5.
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END
in Peking to refer to the merchants on which there is not
considerable difference of opinion between the Colonial Office
policy as the Governor of Hong Kong conceives it, and the Foreign Office policy as the Minister in Peking endeavours to carry it out. The recent negotiations in connection with the proposed Hong Kong Government China Customs Agreement is a concrete example of what I
mean. It is quite useless for either the Governor in Hong Kong or
the Minister in Peking to refer any question to the merchants in Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively until they themselves agree
upon a definite line of policy. There never was in my opinion
a time when leadership was so necessary as it is now and people here are quite helpless to deal with a situation which is going from bad to worse, and which, in fact, is causing considerable friction
between the merchants themselves, simply because there is no one
apparently capable of giving them a lead. I am sure that most
people would like to feel that there was someone big enough to help on these vital questions which are arising every day and which have all to be met and dealt with as circumstances dictate,
frequently without delay. The sooner, therefore, the Government at home can be brought to realize the urgency for having a High Commissioner to function practically from Peking to the Malay States the better will it be for all concerned. He would have to be a really
big man: someone with a much wider vision than anyone in China at
the moment.
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