Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
FAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No. 271
No. 227.
No. 1.
532
[July 2.]
SECTION 14.
0.0.
28398
Mr. Carnegie to Sir Edward Grey-(Received July 2.)
¡REC? REGS 3 AUG 06!
Peking, May 15, 1906.
IN his despatch No. 170 of the 10th April Sir E. Satow informed you of the proposals which the Viceroy at Canton had telegraphed to the Wai-wu Pu on the 23rd March in respect to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, and recorded the circumstances which led to the appointment by the Viceroy of Delegates to negotiate with the representative of the British and Chinese Corporation.
These negotiations were undertaken at Canton early in April by Mr. Bland, on behalf of the Corporation, under instructions to adhere strictly to the draft Agreement of the 16th February, 1906.
On the 12th April Sir Matthew Nathan telegraphed stating that negotiations were suspended on account of the departure of the Viceroy to the neighbouring province on official duty, but that his Delegates, after recognizing formally the Preliminary Agreement, had made on his behalf definite proposals which followed the general lines of the Northern Railways Loan Agreement, and had requested that if these proposals required modification it should be obtained at Peking.
The Governor of Hong Kong added that he was in favour of the Corporation taking the Viceroy's proposals as a general basis for further discussion if it were understood that a Joint Working Agreement satisfactory to the Government of the Colony should be simultaneously concluded.
Mr. Bland thereupon came to Peking with the object of consulting with Sir E. Satow, and also in order to see the Director-General of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway on matters of business connected with that line.
His understanding with the Viceroy's Delegates having been that, while his Excellency now admitted the binding force of the Preliminary Agreement, he was prepared to abide by such arrangements for the Final Agreement as might be made by the Central Government, it seemed desirable to see what could now be effected here. Consideration of the other railway interests of the Corporation lent further support to this view.
The affairs of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway in reference to the provision of funds for the completion of the line had necessitated interviews between Messrs. Bland and Collinson (the Engineer-in-Chief) and the Director-General, Tang Shao-yi. As it appeared probable that the Corporation would have to meet Mr. Tang's wishes to a certain degree on this question, the opportunity was favourable for using this leverage to gain his support in recommending that the Canton-Kowloon Loan negotiations should be undertaken forthwith—a course to which I had reason to believe he was not opposed.
At the same time the question of the Soochow-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway was at a deadlock, as reported in Sir E. Satow's despatch No. 163 of the 10th April, and it was necessary to induce the Wai-wu Pu to take some step which would have the effect of cancelling the Imperial Decree of the 23rd September, under which the Governor of Chekiang still holds himself bound to cancel the Preliminary Agreement for this railway.
After consultation with Mr. Bland, I therefore decided that the best course to take would be to ask for a negotiator to be Imperially appointed to discuss the final arrangements for both these lines with Mr. Bland in Peking, as reported in my telegram No. 100 of the 14th May.
I now have the honour to inclose copies of my notes to Prince Ching on this subject of the 12th May, of which the latter, concerning the Canton-Kowloon Railway, was the more urgent, owing to news which I had just received from the Governor of Hong Kong that the Chinese project for building a line from Canton to Whampoa was being seriously considered by the provincial authorities.
I have, &c.
(Signed) LANCELOT D. CARNEGIE.
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