CO129-442 - Governor Sir May - 1917 [4-6] — Page 202

3.

will be rather small fry, and unless

we have been grossly misinformed it will take the Teuton trader Many more years than ten to recover even a semblance of his.

£5 8 com- pre-war position petitor in British and Allied. OF even neutral, trade fields. The Hon. Mr Holyoak said he convinced that competi- was tion from new centres to the detri

be ment of Hongkong GAR met. Why then trouble about excluding the Hun? If we can meet him out of Hongkong, we can surely meet him here. But is it well to be quite so sure of our ground knowing that in China, even to-day, there are German sympathisers whose influence can be bought? This is a phase of the question that needs watching. Al- so, will the withdrawal of assist- ance from banks and discount houses materially affect the German when, under the new con- ditions, he is sure to receive all the assistance

he requires from his Government and some of his rich hyphenated American coun- trymen? Further, what guarantee shall we have that German bus- iness will not be done in British colonies and adjoining countries by people who, though for the pre- sont neutral, would, for a consid, eration, be prepared to carry Gor man competition to any extens desired? It behoves the British authorities to the most careful in any measures they may adopt or encourage for post-war Ag- gression, To proclaim exclusion of Germans is not the best policy when other means can be adopted of combining and organising Bri- tish trade and British interests to keep them out in a perfectly legi- timate but unwritten way.

It is

a matter, it seems to us, which must rest very much with the business men of the Colony them- selves if that cunning and unscr- pulous enemy of mankind in gen- eral is to be prevented from es- tablishing himself in the same old way here. Sustained effort in the capture of enemy trade, together with the honest quality of British goods and a religious upholding of the British reputation for fair dea- ling, should close the door to the surviving German as effectively: 88 can be desired and should also upset whatever post bellum plans he may have laid. What the Briton bas to do is to get out of the rut, get busy and deal with the after the war problem of trade in a practical way.

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