INTERNATIONAL INTRI GUES IN CHINESE RAILWAYS.
Belgium, French, and Russian
Rallway Policies in China.
the
creation of the
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH.
1
EXTRA
HONGKONG, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1914.
nor, were
.
sults are considered below. proliminary agreement for the claimant for concessions gambollin the Yaugtsze Valley, deliber: entire west of China and divert in alletting the shares, was con- the combination to repay ita: ·.
The signing of this; agreement under these circumstances, may,
eventually signed in Shanghai trespassers out, the gate had been 40,036 ordinary shares were of the hesitancy of the British to supply of materials and the ap without the interference of deliberately unlooked by the reserved
Of the portion to be floated in for subscription at noknowledge their rights under pointment of engineers, the British authoritica "or guardians, and the French and par for the shareholders of the the 1905 agreement, were con- representative of the Chiners Chine £750,000 should be deemed. the Paris by the Banque de l'Indo- the_knowledge of the official Belgians with their Russian part Pekin Syndicate, Limited, and sequently reluctant to admit the Central Railways, Limited, must to be on account of the Chinese organization.
scoretly admitted two directors of the Syndicate British to a balf share in the hava overlooked the most vital Central Railways, Ltd. So for fifteen years China has within the sacred precincta, and were the promoters of the bank. Yunnan-Chungking or Chengta essential in the reasons for the been debarred from her legitim- quickly became baily engaged We find on analysis that the dis line, and would therefore construct agreement, As the final Pakow- appointment of the engineers In the final arrument for the ate right of free competition in in garnering the rich and choice tribution of the shares would be the railway without their assist Sinyong Agreement was signed and the purchasing agency rights The article which follows is the construction of her railways, financial plame from the Celestial about as follows, if the prospectus Ance?
taken from the Far Eastern and compelled to pay millions in orchard.
with the Chinese Government for the extension of the line preference was takon up. Review, It will be read tribute to a system whose only
A brilliant stroke of diplo with the full knowledge of the to Chengtu, it was arranged that The Pukow-Sinyang agreement
Obfness, Government with interest not only for exeuse for existence was the sup-of November last, which com-
maoy! France would gain for the British Legation, it is also ap- the chief engineer for the first one-third...
29,000 the wealth of infor-port of the various foreign Gover-pelled the disclosure of the secret.
loss of her share in the Pukow-parent that the existence of the 400 rilometers was to to appoint. mation it contains but aleo aments to the Banke who had 1905 contract, dotermined the
PekinSyndicate share- Sinyang line the sole rights to a 1905 compact was temporarily ed by the American Group, for..
holders
40,036 as an example of enterprising inaugurated the purchasing com- British that their frolicsome and
through railway from Haiphong forgotten. Such a striking case the next 600 kilometers by Public subscription 17,904 journalism. Our readers misssion to increase their profits adventurous French and Belgian
to Chungking or Chengtu, or both. of official amnesis is all the more the British Group, and the cannot fail to appreciate the without due regard for the interplay-fellows must be induced to
At Chengta ahe would link up extraordinary, inasmuch as it remaining 600 kilometers by the Total... immense amount of labour ests or welfare of Chins, who had vacate the garden of Eden before that the acinal control of the thus clasping hands across China officially recalled to the attention agenoy rights for the proposed
... 87,000
with the Great Achievement" of was only four years ago that the French Group, and it was also These figures would indicate the Rasso-Belgian combination, existence of the agreement was arranged that the purchasing and research which must willy-nilly to pay the bills.. all the ripe fruit was placked have been entailed in the With the above exposition of from the trees and before the bank is, or could have ten, in with her ally on the north, and of the American Government by extension would go with the ap collection of the facts here the facts surrounding this phase faots became known to the British the hands of the shareholders of also would have the control of a the British Foreign Office, to pointment of the chief engineer. given. In previous issues the of the matter, we may now re-
public, growth of Russia's railway turn to a further consideration
the Pekin Syndicate, a strictly large section of the line eastwards justify the reasons why the Itie thus clearly established that While all this was going on
British officially registered or to the Hupeh border as provided American Group should not be the Chinese Central Railways. policy, with
the aid of of the operations of the official and the British were apparently ganisation, which in this new for in the Paris meetings of the permitted to participate in the Ltd., secured its full participation France and Belgium, and syndicate.
