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The petitioners further say:
"The Kaiping Company (English Company) have no mining rights outside the 10-k limit from Tongshan, and therefore no matter who may be the owner of the land, they have no right to open mines without the permission of the local authorities and a permit obtained through them from the Board of Commerce."
In the Deed of Concession (Annexure No. 4) the Viceroy has taken care to state that in their further Petition they (the Tien-tsin Government Bank) point out that the boundaries of this mine pass through Paitaotzu and other places, but that this does not in any way affect the mining rights of the Kaiping Company (English Company).
The statement of the Tien-tsin Government Bank is quite unfounded, and can only be attributed to the fact that not being able to deny the validity of the Deed of Transfer of the 19th February, 1901, as a whole, they seek to limit the rights of the English Company in the Tongshan Basin.
The assertion made by the Tien-tsin Government Bank that the old Chinese Company, whose rights the English Company acquired, did not possess the right to establish mines in the whole of the basin cannot be maintained. In proof of this, it is only necessary to refer to two letters written in the year 1899 by Chang Yen Mao to Mr. C. A. Moreing at the time when the former was endeavouring to obtain a loan of 200,000l. for the Chinese Company.
In a letter dated the 20th September, 1899 (Annexure No. 6), Chang Yen Mao expressly states that the loan has for one of its objects the opening of a new colliery near to the railway station at Kuyeh, on the line from Tien-tsin to Shanhaikwan, in the Province of Chihli, and he adds:--
"The loans and premiums to be secured by the coal-fields, mining rights, and plant, and all the property acquired, or to be acquired, by the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company (Chinese Company) in connection with the collieries at Tangshan, Linsi, and Kuyeh.
In another letter, of the 17th October, 1899 (Annexure No. 7), Chang Yen Mao repeats that the loan is necessary as much for the construction of a harbour pier at Ching-wang Tao as for the opening of a new colliery at Wu-shui Chwang.
The loan that Chang Yen Mao applied for was ultimately made, and an Edict was obtained from the Throne by Chang Yen Mao authorizing him to raise the loan on behalf of the Chinese Company (Annexure No. 8).
The general mortgage bond, which was drawn up to secure the loan, is dated the 20th September, 1899 (Annexure No. 9). It expressly states that the proceeds of the loan are to be applied, amongst other objects, to the acquisition and opening up of a new colliery near the railway station of Kuyeh on the Tien-tsin-Shanhaikwan Railway line in the Province of Chihli, or such other colliery as may be approved by the said Bewick, Moreing, and Co. and Gustav Detring.
The loan having been thus raised by the Chinese Company, the preliminary work for the establishment of a new colliery at Wu-shui Chwang was immediately entered upon, and was only abandoned in consequence of the Boxer rising.
The documents quoted above prove that the Chinese Company enjoyed complete rights over the whole of the Kaiping Basin. The fact is confirmed in the clearest manner by an official Memorial addressed to the Throne on the 20th day of the 5th moon of the 27th year of Kuang-su, i.e., on the 11th July, 1901, by Chang Yen Mao and Li Jung-chang, then Viceroy of Petchili. This document was prepared for the express purpose of making known the Agreements entered into between the Chinese Company and the new English Company (Annexure No. 10). We extract therefore the following passage:-----
S
Apart from sinking additional shafts at Liu-shi, which is 50 li distant from Tongshan, permission was obtained to buy land and sink shafts at Wu-Shui-Chwang, Pai Tao Tzu, and other places in the Lanchow district which were found to be connected by the same seam of coal at Tongshan. The object was to provide a supply in case the output of the Tougshan and other mines should not be sufficient.
It should be remembered that Chang Yen Mao, in the action which he brought in the English Courts on the order of the Throne and of the Viceroy himself, far from attacking the validity of the Deed of Sale of the 19th February, 1901, recognized its validity, and only asked the English Court that an accessory Agreement called the
A
"Memorandum" which had been entered into at the same time should be made equally binding on the English Company.
The Deed of Sale of the 19th February, 1901, was not only entered into by Chang Yen Mao with the knowledge of Li Hung-chang but the latter subsequently recognized the transaction by joining on the 11th July, 1901, in a Memorial which Chang Yen Mao addressed to the Throne in order to report the sale of the Chinese Company's undertaking and the registration in London of the English Company. Attention will be drawn later on to this important document, and it is sufficient to note here that the Viceroy, so far from ignoring the transfer, expressly approved it.
When Chang Yen Mao came to Europe to bring the action against the English Company it was, as above pointed out, at the express order of the Throne and the Viceroy Yuen Chi Kai. He had been instructed to "recover the Company."
On receipt of the Memorial above mentioned the Throne signed the following Rescript:--
"This has been noted: the said Minister must bear the whole responsibility and let him zealously and satisfactorily manage the Company in order to protect this source of profit."
The Imperial Rescript thus confirms the transaction but reserves Chang's responsibility vis-à-vis the Chinese authorities.
It was only after the date of this Rescript that the debenture and share capital was issued.
Since then, the English Company has proceeded with its business for six years and has always regularly met its obligations towards the Chinese Government, as Yuen Chi Kai himself states in his report to the Throne. (Annexure No. 11.)
Respecting the sovereignty of the Chinese Government, the Limited Company cannot of course encroach upon that, and the duties, taxes, li-kin, and royalties the Company has not forgotten to pay.
He is still more explicit in his letter to Chang (Annexure No. 12), where he declares:--
"The rights and powers of the Imperial Government cannot be, never were, nor will be encroached by the said Company (the English Company). They paid their taxes and reported their proceedings and annual accounts."
The position may therefore be summed up as follows:--
(a.) The English Company has validly acquired the exclusive mining rights over the whole of the Kaiping Basin by the Deed of the 19th February, 1901, which was entered into by Chang Yen Mao in his capacity as Director-General of the Chinese Company and Minister of Mines for the Province of Chibli.
(b.) This Deed has been approved by Li Hung-chang, then Viceroy of Petchili. (c.) It has also been confirmed by Imperial Decree.
Under these circumstances the Concession purported to have been granted by the ex-Viceroy Yuen Chi Kai to the Lanchow Mining Company is a direct infringement of the English Company's rights and ought to be cancelled.
I have, &c.
(The Chinese Engineering and Mining Company,
Limited),
(Signed) ALF. W. BERRY, Secretary.
Annexures No. 1 to No. 4.
[Already printed.]