Vit. Wilmw
408
As stated in the minutes on C.20376 Sir V.Wellesley asked us on the 30th October to telegraph to Hong Kong to stop the Governor communicating Foreign Office telegrams to the Executive Council. The point was that these
telegrams refer to policy in the process of formation and state what His Majesty's Government intend to do, but may very possibly not do, if
circumstances change. It would of course be a
serious disaster if the intentions of His Majesty's
Government leaked out before action was taken
especially when they are forced to alter their plans
Thus circumstances have now prevented the Government
from acting as they proposed in the telegrams about
the collection of Taxes by the Maritime Customs,
which we were at the time discussing with Sir V.
Wellesley. I prepared a draft and sent it over
to the Foreign Office, as it was obviously of no
use unless it expressed their views. Sir Austen
Chamberlain has now rejected both my draft and
the Foreign Office alternative and has prepared
the attached draft. He would like further
reference to the Foreign Office if it is not acceptable to the Secretary of State. This draft is much more full, but otherwise does not differ
much in substance from the one I prepared.
It may
be a little awkward for the Governor if he has
been in the habit of circulating the text of Foreign Office telegrams to his Council suddenly to cease doing so, but we must remember that the Executive Council now contains a Chinese member who, though we believe him to be loyal and trust- worthy, is we know in touch with various Chinese
politicians
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