justly indignant to find their ad- concern, transferred it allegiance Hukuang negotiations-a section Triple Hakuang Railway Loan. in the Hukuang Loan from the For several months past the venturous rivals inside the fence, And it also discloses that the Pekin with, as reported elsewhere, Chinese Central Railway, British Legation has been urging and while they were seriously Syndicate, Limited, one of the
under French Company laws. which is shortly to be procesded The failure of the American other parties. The company was Lid, have been discussed. the Chinese to comply with their devising schemes to get them out, official custodians of British right control France will dominate the ion of the British official group
Once this lost link is in heri
Bankere immediately to respond honourably and justly dealt with French activity and its re-obligations and give effect to the another gleeful and vivacious
in the division of the profits and to the rather superior condescen-
ita fatare participation.
Yet, when the time arrived for. Mesare. Pauling & Company, Pakow-Siayang Concession signed into the Valley aided this ately participated in the organisa- all the trade to her port of Hai-strust by the latter as a waiving Limited, the greatest firm of rail-ed in 1898, and, on November 14 time by its Celestial sweetheart- tion of a bank under the laws of phong. The line from Yunnan of the American rights to parti- obligation, by admitting par way builders in the world, signed last, the final agreement was duly sat down under the shade of the France, the first transaction of to Nanning, which has already cipation in the Hankow-Szechuan ticipation in the Pakow-Sinyang s contract with the Chinese Go-signed by the Ministers of Com-two trees bearing the largest and which was to steal away the right been promised to her by the Railway, provided for in a letter section, the official British vom- vernment to construct and equip munications and Finance for the most juicy fruit, and notified the entrusted to its paro by the British kindly Chinese, will then be written by the Waiwapa in 1904 pany (excepting the Chairman the Chinchow-Aigun Railway to Chinese Government of the one others that it had decided to take such a pitiful picture of financial that control of the west will not Conger). The 1905 Agreement poration, who admitted at the Government. Was there ever shelved and never bo bailt, so to the American Minister (Mr. of the British and Chinese Cor the same specification as the part and by the representative of what it could as its share.. This: Peking-Mukden line at a lamp the Chinese Central Railways, daring and impudent intruder intrigue and decoit?
pass from her hands. sum cost of £7,885 per mile. Limited, of the other. It has introduced himself as M. le Ban- The sublimely ridiculous This provided for their profit, taken about 15 years to get this que Industrielle de Chine, s'il picture is also presented of the to China, has been brought ment as a fair reason why America share in the Pakow-Sinyang This situation, so disastrous advanced by the British Govern other nationale had the right to was then not only officially annual meeting in London that which indicates that the actual through, and British interests vous plait! domiciled in Paris, British agent of the Chinese about by the the failure of the should not be admitted to the railway) suffered a mental hintas cost of the line would be about were highly elated at the ultimate where he had contracted a left. ¡ Central Railways, Limited, pro-official British Group recognise Hukuang Loan, bat it is also on the French partners in the com- and conveniently overlooked that $7,000, or perhaps lees. This success of the long-drawn out handed marriage with a Chinese testing in virtuous indignation the rights of the French in the record that when the Agreement corresponds with the actual cost Yangteze concession.
allinity, who had graciously pre- against the trespass on the pre-Pakow-Sinyang loan agreement was first made, the British. Min pany were entitled to one half the determined by Messrs. Pearson The final Pakon-Sinyang sented him with these special serves of his company by the loan It is a situation fraught with the ister at Washington officially & Sons on the Tao-Ching con- agreement was signed as a purely trees as a wedding present.
materials and engineers, which, signed for the re-building of greatest danger to China. The recommended the struction and corroborates the British andertaking, providing
have been American stipulation should Hankow, and the construction of granting This sublime audacity stagger-
of the argument of the lower coat when for the appointment of British ed the British, as one of these a port at Pakow by the French Chungking or Chengtu line ae to communicate with the Chinese ement.
