CO129-500-1 Canton situation- governor's despatches 18-5-1927 - 9-6-1927 — Page 145

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what the Consul General had been told, there appeared to be

very little use of seeing the officials; and the Consul

General was of the opinion that there had been no change of

heart among the Kuomintang leaders, as far as Kuomintang-

British relations were concerned.

The Consul General said that he would not ask the

Vice-Consul to go again on similar mission, as he, the Vice-

Consul, had not been well received but that he would be pleased

to write a letter of introduction to enable the Chinese

Correspondent to meet the officials of the Political Department

concerned, referring to previous correspondence in which the

Canton officials have stated that they would like to meet

Hong Kong British newspapermen.

him

Before going to see the Political Department officials

located at the former Civil Governor's yamen, the Chinese

Correspondent first ascertained from his friends who told, that Mr. Tseng, the Director, was not sick at all but had gone to

Nanking on officially "sick leave", which may mean anything,

including his unsafety in Canton and necessity of seeking help

from bigger leaders not now in Canton. The Correspondent had

found that one Mr. Lai Lien, the chief secretary of the Political

Department, was acting Director, with one Mr. Hsu, formerly of Hong Kong, as acting No.2. Not knowing these two men personally, doubting they themselves were in any way known among

the officials in Canton outside their own department, the

Correspondent got hold of a dean of one of the Kuomintang

subsidized schools and asked him, who knows both of these

gentlemen, to accompany him to the old Civil Governor's yamen. Without the necessity of showing any card as usually demanded by the guards and ushers on duty, the school dean simply

announced