CO129-553-5 Japanese activities in Macao and Canton 31-1-1935 - 22-11-1935 — Page 81

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made by Japanese private individuels of the Portuguese

Legation at Tokyo sa to the possibility of acquiring land

for settlement in Timor; nothing, however, had, he said,

come of this scheme, as it had been discouraged by the

Portuguese Government. We concluded our (verbal) communi-

cation by expressing the hope that if the Macao project

proved to be serious it would be nipped in the bud.

The

Portuguese Embassy thereupon telegraphed about the question

to Lisbon.

On 18th April Fernandes told us that the Portuguese

Government had "called" the question "to themselves" BO

that it might be duly studied at Lisbon; all further action

would be suspended pending this examination.

On 17th April, a man from the firm of Hendry Bros. (the

"friends" in London of Messrs. Halcolm of Shanghai ) tele-

phoned to say that Malcolms had received the contract. They

seemed delighted and gave us all the credit.

Things were not, however, apparently quite so far

advanced as this for, on the 23rd April Fernandes came round

again leaving a memorandum to the effect that "in the opinin

of /