CO129-458 - Public Offices & Others - 1919 — Page 608

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Quarto for Mr. Corell's signature

DOWNING STREET,

8

December 1919,

6

DRAFT.

S. MARTIN, ESQ.

MINUTE.

Mr. Cowell 5/12/19.

28. Domime 6/12/19/

Mr.

Mr. Grindle.

Sir H. Lambert.

Sir H. Read.

Sir G. Fiddles.

Col, Amery.

Lord Milner.

fur. action

My dear Martin,

I have your letter of the 28th November

Cor 281119 regarding the endorsements of the

passports of Aliens who wish to travel to

Hong Kong or the Straits Settlements.

In the great majority of such cases, We can have no information about such persons, and

I do not see that it is possible for us to

relieve the Passport Office of the duty of

making all necessary enquiries before granting

a visa to their passports. Local Governmenta

rely entirely upon the endorsements of the

British Passport Office, and they could not

agree to the waiving of any necessary

formalities merely because the applicant does

not present his passport for endorsement until

he is about to sail.

Unless, therefore, in any special case

you ha reason to believe that this Office Wewe

in a position to vouch for the bona fides of

any particular applicant, I am afraid there

is nothing for it but for you to enforce your regulations, and refuse to grant an

endorsement until the usual enquiries have

been made in all cases.

As regards the last paragraph of your

letter