CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 173

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official should be allowed to attend trials in Hongkong and sit on the bench beside the Police Magistrate, he would have failed in his duty if he had not pointed out that it was in- advisable to entertain such a request at a moment when in near- ly every port in Chine the Chinese Goverment are deliberately either excluding foreign Assessors from their Courts altogether

or relegating them to undignified positions at side tables.

Nor would he, I imagine, have allowed Mr. Wei Han

The

who, according to the Wai Wu Pu, holds no official position,

to offer suggestions as to what he should do in extradition

cases as regards taking the evidence of witnesses.

functions of His Hajesty's Consul General at Canton cannot be

discussed with an officer of Mr. Wei Han's standing.

But it seems unnecessary to elaborate the obvious

objections which exist to a procedure which must inevitably

weaken the position of the Consulate General as the recognised

channel of communication between the longkong and Canton Gor-

ernments and produce division where the public intereats

require cordial co-operation and also solidarity.

I have the honour therefore to sugest that all

correspondence