§ 4. Sir CLEMENT KINLOCH-COOKEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the deadlock at Hankow still continues; that the Nanking Government has banned all exports to that area, and that none can tell who is in charge; and can he do anything that will have the effect of restoring to British residents the privileges and convenience that obtained when the British concession in Hankow existed?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONI am fully aware of the divided authority at Hankow, of the friction between the rival militarists there, and of the general state of confusion. The area is nominally under the jurisdiction of the Nanking authorities, and I have no information showing that they are now imposing an embargo on exports to Hankow. The loss and inconvenience suffered by British residents have been due to the general state of disorder in the Yangtze Valley, and I can find no reason for assuming that they would have been any less had the concession continued to exist under purely British administration. His Majesty's Government are constantly engaged in doing all that is possible under most difficult conditions to safeguard the interests of British subjects there.