CO129-507-9 Chinese Telegraph Office- Hong Kong- transfer to Cantonese control 4-1-1928 - 20-7-1928 — Page 60

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contravers the principles agreed upon at Canton by including

the words "Appointed by the Canton Government", which do

not occur in the English version, which (if added) would

make the appointment purely political, give the Canton Government full authority to appoint, and ignore any question

of approval from Hong Kong. The words would also cause great

offence to the Peking Government and would affirm the division

of China into regional governments in a manner not yet recognised by His Majesty's Government, nor (as I understand

from a recent speech of Mr. Chu) desired by Canton.

A.

I wish to have it quite clearly understood that

I cannot agree to anything in the nature of a political

appointment, but that I am prepared to go to the length

of affording the Cantan Government an opportunity of nomina-

ting for consideration a gentleman whose interests will be entirely commercial and whose position would be properly

described by the title

Any further concession would suggest participation by the

Hong Kong Government in the political struggles of China:

a position into which it is quite impossible for me to allow

myself to be drawn.

5. I have therefore to ask you to be good enough

to request the Canton Authorities in the first place to

agree to the Chinese version of the title of the Com-

mercial Agent as I have set it out, and to nominate on behalf of the Canton Government a gentleman of known commercial ability whose appointment I should be justified in approving

on commercial ground alone, and against whose appointment

no objection could be sustained by reason of his political

sympathies. The unsatisfactory nature of the present

position

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