FO371-31667 — Page 90

Page 90

THIS MARGIN.

NI

Registry

No. F 4133/888/10

Page 90

16 June

F.0.

1942.

Page 90

164

G.P.Y.

Digst. H.S. Gregory

Mr. Burfory,

Trading with the Enemy Department.

from 6.7.4.

lit

I'm 114 June from Chinese Engineering and Kimmie con kho, Vagemen with a copy of om reply of his 13th June

You

of

Ime Juactre of inc compare

Copyry: M.E. Young

13.

+-1

Sez

below)

Dear Gregory.

With reference to your letter to Ashley

Clarke T.E.38682 of the 23rd May about the

Kailan Mining Administration, I enclose a copy

of a letter

aated/t

the 13th June which we have

sent to the companyplacing on record our views

on their behaviour in undertaking to continue

to work these mines after the outbreak of war

between Great Britain and Japan.

I think you should know that Mr. Patrick

Young/called on Sir M. Peterson on the 1st June

oung/cs to discuss this question. He was clearly out

of sympathy with the point of view of his Board

of Directors and stated that he had tendered his

resignation to them; it was not clear whether

or not it had been accepted. The gist of what

he had to say was briefly as follows.

In his view it is essential that H.M.G.

should act in concert with the Chinese Government

in laying down the policy for the companies to

follow, so that identical instructions may go

to the Chinese Company from Chungking and to the

British from London. He emphasised the patriotic

character both of Mr. Nathan and of the ex-naval

officer in charge of shipments from the port.

He maintained that the best policy would be to

leave things as they are, although he admits

the anomaly, to say the least, of British subject

continuing the work of an important enterprise

for the benefit of the Japanese. His grounds

for holding this view are, firstly, that it is

NOTHING

TO

BE WRITTEN

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