3
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Willis to Mr. Koike,
Sir and dear Colleague,
Mukden, August 28, 1909. WITH reference to our conversation of yesterday morning, I have the honour to inform you that I issued a warrant for the arrest of the man Birkett on the charge of obtaining credit under false pretences, and took charge of him yesterday afternoon at the South Manchurian railway-station.
On a preliminary hearing of the case this morning Birkett stated that if he were given time to communicate with his friends he would repay the amount due to the Yamato Hotel, and accordingly with the consent of the prosecutor I adjourned the case for ten days.
I would take this opportunity to thank you for your courtesy in sending me Mr. Aoki to act as interpreter.
There is, however, another aspect of the case to which I feel constrained to draw your attention.
Birkett alleges that he was seized by some of the Yamato Hotel people about 1:30 P.M. on the afternoon of the 26th instant, and taken to the South Manchurian railway settlement police station at Changchun, where the police, after hearing the evidence of the hotel manager, detained him until 8 A.M. the next morning, when he was escorted by the police to the railway-station, and sent down to Mukden if not actually under arrest at least under strict police supervision.
To this action of the railway police I consider it my duty to take exception. In the absence of a British consular officer at Changehun, I maintain that the correct course of action would have been for the Japanese police to have handed the man over to the Chinese authorities, who might have been asked to detain him until the views of the nearest British authority, in this case myself, could be ascertained.
I have, &c.
ROBERT WILLIS.
referred the matter to the Japanese consul there, asking him to supply me with the details of the case, and as soon as I am in receipt of a reply from him I shall have the pleasure of further communicating with you.
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
CHOZO KOIKE.
Mr. Koike to Acting Consul-General Willis.
Consulate-General of Japan, Mukden, Dear Mr. Willis,
September 3, 1909. THE Yamato Hotel people have just communicated to me that they have no intention of prosecuting the man Birkett who swindled the hotel.
With regard to my official note to you in reference to the observations you made on the action of the Japanese police, I have received a communication from the Japanese consul at Changchun saying that it was the intention of the police to give Birkett a special treatment. As the man stated that he was a British subject, the police took the exceptional course of accommodating him with a sleeping-room with dinners and drinks catered from the hotel. It was simply from the courteous thoughtfulness of the police that he was not delivered to the Chinese authorities.
I hope the above explanation is satisfactory to you, and let us drop the case at this point if you agree.
I am off to Tairen this evening.
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Yours sincerely,
CHOZO KOIKE.
(No. 41.) Sir,
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Willis to Sir J. Jordan.
Mukden, September 4, 1909. IN continuation of my despatch No. 38 of the 28th ultimo, with reference to the arrest of Birkett, a British subject, by the South Manchurian police at Changchun, I have the honour to enclose copies of further correspondence that has taken place between my Japanese colleague and myself.
Mr. Koike, in his private letter of the 3rd instant, explains that the man was " of the accorded exceptional treatment owing to the "courteous thoughtfulness Japanese police, who wished to save him from the discomfort of a Chinese gaol.
Under the circumstances I saw no alternative but to accept Mr. Koike's explanation and to let the matter drop.
wish at present to It seems clear that the Japanese authorities have no maintain their sole right of administration in the railway area as against third parties.
Acting Consul-General Willis to Mr. Koike.
Mukden, September 4, 1909.
Dear Mr. Koike,
MANY thanks for your letter of yesterday's date. I hope that the three months' imprisonment Mr. Wilkinson has given the man Birkett will cure him of his habit of swindling hotelkeepers. I have just heard that he has also let in the Grand Hotel at Harbin.
I quite agree that the case may be now allowed to drop. I can only regret that the settlement police at Changchun showed so much consideration to so unworthy a subject.
Yours sincerely,
ROBERT WILLIS.
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
KOBERT WILLIS.
Mr. Koike to Acting Consul-General Willis.
Consulate-General of Japan, Mukden, August 30, 1909.
Sir and dear Colleague,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 28th instant, concerning the case of a British subject, Birkett, who left the Yamato Hotel, Changchun, without settling his account. As to your observations regarding the action of the police at Changchun, as stated in the latter part of your note, I have
87
Trine
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.