CO129-507-9 Chinese Telegraph Office- Hong Kong- transfer to Cantonese control 4-1-1928 - 20-7-1928 — Page 167

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apparent than real; that is to say although one

place might be in the hands of the North and another

in the hands of the South, telegraphic communication

was maintained without trouble between the two offices,

while in many cases offices in remote provinces like

Yunnan still dealt with the Telegraph Administration

of the Peking Ministry of Communicatione.

Sir C. Clementi said that that did not apply to

the case of Hongkong, which was foreign neutral

territory.

In the end the Director General and his advisers

left saying that they would give the matter further con-

sideration, but the understanding seemed to be that Mr.

Chen would proceed to Hongkong and a definite decision

allowed to stand over pending the receipt of his report.

Sir C. Clementi repeated that he would be very pleased

to welcome Mr. Chen in Hongkong, though His Excellency

did not for a moment think he would be able to do any-

thing with the Cantonese. His Excellency repeated at

the end of the interview that his main desire was to

facilitate telegraphic communication between Hongkong

and Canton and that existing difficulties which they

were trying to surmount were certainly not due to any

lack of goodwill on his part..

E.T. 15/11/1927.