Enclosure No.8 in Mr. Brenan's despatch No.51 of April 16th, 1928.!
H. B. M. Consulate-General,
Canton.
April 3rd, 1928.
66
Dear Sir Cecil,
My despatch No.108 of the 27th March will have told
you of my personal efforts to get Li Min-yin and Chu to settle
the telegraph office question in accordance with your wishes, and
copies of further correspondence with the Bureau for Foreign
Affairs on this subject were sent to you on March 30th.
I had another interview with Chu yesterday (April
2nd) and again pressed for a decision. He reiterated the
difficulty of doing anything in the absence of Li Chai-sum, who
he assured me, was expected back very shortly. I used all
the possible arguments to induce the Canton authorities to make
up their minds without delay and I warned him that you
threatened to close the office, unless they would carry out
their undertaking to appoint a commercial agent to take charge.
He replied that if you did so, you would get protests both from
the north and south and your action would be resented by both
parties. He said that rather than have the office closed, he
would prefer you to leave the present incumbent Lau in
possession.
Your semi-official letter of the 2nd April arrived
this morning and I sent Hall to the Bureau for Foreign Affairs
to show it confidentially to Chu. Cha promised that he would
take the matter up with the Political Council to-day and let
me have to-morrow a definite reply to my letter of March 30th.
I have thus done all that is possible to get the Canton
Authorities to comply with your wishes and the result remains
to be seen.
His Excellency,
sir Cecil Clemenci, K.C.M.G.,
Hongkong.
Yours very sincerely,
(Sgd.) J. F. Brenan.
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