CO129-504-13 Chinese situation- request from General Li Chai-sum for assistance in obtaining arms and ammunition 27-4-1927 - 6-10-1927 — Page 53

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So far from giving Ministers "all the

necessary information" the Foreign Office, while

circulating a copy of their correspondence with Sir

M.Lampson and Mr.Brendan, have deliberately suppressed

not only the telegrams from Hong Kong, but also the

Colonial Office letter of the 11th of May, in which

our case was fully argued. Contenting themselves with

a brief summary of Colonial Office views, which hardly

does justice to the issue, they have even gone so far

as to put up a draft reply to the Colonial Office for

approval by the Cabinet. That they should have done

this without circulating our letter to the Cabinet, or

giving us an opportunity to circulate it ourselves,

seems decidedly irregular.

The damage has, however, been partially

repaired since, as a result of Sir Samuel Wilson's

intervention, the Foreign Office have now agreed to.

circulate a copy of our letter of the 11th of May as

a separate paper. They disclaim any desire to

prejudice the issue, and have hit on the ingentious

plea that their memorandum was drafted before our letter

of the 11th of May was received. While this may well

be the case with regard to the draft reply to the

Colonial Office, which makes no reference to this

letter, and is hardly an adequate answer to it, it is

clear that the explanation cannot be accepted as regards

the memorandum, since the brief summary given of

Colonial Office views quotes the actual words used in

our letter of the 11th of May.

It seems probable that the Foreign Office

regard the issue as already decided in their favour by

the Lungshan incident, and have therefore taken no

particular trouble to reproduce the full correspondence.

The