CCP Y.
(Translation.)
Enclosure!
113 39376
Au Chung-Hsi, Director-General of Telegraphs,
To
Sir Frederick Warren, K.C.M.G., H. M. Consul-General, Shanghai.
On January 21st., I received your note stating that the consultation with the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company on the taking over of the lines had continued for a month without result.
I have now received an additional despatch from the Colonial Secretary, Hongkong, saying that a period of six months had been fixed for the removal of the telegraph Office at Shen Shui F'u, which period had already expired; that the office should therefore be at once removed within the Chinese boundary.
He therefore had again to request me to take immediate steps for the removal of the Shen Shui F'u telegraph office, lines, and materials, without delay into Chinese territory, and reply.
On receipt of the above, I again instructed Chu Fao-Hsuei, Taot'ai, to consult at once on the matter. He now reports as follows:-
"In accordance with Your Excellency's instructions, I held a personal interview with the General Manager of the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company. The Shen Shui F'u office is, however, in the Kowloon Extension, which, as stated in the Treaty of 1898, is leased for a period of ninety-nine years, and is accordingly not on the same footing as the British Territory of Hongkong.
The Shen Shui F'u telegraphs in the Kowloon Extension are in identically the same situation as the telegraphs in Shanghai and Tientsin Concessions, and also those of Wei-hai-wei and Ch'ing-tao, where the Chinese Telegraph Administration has established offices and set up poles for many years without the slightest...