Yunnan-Government to instruct its bankers incorporated in the Loan Agre the work is carried out by ex-engineers and the purchase of the special trees flourished at Hankow Banque Industriello de Chine, a an exclusive French concession Central Railways, Limited, if they
But this action would havə perienced railway builders with materials from Great Britain. while the other grew within the subsidiary of one of his own would constitute the last nail in desired participation.
revealed the truth to the Chinese "an efficient organization to carry Even the Franch were happy.confines of Pukow, the great Government protests against parod, the corpse enclosed, and 1905 Agreement was entered into thing that the official corporation
principala. And the British China's coffin. The coffin is pre- on the work.
They were joyons and heartily future port for the lower Yangtze, Chins for attempting to inter- the undertaker stands ready with the knowledge, and presumed and the Pakow-Sinyang Loan It is also on record that the Government, which was the last
also tendered for the construc success, for were they not Pukow, and the Siayang-Pakow nationalise the Yangtze Valley, hammer in hand, to drive the ably the approval, of the British Agreement was signed as a purely
Mesara. Pauling & Company congratulated the British on their the terminus of the Tientsin-
desired, so the facts were conceal- tion and equipment of the Anh-equally interested and with the linen, and the stepping off place when in reality China was but nail home. wei Railways for Lord Li Ching Belgians, did not 55 per cent. of to the Shanghai-Nanking line, following the path laid by the The French Minister, while Government, beyond the shadow
Government, thus making the British undertaking. fang, at a lump sum cost of the profits pass into their coffere? or in other words, the most sacred British official organisation when this article was being written, of a doubt, a full party to all that 46,200 per mile, also to the same Vive l'entente cordiale! It was spot marked out by the official for the "Pakow-Siayang railway right to construct the Yunnan-belieys, however, that the British have appeared quite justifiable
it shared the British concession actually secured from China the transpired. It is difficult to specification as the Peking only another happy illustration British Company (the Chinese Mukden line, thusagain indicating of the friendly, sympathetic co- Central Railways, Limited) as its with French and Belgian interests Szechuan railways for French Foreign Office ever gave the to the British official organization, that the actual constraction cost opération of international finance. special sphere of activity.
and thereby itself internationalis- interests. would have been under £6,000. This jubilation on the other side
matter more than a passing
as it had the support of its The agent of the Chinese Cen-ed what the British Government.
The Chinese, as usual, have This company furthermore ap-of the Channel came, howover, as tral Railways, Limited, exploded believed to be its particular boen compelled to bow to the thought, and it is charitable to Government, but the fact that the proached El. E. Chang Chih-tung a sort of surprise to interested when he was informed of this sphere,
say it must totally have failed to rights which were wrung from nevitable, and Great Britain has realize all the points involved in China as a penalty for her and offered to construct and equip sections in Great Britain who invasion into the holy of holies, Possible French Reprisal.
