2
to the rumours of the construction of a railway from Hailar to Peking, for, though the line to the mine must branch off at some distance to the west of Hailar, the latter is the only place of any importance in the district, and would naturally be mentioned in any rough reference to locality.
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Consul Brady to Sir E. Satow.
ERNEST SATOW.
(No. 17.) Sir,
Fonchow, May 31, 1904. IN reply to your despatch of the 19th instant, I have the honour to inform you that the Mining Concession referred to by the "Moniteur Officiel du Commerce," comprises the three Prefectures of Kien Ning, Tingchow, and Shao Wu.
In my despatch No. 23 of the 3rd November last, to which I beg to call your attention, I alluded to this Concession when reporting on the negotiations which I had had with the authorities in connection with Mr. Farrow's application for mining rights in the districts of Anchi and Lung Yen, and I forwarded copies of the Agreements in regard thereto, inclosures Nos. 3 and 4; as these no doubt have since been bound up with the Legation Archives, I now furnish additional copies,* in case you should desire to forward them for the information of His Majesty's Secretary of State. These documents show how the Concession was obtained and under what conditions it is held by the French Syndicate—conditions, I am informed, which would not be at all acceptable to a British Company; (vide page 3 of my above-mentioned despatch).
The local Representative of the French Syndicate, "La Compagnie Internationale d'Orient," or "Société d'Etude du Fokien," is a M. Coursier, a mining engineer who has had considerable experience in the Transvaal and in America; during the past two years he has exploited the districts thoroughly, and reports having found rich mineral deposits both of gold and coal, which offer high hopes of profitable mining. It is now proposed to start a subsidiary Company, entitled the "Shao Wu Gold Mining Company," and circulars have already been distributed locally, asking intending subscribers to register their names, a full report from the mining engineer being promised later, when subscription forms would also be issued. I inclose copies of these prospectuses,* both in English and Chinese, from which it will be seen that they are issued by the "Société d'Etudes du Fokien," that is presumably conjointly by the Chinese "Hua Yu Company" and the "Compagnie d'Orient," with whom the Chinese authorities concluded the Agreements. The capital of the subsidiary Company is fixed at 1,250,000 dollars, divided into 50,000 shares of 25 dollars each, of which it is only proposed to issue 4,000 preference shares at present.
Rumour has it that the flotation of the Company is to be postponed, the reason assigned being that the present is not considered an opportune moment in Paris for placing the shares on the market, and it is also said that some difficulties have arisen with the Viceroy over the matter, but it is impossible to obtain reliable information.
(Private.)
From a trustworthy source, namely, Wei Han, the Imperial Commissioner of the Pagoda Arsenal, I have learnt that the Viceroy Li Hsing-jui is totally opposed to the scheme, and had said that he would not allow it to proceed; he was advised, however, that it would be unwise to take any active steps at present, in view of the friction there has been for some time past with the French engineering staff at the Arsenal, and this advice he appears to have accepted. The Concession was granted by his predecessor, Viceroy Hsa, in December 1902.
I have, &c.
HERBERT F. BRADY,
(Signed)
3
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Consul Little to Sir E. Satow.
(No. 57.)
Newchwang, May 26, 1904, Sir,
In reply to your despatch (separate) of the 19th instant, I have the honour to furnish the following particulars of three of the mining Concessions mentioned. Of the others I regret it has been impossible to obtain as yet any information, but I am making further inquiries, and will communicate later anything that I can learn.
The Fu Shun coal mine is situated near the Hun-ho, 60-100 miles north-east of Mukden, and the Concession to work it is held by the Russo-Chinese Bank and the Yalu Timber Company. The coal is said to be of good quality, but it is feared that difficulties will be experienced in working it, owing to the excessive quantity of water and the thickness of the seams, one of which is believed to be 100 ft. thick.
Chinese have worked the coal on a small scale, but the concessionaires have not yet, unless very recently, commenced operations.
Reference was made in my Report of 7th May, p. 5, to the construction, proposed or actual, of a railway from a point south of Mukden to this mine.
The Yentai coal mines are situated 10 miles east of the railway station of that name, at a place called T'u-tzu-t'un, which is connected by a narrow gauge line with the Manchurian Railway. This mine has been worked by natives for a century or more, and they reached a depth of 750 ft. It is now owned by the railway Company, who have been working it for some years, and who have erected machinery capable of turning out 1,000 tons a-day. Up to a short time before the war broke out six foreign (4 English, 1 French, and 1 Japanese) engineers were employed there, and the output last July was about 100 tons a-day, which, under proper management, should have been increased to 300 tons by now, but actually I believe it is very small. The coal is of good quality, being better than Japanese, is suitable and economical for railway purposes, but requires a strong draught, thus necessitating the engines being kept in good order, a requirement which made it unpopular with the Russian railway employés. The latter also discouraged its use, as they made a profit on the squeeze Japanese coal purchase. In fact, the Russian engineers appear for that reason to have deliberately obstructed the working of the mine, and I understand their bad management, combined with the natural difficulties caused by gas and water, has now rendered it almost useless. The output should, under favourable conditions, be sufficient to meet the requirements of the railway from Harbin, the daily consumption at one time on that section not exceeding in normal circumstances 400-600 tons. Over 600 hands (Chinese) were employed in the mine.
玉器
" "
At Dalai Nor, near the lake of the same name, south of Streteusk on the Amur, both coal and gold are, or have been, worked. The former was tried on the railway for some time, but is now no longer in use, partly owing to its bad quality and partly owing to inefficient working of the mine.
Mines de la Vallée de la Moudane: perhaps Mou-li-erh-k'en, a tributary of the Hurka.
Mines de Galène Argentifère de Koun Tchoun: perhaps Hunchun, near the Tumen, west of Possiet Bay. Gold and coal are known to be worked by natives at this place.
I take the opportunity to add a few particulars of some other mineral deposits which have come to my knowledge.
At Wa Fang Tien, near the railway some 90 miles north of Port Arthur, coal was worked by the Russians for some time, but the quality was bad, and the deposits, which were merely surface ones, are now exhausted.
At Pen-chi-hu, some 40 miles south-east of Mukden, there are deposits, which are believed to be considerable, of coal of good quality. Communication is, however, difficult, and the mine has already been worked by natives down to the water level. It is situated close to the Tai-tzu-ho, which is unfortunately, even in the wet season, only navigable by very small boats.
Attempts, which have hitherto proved unsuccessful, have also been made by Russians to work coal at Ssu-ping Kai, near Kaiyuan.
Gold has been worked on a small scale at Port Arthur, the yield being half an ounce to the ton.
* Not printed.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
H. A. LITTLE.
512