CO129-483 - Others & Individuals - 1923 — Page 492

and he regards this as unperdonable and

desires enquiry to be made into it. I

told him that so far as he wa concerned

I did not see that it mattered what happened

to the ships if, as was fundamental, he was not to be allowed to make war profits by running them, and I do not think we need

pursue this point. (2) He sa that early in 1920, almost immediately after his action against the Hong Aong Government was started, he was asked by the Government to stay the

proceedings while they wrote home and

endeavoured to arrange settlement of the

action. This he the Company in question)____

agreed to do, believing that a settlement

would be negotiated. Nothing more was heard

until, in August 1922, he saw in the Hong Kong

newspapers that the Indemnity Ordinance had

Teen passed. He says that this was a

deliberate fraud upon the in order to give

the Government time to pass the Ordinance.

..

I told him how incorrect that idea was, but

Selfort

he still says that whatever were the intentions, the fact is that it was because they met the

Goverment in this way that they were caught

by the Ordinance. I pointed out that I

did not even think that was sound because long

before his action would have come on for

hearing we should have heard about it and

the Ordinace would have been passed before

he obtrined judgment. However, he was very

Bore on this point; and it does seem strange

to me that if the Government obtained a stay

of proceedings on the pretence of writing

home about a settlement (which, incidentally,

I cannot discover that they ever did) they

should not have given the Company any notice

that

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Sealing

that, so far from atoying the case, they

intended to oust it by legislation. Courtesy

at the least, I should have thought, would

have de nanded that, and I think we might put

this point to the Hong Long Government and ask

for their observations, and tell Mr.Kettridge

that we cannot pursue point (1), but that we

have referred point (2) for the observations

of the Government in Hong Kong.

[I have used "the" throughout as short for tho feople whom 17th represents ]

Alis 3/8

At once Ara

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