:
OP Y.
117.
nfidential.
Sir,
C.0.
36178
H. B. M's. Consulate-General, 06
382
Canton, August 18th., 1908.
{
In reply to Your Excellency's Despatch
No. 124 of the 13th. instant on the subject of the redemption
by the Chinese Government of the shares in the Chinese Telegraph
Company, I have the honour to inform Your Excellency, on the
authority of the Superintendent of Telegraphs at Canton, that
the Board of Communications in Peking have been instructed to
take over the administration of telegraphs throughout the
Chinese Empire. With this end in view the Board have for some
months past been in negotiation with the shareholders in the
present Company for the purchase of their shares, but as the
Board is only offering $170 a share for shares which are said to
be worth between 280 and $300, a majority of shareholders have
so far refused to part with their shares. As the Government seem
determined to acquire these shares by compulsory purchase the
shareholders will no doubt be forced to give way sooner or later
and as an inducement to surrender their shares without further
delay, have, I understand, been notified that the offer of $170
per share will only remain open for another two months when it
will be reduced to $150 and later on to $100 only.
The Central Government's action in this
matter which is, I am informed, deeply resented by a large
number of shareholders in Shanghai and Canton, is to a certain
extent justified by the fact that the Chinese Telegraph Company has never been a bona fide commercial undertaking, but has always been, both as regards finance and administration, under
Government control.
I have etc., (sd.) Harry H. Fox,
Acting Consul-General.
Excellency
The Governor,
Hongkong.