100
I
SECRET.
Enclosure. III
со
33285
260
14 OCT !!
HEADQUARTERS, SOUTH CHINA COMMAND
HONGKONG.
39th August, 1911.
7
Your Excellency,
Mitsui Bussan Kaisha.
In reply to your secret letter of the 27th, August, 1911. It seems to me that the policy referred to in your para. 2, is one which, whatever its merits maybe, must seriously affect considerations of defence. No guiding line seems to exist as to the extent to which the "quasi fortress" nature of this place is to be taken into consider-
Excellency,
ation.
Your Excellency refers to certain papers on this subject which through some error do not seem to have been attached to the file sent yesterday for my perusal. I should be much obliged by your letting me see them and also any official correspondence which may exist regarding the lease to the Japanese of iron mines in the New Territory by Sir Paul Chater, this being a matter of which I had no previous knowledge.
It appears to me that the seizure of premise s and the expulsion of suspicious aliens therefrom in the event of hostilities might prove a very ticklish matter especially as to the selection of the psychological moment to take such action.
The responsibility for the safety of our dockyards, cables, etc, would in war time, I think I may safely say devolve on the troops at the disposal of the Fortress Commander, and not on the Admiralty, and any menace to their safety becomes, it appears to me, a matter for
military
G.O.M.G.
Sir F.D.Lugard,
Governor, etc,
0.B. D.S.O.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.