31.
118
Amoy No. 51 Kov. 7 cotton thread trade, 1929 (p.23 in 5X).
P.0.tel.No.440 of Nov.29,1929 (p.24 in 5Y).
Sir V.Wellesley's private opinion.
Hongkong puts for- ward new draft agreement.
Hongkong No. 61 Nov. 26, 1929 (p.25 in 5Y).
32.
A telegram now arrived from Sir V. Wellesley
saying the F.0. feared that the Governor's habit
of applying to foreign relations the methods he was
accustomed to employ in colonial questions w28
liable to have unfortunate results on our relations
and interests in China generally. If the matter
continued to be handled solely from the point of
view of the local interests of British and Chinese
merchants in Hongkong, there was grave danger that
the agreement might be lost, with serious conse-
quences to Hongkong trade and British interests
generally.
33. The Hongkong Governor reported to the C.0.
on November 20, 1929, giving the history of
the question since the draft agreement had been
considered olause by clause in the Executive
Council on August 8th, 1929. He pointed out
that, on the eve of his departure at the end
of September on a visit to Manila, he had
instructed Mr. Southorn to reply to Mr. Maze
that the deletion of Article 5 would be
entirely unacceptable to Hongkong, for the
Government of the Colony could hardly be
expected to give the Chinese Government
certain privileges of a most unusual nature
in return for a concession granted to vessels
of Chinese nationality and denied to vessels
of British nationality. The Governor pointed
out that, as to the withdrawal of Article 5
altogether, it was precisely this right that
made the grant of the extraordinary privileges
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