!
4.
operations until the present time are well known to the Chinese Government, and need not be referred to,
The Agent-General has stated above that he will show that the Agreement carries with it great benefits to the inhabitants of Shansi.
Article 4 says:
"At all the mines Chinese should be employed as much as possible. All salaries to be paid by the Syndicate." This means work for people and an influx of the Syndicate's money to be spent in the locality, in which all the people would share.
Article 11 says:
"On first opening the mines foreigners must of course be employed as mining engineers and foremen, but later on, any Chinese who may be proficient in mining. For subordinate positions of little responsibility Chinese should be entirely employed, and Shansi natives as much as possible, to encourage improve-
ment."
Article 12: "The miners employed should be chiefly Shansi men, and should be paid fair wages."
Article 13 says: "The Syndicate shall establish a school of engineering and mining in some locality convenient to the mines, and there shall be selected twenty or thirty promising youths by the local officials and gentry to study in this school under foreign instructors, and thus prepare for future employment on railways and in the mines. The expenses for this school to be met by the Syndicate." Thus Shansi students will be able to learn this important business on the spot without going abroad far from their homes and relations. They will be still able to minister to their parents, will be under the benign influence of family life, and will not acquire ideas antagonistic to Chinese methods of thought and comity. For all this the Syndicate pays.
The Agent-General trusts that the people and gentry of Shansi will see that the foregoing are no mean benefits.
The Agent-General stated that the Agreement carries with it great benefits to the people of China.
In China fuel for household purposes or factories is scarce, dear, and of uncertain quality. The Syndicate will, under the Agreement, bring into the market within a short time an abundance of cheap and excellent coal so that all may be able to procure it. Those in North China especially, who suffer from the bitter winter, will appreciate the amelioration of their condition.
The abundance of coal will make it less necessary to burn wood. Immature trees now cut down for fuel will be allowed to grow. China will produce her own timber. present much timber is imported from America and other places for building, &e, and is paid for by money sent from China. This money will remain in the country. Coal also is imported from abroad, and money goes away from China for it. If this Agreement be carried out China will soon have enough coal for her own needs, and will in years to come be able to export coal to other countries, and so draw money to China.
At
Expert mining engineers estimate that there is enough coal in Shansi to supply the whole world for 2,000 years. The term of mining, fixed for the Peking Syndicate is sixty years when all the mines, in good working order, are to be handed over to the Chinese Government without payment. In those sixty years the amount of coal extracted by the Syndicate will, as compared with the whole, be but an atom. while, the Chinese people will have learnt to mine for themselves, and will find themselves Mean- endowed with a property of great value created with no effort or expense on their own part.
The Agent-General stated that the Agreement would carry with it great benefit for the Chinese Government.
Article 6 provides: "Wherever mines are worked there shall be paid yearly to the Chinese Government as producer's tax ("lo-ti shui") 5 per cent. on the cost of extracting the output of the mines, and from the remaining net profit 25 per cent. shall be paid to the Chinese Government. The Chinese Government will not in any way be responsible for losses incurred in the business."
Article 8: "All machinery, &c., shall pay one full duty and a-half. The products, when exported, shall pay export duty."
Article 9: "The Syndicate is to control the mines for sixty years, on expiration of which term all the mines shall, with all plant, materials, buildings, railways, bridges, and all property acquired by the capital of the mines, be handed over gratis to the Chinese Government,"
No comment on this 9th Article is necessary. is cot a one-sided Agreement. The Chinese Government, in fostering and protecting It is ample proof in itself that this the mining enterprise of the Syndicate, will be laying up a magnificent heritage for
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itself, to be enjoyed in the fulness of time. When that time arrives, the British engineering staff will undoubtedly have been replaced by Chinese engineers educated to their work in the mines themselves, and the Chinese Government will take over a perfectly equipped establishment.
The Agent-General, however, does not wish to pretend that the Peking Syndicate is a philanthropical institution. It is a commercial Association formed on business lines. It expects to make some profit for its shareholders; this any one will understand and not find fault with. If, together with a fair return on their invested capital, benefit is conferred on the neighbourhood in which they work and on the country of China generally, the shareholders will be none the less gratified.
The Agent-General is grateful for the opportunity accorded to him by their Excel- lencies to explain matters.
In conclusion, he asks from the Chinese Government the recognition of the Peking Syndicate's "sole right" to open coal mines under this Agreement to the exclusion of all other new mines; he also asks that this sole right may be made clear to the provincial authorities, and that permits may be issued when applied for; and he asks for full and whole-hearted protection for the mines and those working in them, and for the prospecting engineers.
of
January 30, 1906.
(Signed)
GEORGE BROWN, Agent-General, Peking Syndicate.
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Sir E. Satow to Mr. G. Brown.
Dear Mr. Brown,
Peking, March 7, 1906. YESTERDAY I had a call from En Shou, the new Governor of Shansi, who was making the usual round of visits on the Diplomatic Body. He seems a reasonable sort person, and expressed his earnest desire to get on well with your Syndicate. Agreements he said must be observed, that there would no doubt be details to arrange which were not dealt with specifically in the Agreements, and for those he wished to bave personal conferences with the Syndicate's representatives, if I would give them letters to him. I said this was an excellent idea, and I mentioned you and Alick Shaw as the men who would have to do business with him.
to
He leaves for his post on the 10th March, and I think it would be worth your while pay him a visit at Tai Yuan Fu as early as you conveniently can. I would give you and Alick Shaw letters of introduction to him, and also write to him to say when you were likely to be at Tai Yuan Fu. If this idea falls in with your views, please send me your name and Shaw's in Chinese. It would be useful in fact to have the Chinese names of all your English employés at the Honan mines, on the railway, and in Shansi,
To my mind the present opportunity seems a good one for establishing good relations with the Shansi Government, and that it would be well to seize it without delay.
Yours sincerely, (Signed) ERNEST SATOW.
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Peking Syndicate to Sir E. Satow.
Your Excellency,
Tien-tsin, March 13, 1906. THE newly-appointed Governor of Shansi, his Excellency En Shou, was good enough to receive me yesterday morning at his residence in Peking as kindly arranged by your Excellency. The interview, at which I was treated with marked informal courtesy, lasted for over an hour, but, in spite of much talk, little was accomplished beyond, as his Excellency was pleased to remark, the establishing of cordial personal relations. The Governor's opinion was that the Syndicate should begin operations on a small scale in Pingtingehou and gradually expand after establishing a friendly feeling among the people of the province. We agreed that it was most desirable that the good-will of the inhabitants should be secured. His Excellency thought that it would be well to establish the School of Engineering and Mining (as provided by Article 13 of
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