016) (breada)
2
244
1. E. TANG SHAO-YÌ stated that the terms of the Shanghai Kanking Railway's Loan Agreement could not be made applicable to the present negotiations. He contested the validity of the preliminary agreement because the Corporation was not entrusted with the construction of the entire line from Canton to Kowloon City, maintaining that the building of the railway between these two points by the Corporation was an essential condition of that agreement, whereas it now appeared that the Corporation was only concerned with the section in Chinese territory. He claimed for the Chinese Government the same discretionary powers as those exercised by the Hongkong Government.
MR BLAND in reply stated that at the time of sanctioning the preliminary agreement of March 1899, the Chinese Government was fully aware that the Corporation's construction rights were limited to Chinese territory, and that the expression "British Kowloon" in Clause 1 of that agreement could only mean the frontier of the leased territory and was never intended to mean Kowloon City. By the concession granted in September 1898 the Corporation was given the right to finance and build a Chinese railway in Chinese territory on terms not less favourable than the Luhan concession; several points had already been conceded to meet the views of the Chinese Government and in view of conditions admittedly altered since that date, but H.E's present proposals were tantamount to denial of all rights and advantages under the concession.
H.E. TANG SHAO-YI, after consultation with the Canton Viceroy's delegates, stated that the terms offered could not be farther modified and MR BLAND, being unable to accept them, undertook to farther