CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 394

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9.

Having finished the object of the interview I took occasion to allude to the question of Emigration regarding which I had observed in the local Press that the Canton Authorities

had apparently considerable misgivings, and assured Mr. Vei Han of the extreme care and attention which is paid to the passing of emigrants by the Registrar-General, Mr. Wei gan was formerly Director-General of the Chinese Section of the Kowloon-Canton

Railway and was appointed by the Peking Government as negotia-

tor for the Working Agreement. He is a man of broad views

who has resided in London and Paris and speaks both French and

English. He is thoroughly conversant with the negotiations

and it was because he considered our proposals fair and accept-

able that he resigned his position when His Excellency Liang

Shi Yi declined to accept them. The Viceroy of Canton is

entirely excluded from any participation in these negotiations,

and I had suggested that if His Excellency shared Mr. Wei Hän's

view (as I understood he did) it might be of use if he so

informed the Peking Authorities. I now referred to this

matter and asked if he had done so.

We also briefly alluded to the continued coinage of 20 cent

pieces and I warned Mr. Wei Han in a friendly way that if the

Canton Mint continued to turn out these coins in great quanti-

ties it seemed probible that the Provincial Government would

find itself in considerable difficulty when the new Currency

reform scheme came into operation. I told him of a prosecu-

tion which was at the time preceeding against a Chinese News-

paper for publishing articles calculated to cause tumult in

China,

--28 a proof of the bona fides of this Government in its

desire to assist the Chinese Government. In my Despatch 150 of 22nd April, 1911, I reported these matters fully to the Secretary of State and enclosed a précis of the interview I have

described.

10.