CO129-536-6 Anti-Japanese Riots 28-9-1931 - 25-2-1932 — Page 12

Ne. CONFIDENTIAL.

Sir,

3 Came

مه

سفيد

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONG KONG, 15th January, 1932.

12

I have the honour to invite your attention to a

statement which appears in paragraph 10 of Sir F.0. Lindley's confidential despatch to the Foreign Office, No.479 of the 1st of October, 1931, printed as No.F. 6279/1391/10 in a

(49) on 82406/3, Foreign Office print dated 3rd of November, 1931.

2. This statement which is to the effect that on the occasion of the anti-Japanese riots in September last the Japanese Government to appease public opinion ordered a man of war to the Colony, appears to me to be at variance with the actual facts so far as they are known here and the conclusion drawn that "it is doubtful whether such a

humiliation has ever been suffered by a British Colony in the Far East before" to be, to say the least, entirely misleading.

3. The incident which appears to have given rise to this report was in all probability the visit to the Colony on the 29th of September of the Japanese gunboat "Saga". This vessel has been for some time stationed at Canton and pays periodical visits to Hong Kong for the purpose of obtaining supplies.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

SIR P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER, G.B.E., M.C., M.P.,

&C.,

&C.,

&c.

I enclose