received a severe set-back from such a transaction. the Canton-Hankow Railway to could not account for such un- and forthwith protested against
signing the Poking-Hankow Loan"" the same specification as the seemly joy, and refused to un- the impudence of the unwelcome the hesitancy to comply with grasping aspirations of the the
In the meanwhile, nettled at France, solely as a result of the It has also been urged that were afterwards divided with the
1905 Agreement Shanghai-Nanking line for a derstand how the Trench could financial roisterer who had secured the honest provisione of the 1905 Official British Group. In Novem nullified or supplemented by the seem to trouble their conscience. French, and Belgians did not lamp sum £7,000 per mile, indi-bo so deeply interested in what possession by a secret loan for compact, the French, with the ber of last year an Anglo-French terms of the Bukusng Loan oating again that the actual cost had always been held as the the development of the ports of innate sagacity of the nation, are syndicate, represented in Peking Agreement, but such a contention
The Chinese Government's
Position. would have been about £7,000 arowning triumph of Britain in Pakow and Hankow. The two not awaiting quietly the final by a British subject, endeavoured can only blind those
But how about the position of per mile, or £4,000 less than the the Yangtaze Valley. Shanghai-Nanking line, construct-
great centres of Britain's sphere shove that will ovet them from to obtain the right to build the quainted with the true facts, the Chinese Government? Under Who had blundered? The had therefore been appropriated their share of the concession. Yunnan-Chungking or Chengtu The British Group in the Haku-the circumstances was not the ed under the departmental system. representative of the Chinese by M. le Banque Industrielle de They are showing no outward railway, and, by virtue of the ang Loan, although officially re- Pakow-Siayang Loan Agreement Stifling of Free Competition. Central Railways in Peking, who Chine, under their very noses. signs of the displeasure against combination of French and British presented by the Hongkong and obtained from the Chinese Go- These figures speak for them- should have remembered the This was too much. French the wave of patriotic British interests and the selves. They are official and on agreement under which his Com- trespassers
vernment under false pretenses? agreement Shanghai Banking Corporation, be taught sentiment to hold the Yangtze existing between the two Govern- consists of the British and Chinese
Article 22 of the Final Agree- file in the records of the Chiness pany was operating, bad ap-a lesson. They must be cajoled Valley as a British preserve. No, monte to share railway enterprises Corporation and the Chinese ment expressly stipulates Government. They have been parently forgotten all about to run away and play China is extensive and wealthy in Yunnan and Szechuan, stood Central Railways, Limited. follows:- made by the most experienced its existence, and, in nego somewhere else or be ejected, but in resources, and there are other an excellent chance of receiving In the distribution of the profite
"The Company may, subject British railway builders, whose tiating the final Pukow-Sin-it would appear that the intru- quiet cornera whore valuable the full support of the French and participation of the British to all its obligations under this names are guarantee that the yang contract with the Chinese der possesses some claim to a rights can be acquired simply by lines would be well constructed bad overlook the fact that the share within the ringed fence, asking the Chinese Government wrong in saying that support arrangement was finally arrived or any of its rights, powers In fact we are not Group in this Loan the following agreement, transfer or delegate, and so serve as an ample security French had equal rights to the for it is an offspring of one of the for them. And the Chinese are was promised by the French
and discretions thereunder to any for the bondholders.. And yet, appointment of engineere and in great syndicates comprising what just waiting to be asked."
Minister, bat be WAS com- Of the total loan of £6,000,000
British Company, Directors or for fifteen years, with these the supply of materiale. Of is known as the Chinese" Central Now it happens that the British pelled to modify his attitude the portion appertaining to the Agents with power of further figures staring them in the face course, this was only a trivial Railways, Limited, which, as has ond French Government have the Pekow-Sinyang agreement on £3,000,000 and the portion sp-|
immediately upon the signing of Hankow-Canton ***figures which must have oversight, readily adjusted among been previously explained, owes mutual understanding to share convinced the most sceptical of friende, but one which would be its origin to the amalgmstion of equally in any railway construct November 14 last and the con-pertaining to the excessive charges of the difficult of explanation to the the British and Chinese Corpor-ion in the provinces of Yunnan sequent development of the aitan Szechuan section is £3,000,000. departmental system the official British public and the British ation with the Pekin Syndicate, and Szechuan, though is not clear tion created by the official British The Chinese Central Railways, group has been able to hypnotize manufacturers when half the Limited. The latter, although a whether or not this understanding organisation. The deliberate Limited, takes no participation in
Hoe the Chinese: Government the British Government into orders for materials were placed thoroughly respectable British extends to the French interests disregard, of French claims in the the Hankow-Canton section, the ever been officially informed of opposing the entrance of the in France and French engineers registered concern, has, as al in the Szechuan section of the Bukow-Sinyong agreement com-profits of which, whether from this transfer by the 1905 agree- leading British contractors in the appeared on the line,
ready explained, most decided Tatung-Chengtu line, recently pelled the French Minister to act flotation Chinese railway field.
