CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 1.
Sir,
Foreign Office to China League.
Foreign Office, July 6, 1904.
I am directed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, in which, by direction of the Committee of the China League, you urge the desirability of adopting the scheme put forward by Wei-kwang-tao, Viceroy of Nanking, for the solution of the question of the Whangpoo Conservancy.
I am to inform you that Lord Lansdowne has not yet received the terms of the Viceroy's scheme in extenso, but that, when they have been received, his Lordship will, considering them, give due weight to the representations made by the China League.
I am, however, to point out that the scheme embodied in Annex 17 of the Final Protocol can only be abandoned in favour of another scheme with the consent of all the signatories of that Instrument, and that the maritime customs revenue from which it is proposed, under the Viceroy's scheme, to provide the funds required for carrying out the works, are already fully pledged for other purposes.
With regard to the fears which you express as to the work which the proposed International Conservancy Board is likely to undertake, and as to possible friction between the Board and the Municipal Council at Shanghae, I am to remind you that the International Board on the Peiho has been doing excellent work, and that no difficulties have arisen.
Lord Lansdowne considers that there is no guarantee that, if the work is undertaken by the Chinese Government alone, it will ever be carried into effect. The discussion with regard to the improvement of the water-way began in 1865, and the Chinese Government and the Imperial Maritime Customs have never shown any inclination to undertake the necessary works.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
F. A. CAMPBELL.
[2056 ƒ-1]