CO129-524-4 Chinese Telegraph Office in Hong Kong 30-12-1929 - 9-12-1930 — Page 64

Encl.No.3.

sol.No.4.

2.

Subsequently, on the 4th. of October 1929,

Mr. Chu Ch' ang-nien, who was on his way through

Hong Kong to take up the post of Chinese Minister

to Sweden, lunched with Mr. Southorn, then

administering the Government during my temporary

absence, and after lunch brought up the question

I of the Chinese Telegraph Office in this Colony.

enclose copy of a memorandum written by r. Southorn,

You will

giving an account of this conversation.

notice that Mr. Southorn informed Mr. Chu that

application by the Chinese Government for the

consent of this Government to the appointment of a

Superintendent of the Chinese Telegraph office in Hong Kong must not be regarded as a purely formal matter, but that this Government had always requested

that a commercial man with a knowledge of business

should be appointed as Superintendent.

3. Nothing further occurred, in connection

with this matter, until the 4th, of November, 1929, when Mr. Kong Siu-lui, the present Superintendent of this Telegraph Office, called to see Mr. R.A.C. North, then acting as Secretary for Chinese Affairs, and showed him the attached letter, of which I enclose a copy both in the original Chinese and in an English translation, from the Director of Telegraphs in Canton. This letter is addressed to Mr. Kong as

*-Superintendent" of the Chinese Telegraph Office in Hong Kong. It proceeds to transcribe a telegram sent by Mr. La to the Ministry of Communications, stating that he had been advised in writing by the Government of Hong Kong not to take over charge of the

/ Telegraph

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