CO129-481 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1923 [8-12] — Page 568

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part of China and cause trouble in Malaya, where his party

is very strong and where the Kwok Mai Tong which he

controls is a source of great anxiety to the Government,

the consequences of which might be very serious,

The only means of preventing these consequences,

I believe, would be to go a step further than is proposed and remove Sun from Canton. This, I take it, H.M's Govern- ment are not prepared to do and no one can say what the

resulte would be, if they did so.

All that Sun asked was that I would represent

to H&M's Government and the British Minister the position

which he took up and the extent to which he was willing to

reduce is claims. Should I have refused to transmit his

views? I thought not. I thought it my duty to place them before Your Grace and the British Minister in Peking in the hope that this grave danger to British interests might be averted. If I had not done so, He would according to

By trans- his own statements have taken action at once. mitting the telegrams at least some delay was secured during

which a solution might be found,

You will probably ask, as I did, why he did not put forward his views through the Consular Body in

Canton