CO129-501-3 Chinese situation- Protection of British subjects of Chinese race 23-10-1926 - 21-12-1927 — Page 68

Enclosure No.4 in Swatow No.27 of June 29th, 1927.

68

Sir,

H. M. Consul, Swatow,

to

Commissioner for Foreign Affairs.

Swatow, June 17th, 1927.

On the 11th instant I had the honour to address to

you a letter giving you a full account of the arrest of the

British subject, Low Peng Kiah, and the extortion from him

by officials of the Opium Suppression Bureau, in most out-

rageous circumstances, of a draft for $1,000, and I request-

ed you to have the draft cancelled and to order the Chi

Ch'eng Cash Shop, on which it was drawn, not to cash it. I

further requested you to deal with the offenders in the case

with all possible severity.

In reply, you merely stated that you had written

to the Opium Suppression Bureau requesting them to send the

draft to you for transmission to me for cancellation, but

that only the drawer had power to stop payment.

As you are, of course, aware, the Opium Suppres-

sion Bureau ignored your request. You are also, no doubt,

aware that on the 13th instant the Bureau sent one of its

employees, accompanied by armed men, to the Cash Shop in

question, and, although the Cash Shop had been informed by

me that you had decided that the draft should be sent to you,

the manager was so terrified by the threatening demeanour

of the Bureau's employees, that he cashed the draft, and the

money was taken away to the Bureau.

It is quite clear, therefore, that although the

particulars of the case were in your possession in ample

time for you to take the necessary steps to ensure the

cancellation of the draft, nothing was done.

I