CO129-493 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1926 [6-8] — Page 356

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MR. CHEN:

We,

here, can agree on the consultation of the

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Court of Enquiry.

MR. BRENAN:

Other nations will have to be consulted before

that can be settled.

ER. CHEN:

We could, however, agree on the propusuls as

to how the Court should proceed.

MR. KEMPY:

The other nations concerned must have time for

consideration and the witnesses are scattered all over the

world.

MR. CHEN:

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absent.

We could casily find out which witnesses are

MR. Kemp: Many of the witnesses are away. The troops, for

instance, may have been transferred.

MR. CHEN : But we shall not require all the men.

MR. KEMP: Who is to say? The Court might ruquire additional evidence at any stage, and it might take months to get it. The Enquiry could easily take a year.

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MR. CHEN: Can we not find a formula beginning something on the line of "While we do not reject the proposal for an Enquiry

MR. KEMP:

It would be better to let the matter of the

Enquiry stand over with the claims for compensation on

either sido and to proceed to settle at once the question

of the boycott.

There is one term in the alternative proposal, which

we cannot possibly accept. Compensation to strikers is impossible. Hong Kong is the ggrieved party and has suffered

losses through no fault of its own. We emphatically refuse

to pay money to strikers. No idea of such payment can be

Untertained,