CO129-500-1 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-5-1927 - 9-6-1927 — Page 117

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Squadron is at anchor in Hong Kong Harbour: and aircraft

are to be seen daily flying over Hong Kong and the

New Territory. The sight of H.M.S. "Dauntless" off

Dane Island and the demonstration by seven British

seaplanes over Dane Island, made the Canton Authorities believe that at long last His Majesty's Government mean business and that something serious would happen, if Mr. Brenan's ultimatum was not complied with to the letter. Accordingly, as Chinese always will do under such circumstances, they at once gave in. Mr. Brenan is much to be congratulated on the firm front he dis- played under very trying conditions and I hope that the advantage so gained may not be thrown away by weakness in connection with any future incident.

21.

In the next place, I invite you to observe the immense difficulty of obtaining prompt and effective action when the decision as to what action should be taken

does not rest with the men on the spot. In this partic-

ular episode there were involved :-

(a) the Consul-General at Canton and the Senior Naval

Officer, West River;

(b) the Hong Kong Government and the Naval and

Military Authorities in Hong Kong;

(c) the Naval Commander-in-Chief, who was in the

Yangtsse, a

and who has only been able to spend three or four days in Hong Kong since he assumed duty on the China station;

?

(d) His Majesty's Minister at Peking, who has only spent a couple of days in Hong Kong since he assumed

duty.

When the crisis comes at any point, these scattered authorities can rarely (if ever) meet for consultation

and

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Min