The French insist on adhering French and Belgian proclivities, granted to the Societe Generale propone day he materials, are divisible equally
French and Belgian interesta? Mesera. Pauling and Company, to the terms of the 1905 agree which may account for the un- de felgique. It would be began to look after the interests between the British and Chinese ferred and the statuses. Limited, and Messrs. Pearson and ment the British Government usual readiness of the Chinese interesting to know."
of an organization more French Sous enjoy the reputation of cann cly admit that after Central Railways, Limited, to
most experienced exact penalty from China enter into the 1905 compact, being the
In the great through western than British, So rapidly did Corporation, Limited, the Ger
man Group, the French Group, company changed, is the Loan trunk line which will connect things mave, indeed, that the and the American Group.
Agreement valid? It may be ailway and engineering contracit had ed round and divided The Banque Industrielle de Chine: Russia on the north and Yunnanta Anglo-French Syndicate was com- yra in the world, and the former it with Fanceand Belgium. The
The British and Chinese Cor-ged that although the large The Banque Industrielle de to Chengtu or Chungking, had pletely side-tracked, and by poration, Limited, and the French majority of the shares are held in ncern alone has successfully only borable exarse to pursue Chine osme into existence during still to be provided for. What January 21, an option was signed Group take no participation in Franco and Belgium, that the nstructed under the contract would we to cancel the concession the month of January, 1913, is more natural, than that the for the Yunnan zen an int the Hankow-Szechuan section, upang mana Br
company remains British and tem thousands of miles of rather than suffer the loss of when the French promoters French Government at this with whom? With that inter- the profits on which, whether ways in different part of the prestige involved in recognition secured the co-operation of the psychological moment should lopar in the Yangtze Valley, from flotation or commission on
The American Government ad- d to the entire satisfaction of of such a doubtfal transaction. Chinese Government by admit kindly request the Chinese for the Banque Industrielle de Chine! materiale, are divisible, two
vanced this same argument in tovernments and the Banka
On the Horns of a DilemINA. ting the Chinese to a one-third the right to construct the line And thus France gave Britain fourths to the Chinese Central 1005, and furthermore, guarant rood. They constrasted The British Government is interest, and during the first week from Yunnanfa to, Szechuan well the Roland for her Oliver,
ed the American character and 2,500 miles of railways placed in the position of being in June last the shares were knowing that the friendly officials Reasons why the 1905 Agreement the German, and one-fourth to status of the
Railways Limited, one-fourth to Le Rhodesian Govern false to Chins, of having to incur offered to the public in London could not say them nay? And
American China alone, Yot with this the displeasure of France, and of and Paris. The capital was what is more natural, after secar
the American Groups. -- *
Development Compay, notwith In the meantime the 1005 gent record this British antagonising its own manufac-franca 45,000,000, divided into ing this choice section from Agreement has on the subject agreed that the portion of the had secured control of the shares standing the fact that the Belgians For facility of division it was never permitted serious- turers. Notwithstanding all the 87,000 ordinary shares of francs Chins, then that the French Go of considerable discussion. It is loan to be floated in London. by private purchases in the mar. ompete with the official pronouncements of British policy 500 each, with 3,000 founder's vernment should politely convey claimed that in signing the final 2750,000, should be doomed to be ket, The Belgian controlling tion in Chine, until the in China the careful delimitation shares of francs 500 each. The its compliments to the British Pakow-Sinyang Agreement and floated on account of the British interest in the American company tative of Dr. Ban Yat-sen of the Yangtze Valley as a significant feature of the Government and add that it could ignoring the provisions of the and Chinese Corporation. Ltd., was never approved by the tran la contract with them special British preserve, and the prospectus inued to the have the Pakow-Sinyang line to 905 Agreement for the equal and 5750 000 on account of the sfer of British rights in the 1905 bondop, and which was erection of a ringed fence to keep publiq
was the fact that itself, while the French, in view participation of the French in a Chinese Central Railways. Ltd.,
Both
must
Minister.
Stands..
8:
ΟΙ
wa9
unsc-
AB
section is transfer and sub-delegation; auch transfer, sub-transfer, delegation the Hankowo sub-delegation to be enbject to the approval of the Director General
commission
on
,
ment of the British rights to
if these rights have been an?
(Cahknued on Page 16.)
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