CO129-347 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [4-6] — Page 294

638

07

291

regarding the inclusion of a French Group, and the only

copies of the extremely important correspondence which

70.

took place in June and July, 1907, between Your Lordship's

Department and the Foreign Office are to be found in these

Foreign Office Prints and the attention of the Officer

Administering the Government was not in any way called to

that correspondence, vital as it was to the interests of

Hongkong. It would indeed appear from those Despatches

that the Colonial Office was itself kept exceedingly ill-

-informad regarding the negotiations which were being

carried on between the British Chinese Corporation and the

French Group through the medium of the Foreign Office and

it would appear that it was largely owing to the presence

of Sir Matthew Nathan in England that the Colonial Office

became aware that the interests which Hongkong had paid

a million to safeguard were seriously imperilled by the

setion which had been taken, and that Lord Elgin was able

to lodge the emphatic protests which are recorded in Mr.

Lucas's and Mr. Justs's letters of July 10th. and 30th.,

19y60 and August 24th., 1907. With the exception of paper No.

6,018 of February 20th., 1908, (proposals of French Group

submitted by Mr. Addis) the last letter on this subject

which has reached me among the Foreign Office Prints is

the