CO129-326 - Foreign Office - 1904 — Page 505

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and fail than to take no notice of him.

There appears to be sufficient testimony available to establish a prima facie case against him in a Chinese Court; and it will be open to me, under the circumstances, to point out to the Viceroy that there are clues to his proceedings in Canton in connection with the murder which the Chinese Authorities, and not the Hongkong Government, are the proper persons to follow up.

Tak;

I am at present not disposed to favour the bringing of a formal charge against Yeung Tsing-kai, the commander of a Chinese gunboat. It is evident that he was acting under the orders of Li Ka-cheuk, who again had his authority from the Acting Viceroy; and if Yeung is indicted formally, the question of official complicity will be directly involved, and the other prosecutions will, so far as I can judge, be strenuously resisted. The murder occurred three and a half years ago, the Acting Viceroy Tak is dead, Li Ka-cheuk was banished to Mongolia last April by the present Acting Viceroy, and the evidence against Yeung himself is none too strong. I would therefore propose to keep the case against this man in reserve; and, if the Viceroy treats the charges against Tung Tseung and Ng Lo Sam in a satisfactory manner, to make it and the evidence of official complicity the subject of a strong warning when finally winding up the matter.

I have, &c.,

(Signed)

C. W. Campbell.

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