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Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Paraphrase of Telegraphic Correspondence.
3
the Viceroy and myself being commenced within one month of the signature of the Loan Agreement. I should like to see the new draft Loan Agreement before
it is executed.
XLVII.
Viceroy, Canton, to Consul-General Mansfield.
YOUR telegram yesterday.
August 25, 1906.
•
I at once asked Wen Taotai, who said that the subject of conversation with the Governor of Hong Kong ou the 23rd April was the management of the traffic when the railway was completed.
The Agreement as to the construction of the railway is now being discussed at Peking, and a settlement has not yet been arrived at. It will not be too late to send a Deputy to Hong Kong to discuss the Working Agreement when a settlement is come to at Peking.
Please communicate this to Governor of Hong Kong.
L.L.
Governor Sir M. Nathan to the Earl of Elgin.
Hong Kong, August 28, 1906.
My despatch of the 26th July. Canton-Kowloon Railway.
I have sent the following telegram to His Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking:
(Telegram L repeated.)
LII.
Governor Sir M. Nathan to Mr. Carnegie.
Hong Kong, September 3, 1906.
Canton-Kowloon Railway negotiations. What progress has been made ?
XLVIII.
Consul-General Mansfield to Vice-Consul Tebbitt,
Canton, August 26, 1906. Please communicate the following to the Viceroy as a telegram from me :---- "The Governor of Hong Kong considers that the settlement at Peking of the Loan Agreement with Mr. Bland on the lines suggested by your Excellency in place of those to which China is bound by the Agreement of 1899 must depend on your Excellency showing good-will in the settlement of the Agreement with Hong Kong regarding the future management of the railway. I hope and advise, therefore, that your Excellency will send Wen Taotai or some other Deputy to Hong Kong at once to discuss this matter and make an amicable arrangement regarding it. The Government and gentry of Hong Kong are greatly interested, and I could assist, while here, in obtaining early settlement."
LIII.
Mr. Carnegie to Governor Sir M. Nathan.
Peking, September 4, 1906. Your telegram of yesterday. Canton-Kowloon Railway negotiations. Little or no progress made at the first two meetings; another was held yesterday, the results of which I do not yet know, as Mr. Bland left this morning for Tien-tsin. I will keep you fully informed.
XLIX.
Vice-Consul Telbitt to Consul-General Mansfield.
Canton-Kowloon Railway.
Canton, August 27, 1906.
The Viceroy refuses until the negotiations at Peking are settled.
L.
Governor Sir M. Nathan to Mr. Carnegie.
Your despatch of the 4th August,
Hong Kong, August 28, 1906.
I have endeavoured, with Mr. Mansfield, to get the Viceroy to negotiate the Working Agreement, but he has refused to do so until the Peking negotiations are settled. In these circumstances the Loan Agreement should provide that the railway is to be constructed so as to admit of its being worked as one line, without a break, with the British railway from Kowloon now being constructed, and so as to connect with the Canton-Hankow line. It should also embody Article 17 of the printed draft Loan Agreement; it should also provide for negotiation of the Working Agreement between
Inclosure 3 in No. 1,
CANTON KOWLOON RAILWAY,
Minutes of Meeting held at the Wai-wu Pu on Thursday, August 23, 1906.
Present:
Their Excellencies Na-tung and Tang Shao-yi, representing the Wai-wu Pu; Kung Taotai and Mr. Hu, representing his Excellency the Viceroy of
Canton;
Messrs. Chu Pao-fay and En, Secretaries to the Wai-wu Pu; and
Mr. J. O. P. Bland, representing the British and Chinese Corporation
(Limited).
Mr. Bland
IT was agreed that the negotiations should be conducted in Chinese. requested that it be noted that the Corporation, recognizing the special nature of the case, due to the railway being partly in Chinese and partly in British territory, was prepared to agree to certain modifications of the Nanking Railway Agreement and to meet, so far as possible, the views of his Excellency the Viceroy of Canton and of the Chinese Government, but that it should be clearly understood and recorded that such modifications would not constitute precedents affecting the rights and interests of the Corporation under Agreements. The Concession as originally granted by the Chinese Government gave the right of financing and constructing this railway under conditions not less favourable than those of the Luhan line, but the Corporation was prepared to
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