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Chou, and thence via Yao Ping to Amoy. 500 miles.
The length of the line will be about
Officers have been deputed, in conjunction with the Pan Yu Magistrate, to thoroughly survey the localities through which the first section of the line, from Canton to Whampoa, is to pass, and no obstacles have been discovered in the nature of dwelling-houses or graves to prevent the immediate delineation and purchase of the route and the commencement of operations.
Owners of property en route, other than waste land belonging to Government, which shall be acquired on such terms as are customary in the locality, should produce all title-deeds to the Company for inspection, and the land shall be purchased at a fair price calculated on the average of recent years. Owners of graves, houses, fruit-trees, ponds, &c., on land thus required shall be reimbursed at a fair valuation by the Company for all moneys expended on the construction, purchase, or removal of the same. In order that the general public may derive as much benefit as possible from the scheme, any owner who shall prefer payment in shares in the line may notify the Company to that effect, and shall be allotted shares, bearing interest annually, in proportion to the value of his land. But no owner shall raise the price of his property or hold the same until the market price has gone up, and thus obstruct the scheme to the public disadvantage. The Pan Yu Magistrate has been instructed to suppress any disorder that may arise in connection with this matter, and we now issue this Proclamation for the information of the public.
Now, therefore, know all men that this railway scheme, being of the utmost importance to the prosperity of the district and to the great advantage of all classes, all land required by the Canton-Amoy Railway Company shall be sold at a fair price, and no attempt made to obtain control of the same or to raise the price thereof, to the detriment of the public. Disobedience to this Proclamation will be dealt with severely and without mercy.
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light of the Proclamation and map inclosed, and either to move his Excellency the Viceroy to abandon the project sanctioned by the Board of Commerce or to accord me the favour of an interview at an early date for the purpose of stating the views of His Majesty's Government.
I avail, &c. (Signed)
JOHN N. JORDAN
Inclosure 4 in No. 1.
Sketch Map.
[Not printed.]
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Prince Ching.
Your Highness,
Peking, September 17, 1908. WITH reference to the correspondence which has passed between your Highness and this Legation since May last on the project of a railway from Canton to Whampoa, Mr. Carnegie informs me that at an interview on the 8th September your Highness stated that this was an old scheme dating from the plague epidemic of 1896, the object being to relieve the congestion of Canton city, and, by means of a railway, to favour residence at Whampoa. Your Highness declined to admit that this short line interfered in any way with the Canton-Kowloon Railway. Though Mr. Carnegie pointed out that according to his information the trace as proposed must inevitably run along the route of the Canton-Kowloon Railway for a considerable distance, that in so far as it followed the same route it would be clearly a rival line, and that the British and Chinese Corporation were justly entitled under their Agreements to object to it, his arguments had no effect, your Highness insisting that the Whampoa scheme is a separate matter altogether from the Canton-Kowloon undertaking.
I have the honour to inclose a copy of an official Proclamation issued by the Viceroy of Canton which has lately been received by post from His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton, and from which it is evident that the scheme objected to is undoubtedly of wider significance than your Highness thought when discussing it with Mr. Carnegie. This Proclamation states clearly that the Board of Commerce has sanctioned the formation of a Company to construct a railway from Canton to Amoy, and that the trace to be followed proceeds from the East Gate of Canton city to Whampoa, and thence passes through Tseng Ch'eng, Shih Lung, Po Lo, Kuei Shan, Hai Feng, Lao Feng, and other places to Ch'ao Chou and Amoy. From the accompanying map, which has been drawn specially for the purpose, your Highness will be able to see at a glance that the trace laid down must coincide with the route of the Canton-Kowloon Railway for a distance of 40 miles to the neighbourhood of Shih Lung. To that extent there can be no doubt whatever that the proposed Canton-Amoy Railway is a rival line, and that it contravenes the letter and spirit of the Corporation's Agreements.
Under the instructions received from His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs it is my duty to request your Highness to reconsider this matter in the