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with him a quantity of rifles and ammunition. He was informed
that the Foreign Office would be unable to authorise the grant of
an export licence.
Ltd.,
6. On February 6th, 1929, we were informed by the Board of Trade that they had received an enquiry from Messrs. B. S. A. Guns,
as to whether a licence would be issued in the event of their
securing from the Afghan Minister an order for 1,000 British service rifles and approximately 1,000 cartridges per rifle. The Board were instructed to inform the firm, privately and confiden- tially, that there was no prospect of a licence being issued and that they should allow the matter to drop.
State of "war" between Canton Government and Nanking Government,
1931.
7. In May 1931 an application was received from Imperial Chemical Industries Limited for a licence to export T.N.T. to Canton for delivery to the Canton Government which was, at that time, virtually in a state of war with the Nanking Government. Licences for the export of war material to China were only issued by the Board of Trade upon the production by the exporting company of documentary evidence that the Chinese Minister in London approved the export of the goods in question. The firm's shipping agents in Hamburg realised the improbability of obtaining the Chinese Minis- ter's approval and suggested that the explosives should be shipped to Hong Kong. The procedure governing the importation of arms into China was explained to the Board of Trade and the opinion expressed that the application should be refused. The licence was not granted to Imperial Chemical Industries.
8.
Following the receipt of this application it became our considered policy, in order to avoid the danger of Hong Kong being used as a base for the supply of arms to rebel factions, to refuse
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