CO129-585-10 Assembly of aeroplanes in Hong Kong 8-1-1940 - 31-7-1940 — Page 41

(is fef (! Wan)

Dear Gent,

(2) 83

AWY 940

53846

FOREIGN OFFICE, S.WI.

41

30th April, 1940.

14.

With reference to Foreign Office letter

No.F 2535/80/10 of the 19th April, I write to say that

we fully appreciate that the Governor of Hong Kong may feel that the statement made by the Civil Superintendent of the aerodrome to the Inter-Continent Corporation has

in some degree committed the Government of Hong Kong

and that some means of compensating the firm is called

for.

2. It has occurred to us that the aircraft might

be of use to His Majesty's Government or to the Government

of Hong Kong and that they might consider purchasing the

aircraft themselves. While it might be worth suggesting

this to the Chinese Government, we are inclined to doubt

whether they would consent to sell these machines to us.

3. It would seem that the only other solution is

to trans-ship the machines to Rangoon for transport over

the Burma road to the aircraft factory at Loiwing on the

Burma-Yunnan frontier.

G.E. J. Gent, Esq., D.S.O., 0.B.E.

4.