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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.j
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
C. O.
14492 [April 6.]
640
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Consul Mortimore,
(No. 2.) Sir,
Peking, February 12, 1907. I HAVE received your despatch No. 4 of the 4th instant explaining the circum- stances in which the Governor of Hangchow requested you to have a native preacher of the China Inland Mission produced for trial in connection with the Haimên disturbances. You state that you have heard nothing more of the matter since your reply, in which you informed his Excellency that you would have the priest produced if the Roman Catholics surrendered a priest of theirs similarly accused.
If, as you state, there is no suspicion that the man is being persecuted on account of his religion, and you are satisfied that he will not be unfairly treated because of his connection with the China Inland Mission, but merely tried for any offence he may have committed, I think that your proper course, in the event of the Governor again addressing you on the question, is to inform him that the accused, being a Chinese subject, it is for his Excellency to take such steps as he deems necessary in the interests of justice.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
[10926]
No. 1.
SECTION 2, 24 APR 07.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received April 6.)
(No. 97. Confidential.) Sir,
Peking, February 20, 1907. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copies of a correspondence which bas passed between his Excellency Tong Shoa-yi and Mr. Bland, the agent of the British and Chinese Corporation, respecting the former's resignation of the position of Director-General of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway.
As part of the recent scheme of reorganization the Board of Communications was established to take charge of all the railways, posts, and telegraphs, and soon after its establishment the Viceroy Yüan handed over to it the Northern Railway, of which he and the late Ilu Yü-fên had been co-Directors-General.
Since the retirement of Shêng Kung-pao in November 1905, his Excellency Tong Shoa-yi had combined in his own person the Directorates of nearly all the other railways in the country-the Shanghae-Nanking, the Peking-Hankow, the Kaifeng- Honan, and the Chêng-t'ai lines being all under his control. In this capacity he drew a total appropriation allowance of 11,000 taels (circa 1,5007.) a-month, a considerable portion of which was doubtless shared with subordinates. When the transfer of the Directorate to the Board of Communications became imminent, his Excellency Tong appointed two of his own men to be Managing Directors of the Shanghae-Nanking and Peking-Hankow Railways, and possibly hoped in this way to lessen the serious financial loss which the change imposed upon him. The nomination of Shih Chao-chi to the former post raised, however, such a storm of protest that it had to be cancelled, although the selection in itself was an admirable one.
As Mr. Bland has pointed out, the appointment of a Director-General is required by the terms of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway Agreement, and the Board of Com- munications would apparently not be justified in absorbing the office without coming to a previous understanding with the Corporation.
Sir,
I have, &c. (Signed)
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
T'ang Shao-yi to Mr. Bland.
J. N. JORDAN.
February 6, 1907.
I BEG to inform you that I have now handed over railway affairs to the Board, and that they will be under the Board's control. I beg therefore that you will in future address yourself in all matters direct to the Board of Communications and be guided by their wishes.
As regards the salary of the Director-General, the due payments, dating from that payable for February 1906, should be made to the Board, and I would request that these sums may be remitted to the Peking Agency, where they can be drawn as required by the Board of Communications. They need not be remitted to Shanghae.
I am, &c.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Sir,
Mr. Bland to Tong Shoa-yi.
Peking, February 12, 1907. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 24th day of the 12th moon intimating that communications in reference to the business of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway are in future to be addressed to the Board of Com- munications, your Excellency having resigned the Director-Generalship of that railway.
[2450 f-2]