CO129-355 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1909 [1-3] — Page 366

t

R

P Y.

sir,

Chambers,

Supreme Court, Hongkong,

10th. March, 1909.

C.O.

13042

363

IREC Rege 17 APR 09

I have the honour to acknowledge Your

Excellency's letter of 3rd. instant, enclosing copies of a

Despatch from His Excellency the British Minister at Pekin, with

correspondence attached between the Foreign and Colonial

Offices relative to the action taken by the Acting Consul-

-General at Canton in connexion with Letters of Request issued

to him from this Court. I am sorry to say that we are all at

cross-purposes, as it is perhaps not to be wondered at when

laymen are discussing a very highly technical rule of procedure

of the Courts. It may possibly have occurred to Your Excellency

on perusing the correspondence that Sir John Jordan's despatch

of 12th. February does not correspond with Mr. Antrobus' letter

of 6th. January to the Foreign Office, the words "by His

Majesty's Courts in China" after "service of Hongkong writs"

being omitted. As Mr. Fox's contention went

-

at least

originally far beyond this, it is necessary to put matters

straight.

In doing so it is essential that I should

safeguard myself on one point. In consenting to discuss the

matter,

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