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Chinese naval authorities unofficially as a matter of
courtesy and in order to co-operate with them in their
reasonable measures for the safety of Canton so long as
the present crisis lasted, such movements could not be
made conditional on the prior consent of the Pacification
Commissioner.
8. Curiously enough, the attitude adopted by the
Special Delegate's office has not been reflected by the
local military authorities themselves. While making
arrangements for Mr. Howe and his party to travel to Hong
Kong by gunboat
should that have proved necessary had their
train been held up en route to Hong Kong through the Canton-
Kowloon railway having been put out of action (please see
my telegram No. 132 of December 2nd to Mr. Howe at Hankow)
the question arose of the possible provision of a pilot on
Sunday a dies non under the regulations
-
-
December 5th,
-
for H.M.S. "Tarantula". The Special Delegate's office, when
informed of the position, insisted that they should be notified
in writing and that the permission of the Pacification Commissioner
should be sought, should H.M.S. "Tarantula" wish to go down to
Hong Kong through Bocca Tigris. The fact that it would not have
been possible to inform the Special Delegate under the
circumstances of the exact movements of this ship, since they
were entirely dependent on the movements of Mr. Howe's train,
and also that, if she did go down to Hong Kong, she would have
on board His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, carried no weight.
Military Headquarters, however, on being informed, promised to
hold a pilot in readiness if necessary at the entire disposal
of the Senior Naval Officer, West River, and raised no question
of formal notice of the ship's movements. In the event, H..S.
"Tarantula" did not proceed, as the train went straight through
535s to Hong Kong, but I seem to detect the "hidden hand of Dr. Tyau"
(cf. Sir Andrew Caldecott's secret despatch No. 2 of January 6th,
1937/
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