CO129-414 - Governor Sir May - 1914 [10-11] — Page 24

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Enclosure 21

Colonial Secretary's Office,

Hongkong, 14th October, 1914.

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Sir,

I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 11th instant requesting that a clearance should be refused to the S.S."Kumchow" a British ship because she is consigned to a German firm at Swatow.

The firm in question is that of Messrs. Lauts & Haesloop which as far as I am aware is a purely local Swatow firm. If my information is correct then this Government is advised that the firm is to be regarded, in law, as an alien friend, since enemy character is not derived from race but from

domicile.

2.

If the firm is a branch of a firm in Germany, then under Section 5 of the enclosed Proclamation, issued on

the instructions of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, transactions with it are legal seeing that it is, in that case,

merely a branch situated in neutral territory.

3.

In either event, therefore, there exists no

ground upon which a clearance can legally be refused to the

vessel and a clearance for Swatow will, therefore, be issued

to her if one is desired.

His Britannic Majesty's Consul,

SWATOW.

I have, etc.

Sd.

CLAUD SEVERN

Colonial Secretary.