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Honourable Colonial Secretary,
1..
Lieutenant Commander Faure is a Naval Officer
(British) connected with the Intelligence Department. Has a good knowledge of Chinese: lived in the City, and was (? is still) in touch with many Cantonese there.
2.
The views expressed in his report contain deductions which he should be required to support. His main facts are accurate: but his "policy of the Hong Kong Government" seems merely to reflect the views of his informants in Canton, and (if held by an Intelligence officer) can do much harm.
That the sympathies of the Canton Consulate and therefore of Hong Kong were with Chan Kwing Ling in his struggle with Sun, both while Chan was in the saddle at Canton and for
some time after, is I think true. But that the "policy of the Hong Kong Government" was to assist him, and to encourage intrigue against Sun in the manner suggested is carrying the view much too far. No doubt Chan's party had practical support from private sympathisers in Hong Kong: and rumour was always busy with Mr. Ede's activities in Chinese politics: but I know of no reason to justify belief in the actual support of Chan which Lieutenant Commander Faure attributes to "the policy of Hong Kong". The merchant volunteer movement had as one of its principal organisers Chan Lim Pak, the Compradore of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Canton: and the use of the facilities of the Bank is not unnatural. The Bank is used by all parties, for all purposes. But the statement that the whole merchant volunteer scheme was engineered by financiers from Hong Kong should be substantiated or withdrawn. Especially so, as it appears in the paragraph beginning "The Policy of Hong Kong...........", with the qualifying definition on the following
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