CO129-454 - Acting Governor Claud Severn - 1919 [4-6] — Page 302

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Dear Fletcher,

Enclosure

6.

298

Canton, 14th.March, 1919.

I had a long interview last night with Mr. Tu Chen-chai one of the heads of department of the Foreign Office of the Military Government and a man in close touch with Ta'en Ch'un- -bsuan, Among the matter we discussed was the question of the Kwang Lee; Wu told me that at the time the incident occurred he was in Shanghai but that when he came back and read the papers in

connection with the case he at once advised Ts'en to instruct the

Military Governor to retum the ship to Hongkong with an apology. Wu himself realised that the abduction of the ship was tantamount to an act of piracy and had practically got the whole thing fired up when unfortunately certain hot-heads intervened and urged that

the Kwang Lee should only be returned on a condition that a

quid pro quʼn be obtained in the shape of a promise that she be

sent back again together with the other interned vessels, and the

Military Governor therefore refused to discuss the matter any more.

I am writing now to ask if you can infom me privately whether in the event of the Kwang Lee being returned with an apology and

a subsequent application being made for the return to Canton of

all the vessels interned in Hongkong your Government will grant such application. If you can give me that assurance, I feel sure

that I will be able to arrange a settlement on these lines; that

is to say the Kwong Lee will be returned without any stipulation

but an application will subsequently be made for the return of the

whole lot, and if your Government can see its way to doing this the situation will be greatly eased.

Another question brought up was that of the

munitions of war in Hongkong. I told Wu that it was hopeless to

bring that up again but he begged me to ask you whether there was

no possible way of getting over the difficulty and said that

guarantees would be given that the ammunition would only be used

for putting down piracy. Can you suggest anything ?

There is a very strong feeling among the