CO129-428 - Public Offices - 1915 — Page 250

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to Shanghai if possible and that I should endeavour to carry out arrangment provisionally medc with His Majesty's Consul Generel thera (my telegram No.459)

whereby they would be arrested on landing there as

undesirables and then deported thence to HongKong

and Singapore by judges order.

There remains alternative route to America

which men would like to tako but I have notified

United States: Ambassador that His Majesty's Consul General will not issue passports or landing tickets

to men so I hope that they will not be allowed to em-

bark.

As regards 2nd paragraph of your telegram Foreign

Office insisted on extending notice șo as to be able

to say in Parliament that they had treated Indians

exactly like Germans Deportees. This extension

did not really matter much as main point was to are

range date of giving notice so as to oblige men to

take Shanghai and HongKong route and a selected

boat.

This was satisfactorily fixed up for a French

Messageries Maritimes boat and with assistance of

French Ambassador I had arranged with Captain to

give a rendezvous at sea to "Atlas" where men

would have been taken off without slightest trouble

but as reported whole plan was upset by fatuous

conduct of police who let the men slip (group unde-

cypherable) nervous:e86. All the arrangements were kept secret between Ministry for Foreign Affairs and

myself but actual deportation had to become public as

coon

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