CO129-395 - Public Offices - 1912 — Page 530

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dictating in or controllong such relations in China

appears absurd. At the present time when our

Aricing

rights and privileges, whether from treaty provi-

sions or based on undisputed exercise, tend to be

more and more strictly scrutinised, I have no hesi-

tation in recording my opinion that the placing

of british companies operating in China openly

under a Hongkong deputy would be much more likely

to be resented as derogatory to China's sovereign

rights than would the direct intervention of an

الارم

Imperial Officer, especially if he were of the

class mentioned in the treaties and familiar to

of Chinese

all ranks for half a century and more.

A

The risk

of future objection on China's part would, I be-

lieve, be materially lessened were the China

registry made a branch of the London office and

the companies registered by it placed under the

same laws as British companies established in

England; for such a registry as a part of the

Consulate would appear not as an innovation but as