CO129-328 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [1-6] — Page 359

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replied by giving me his opinion that the Viceroy was only

amenable to arguments backed by diplomatic pressure in Peking

and suggesting that I should ask His Britannic Majesty's

Minister there to move the Wai Wu Pu to insist on some ar-

-rangement being concluded.

8.

I accordingly wrote privately to Sir

Ernest Satow on the 8th. February setting forth our difficulti-

-es and asking for his advice. Si Ernest replied very fully

on the 22nd. February and satisfied me that it was not possible

to get the Chinese Goverment to give implicit orders in the

matter to the Viceroy, though, if his consent could be secured

to any arrangement that would be satisfactory to us, the

Central Goverment would be unlikely to make any objections.

I communicated my concurrence in this view to Mr. Scott. The

latter, however, adhered to his opinion that it was only by

bringing pressure to hear from Peking that the Viceroy could

be made amenable to arguments. I suggested that if I had a

personal interview with the Viceroy I might be able to advance

this and other matters but he was strongly of opinion that

no useful result would be obtained by such an interview.

9

In this vicious circle the matter now

rests. Sir Ernest Satow is of opinion, I think rightly, that

it is useless to press the Central Government to go outside

the Convention of the 13th. May, 1904, to the extent of making

Hongkong the port of sailing for labourers recruited in Kwang

Tung or Kwang Si unless the local Authorities will agree to

this. Mr. Scott says it is useless to expect the local Authori-

-ties to agree unless pressure is brought to bear on them

through the Central Government.

10.