a distinct

disadvantage