893.811/1010: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:45 p.m.]
1203. Your 502, August 23, 7 p.m.41 I have discussed matter of Whangpoo Conservancy property with my British and French colleagues and we feel that subject is bound up with the general question of return of Whangpoo Conservancy equipment and operation to control of Conservancy Board, upon which subject American, British and French Ambassadors at Tokyo made representations to the Japanese Foreign Office on August 29 (see Tokyo’s 566, August 30, [Page 183] 1 p.m.). However, when I next see my Japanese colleague, which will probably be within a few days, I will bring up matter, but it is doubtful whether the military will yield in the slightest as this property is in the zone which it is undoubtedly the intention of the Japanese authorities to convert into a military base or an area for other military purposes, or at least to make it a part of extensive Japanese wharfage facilities.
Repeated to Chungking, Peiping and Tokyo.