CO129-497 - Public Offices - 1926 — Page 211

!

L

(Lao feloni &

S.S. 'MALWA'

Between Hong Kong and Shanghai.

9.1.26.

24/8

GOJ

VLOUDIO B..

badu

12.9150 und 10 soneneter dich. Full and 15.40 LAT28.0, sundo do vaudersea webeyaz big 1) aslyos brourol of bajba ith me i Juqui no b65af, anu ode Tzoli90 lateeq2 and

*Boli

Awulocytána xlvedalion yngste

(.08)

Dear Mr. Petrie,

Having visited Singapore, Hong Kong and Canton

The

and

The one

I am now in a position to submit a preliminary report on conditions in South China and British Malaya. It will of course be understood that I write what follows in practically total ignorance of conditions in North China, that any conclusions I may appear to arrive at must be held to refer only to South China and may have to be modified in the light of subsequent events or as a result of further inquiry. As you know, the North is as distinct from the South as Peshawar is from Calcutta. governments of Peking and Canton have nothing in common and even the Kuomintang the Chinese equivalent of the Indian National Congress has definitely split into two parties, moderate and extremist, which draw their inspiration from Peking and Shanghai and from Canton respectively. feature common to both North and South is the ever-present possibility of butchery, anarchy, impoverishment and misgoverment, following attempts by the various feudal war-lords the so called "generals" to establish military ascendency. When I arrive at Shanghai I fully expect to enter an atmosphere of pessimism and to hear talk of the Bolshevist manace' on everybody's lips. In Hong Kong this was certainly not my experience. Whereas among all classes, particularly in business circles, the immediate commercial future of Hong Kong is regarded very pessimistically, in the best informed official circles there is a prevailing optimism as to the general political future of Southern China. That the Russians will be able

to Bolshevise the Province of Kwantung and place themselves

in an unassailable position is regarded as highly

-

Th

ade

reas.

War

improbable