[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[May 4.]
SECTION 1.
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[14404]
No. 1.
(No. 129.) Sir,
Peking, March 13, 1907.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 4.)
I HAD the honour to inform you in my telegram No. 40 of the 7th March that the final loan Agreement for the Canton-Kowloon Railway was signed on that day, and I now have the honour to inclose copy thereof.
I should mention, in case any question arises, that the date of the Decree authorizing the signature is the 7th February, as stated in Article 19 of the Agree- ment and in my telegram No. 29, and not the 9th February, as you would gather from the inclosure in my despatch No. 81 of the 12th February.
I inclose also for your information translation of an unpublished Memorial, supplied to me privately, in which his Excellency Tong Shoa-yi makes an effective reply to criticisms of the Viceroy of Canton on the terms conceded to the British and Chinese Corporation. The Wai-wu Pu, on the 12th March, expressed themselves to me as quite content; there were objectors, of course, but the Agreement appeared to them and to the Chinese Government a fair and reasonable bargain, of which both sides might be satisfied.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Canton-Kowloon Railway Agreement.
AGREEMENT between the Wai-wu Pu (Board of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Govern- ment) and the British and Chinese Corporation (Limited), for the issue and regulation of a loan for the construction of a railway from the city of Canton to the boundary of the Kowloon leased territory under British control (hereinafter called "the railway").
THIS Agreement is made at Peking on the 23rd day of the 1st month of the 33rd year of Kwang Hsu, corresponding to the 7th day of March, 1907, and the con- tracting parties are the Wai-wu Pu, acting under the authority of an Imperial Decree, of the one part, and the British and Chinese Corporation (Limited) (hereinafter called "the Corporation"), of the other part.
Whereas a preliminary Agreement was made on the 28th March, 1899, between his Excellency Shêng, Director-General of the Imperial Chinese Railway Administra- tion, acting under the authority of the Tsung-li Yamên, of the one part, and the British firm of Jardine, Matheson, and Co., for themselves and on behalf of the Hong Kong and Shanghae Banking Corporation, representing, as joint agents, the Corporation, of the other part; and it was part of the objects thereof that the terms of another preliminary Agreement, signed by the same contracting parties on the 13th May, 1898, should be thereby adopted as a preliminary Agreement for the construc- tion and working of a railway from the city of Canton to the boundary of the Kowloon leased territory under British control, subject, however, as far as might be practicable, to the terms and conditions thereafter agreed to in the final contract for the Shanghae- Nanking Railway when signed and ratified.
Now it is hereby agreed by and between the parties hereto as follows:-
Article 1. The Corporation agrees to issue, on behalf of the Imperial Chinese Government, a sterling loan (hereinafter referred to as "the loan") for the amount of 1,500,000, on the terms and conditions hereinafter contained. Imperial Chinese Government bonds are to be issued for the entire amount, similar to the bonds of the
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