[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
259
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[35559]
No. 1.
[October 22.]
SECTION &
CO
13805
Mr. Carnegie to Sir Edward Grey-(Received October 22.) P: 27 MA (No. 368.) Sir,
Peking, September 5, 1906.
WITH reference to my despatch No. 335, Confidential, of the 8th ultimo, I have the honour to inclose copies of two notes which I addressed to Prince Ching on the 18th ultimo and to-day on the subject of the Chinese project to build a railway from Canton to Whampoa.
On the 17th ultimo at the Wai-wu Pu I pressed for a reply to my note of the 13th ultimo. After some discussion, in which Mr. Tang Shao-yi appeared to think that this question should form part of the Canton-Kowloon negotiations, he promised to consult with Prince Ching.
I have not yet succeeded in obtaining the interview with Prince Ch'ing which is referred to in my despatch No. 358, Confidential, of the 23rd ultimo. His Highness is still with the Court at Wan Shou Shan, and has been much occupied by a conference on Government reform which has followed the return of the Special Commissioners from Europe; but yesterday at the Wai-wu Pu his Excellency Lien-fang promised to remind him of his obligation to receive me, and last night I mentioned by letter that I would be glad to call on his Highness to-morrow at his residence near the Summer Palace at any hour convenient to him.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
LANCELOT D. CARNEGIE.
Your Highness,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Mr. Carnegie to Prince Ching.
Peking, August 13, 1906.
IN a note of the 12th May which I had the honour to address to your Highness I stated that I had received a telegram from the Governor of Hong Kong to the effect that the Canton provincial authorities were taking active steps in furtherance of a scheme for constructing a railway from Canton city along the right bank of the East River through Whampoa. It was pointed out that, as such a line would follow the proposed route of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, the Preliminary Agreement of March 1899 would be infringed, and your Highness was requested to impress this fact upon the Viceroy of Canton by telegraph, and to move his Excellency to drop the scheme.
On the 16th July I again wrote to your Highness, stating that I had received telegraphic inquiries on this subject from Sir E. Grey, and requested that I might be informed whether the Chinese Government had communicated with the Viceroy in the sense desired by my note of the 12th May. In reply to verbal representations at the Wai-wu Pu, I was informed that the Chinese Government had no information of the project to construct a railway from Canton city through Whampoa, but that inquiries were being made, and a reply would be sent to me later.
I have recently received more precise information from His Majesty's Consul-General, which places it beyond any reasonable doubt that the Board of Commerce has sanctioned this scheme, that large funds have been subscribed to carry it out, that a foreign engineer has been engaged, and will reach Canton shortly, and that the contract for the material is to be given to a foreign firm.
I should remind your Highness that in a note of the 4th August I had the honour to address you on the subject of similar action taken by the Board of Commerce in regard to railways in Chekiang and Kiangsu, which action contravened the terms of Agreements concluded by the Chinese Government with the British and Chinese Corporation. The Board of Commerce having openly supported and obtained the Imperial sanction to proposals violating solemn contracts with a British firm in respect of railway undertakings in Kiangsu and Chekiang, there is all the more reason to credit
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