This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
657
C.O.
S
The French in Kuangsi.
The Kuangsi correspondent of a paper deplores the growth of French influence in this province and states that great numbers of disorderly persons are professing to be members of the French mission with a view to securing immunity from punishment.
Tsitsihar-Aigun Railway.
The Board of Communications have telegraphed to the Governor of Heilungchiang instructing him to commence work on this line at once.
Intermarriage of Manchus and Chinese.
Up to the present little advantage has been taken of the new law permitting the intermarriage of Manchus and Chinese. It is reported that, with a view to the encouragement of such marriages, the Empress-Dowager proposes to call on the higher officials to furnish a list of their sons and daughters, and will herself arrange marriages between members of the two races.
Ordnance College.
The Army Board propose to establish a college for the purpose of giving instruction in the mechanism of rifles, cannon, &c. Two German and five French artificers are to be engaged as instructors.----[Extract from Chinese press.]
New Bridge over the Yellow River.
A French firm at Tien-tsin has obtained a contract for the construction of an iron bridge over the Yellow River at Lanchow, to cost 165,000 taels. Work will be commenced at once.- -Extract from Chinese press.]
0
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[16813]
No. 1.
[May 16 20024]
SECTION
A 6 JUN 08
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 16.)
(No. 148.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to submit to you herewith copy of a despatch which I have
Peking, March 30, 1905. received from His Majesty's Acting Consul-General at Mukden, reporting on the Fushun coal mines which were taken possession of by the Japanese military authorities during the war and by them handed over to the South Manchurian Railway, though the rights were originally granted by Imperial Rescript to a Chinese subject.
I have, &c. (For His Majesty's Minister.)
(Signed)
STEPHEN LEECH.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Willis to Sir J. Jordan.
(No. 29. Confidential.) Šir,
Mukden, March 16, 1908. I HAVE the honour to submit the following Report on the Fushun coal mines, which has been gathered from various sources, some of which I have been asked to treat as confidential,
In Baron Goto's recent Report to the shareholders of the South Manchurian Railway, a copy of which, in translation, has been sent to me by His Majesty's Vice-Consul at Dalny, considerable stress is laid upon the importance to the Railway Company and the intrinsic value of these mines. They are at present the only mines that are being worked along the line of the South Manchurian Railway; new machinery has been ordered to increase the output, and it is the declared policy of the Company "to develop this branch of their property to its fullest extent."
From the time of the Railway Company taking over charge of the property from the Japanese military authorities until the date of the compilation of the Report, the output from the mines was 94,873 tons, and the net profit 29,881. The total net profit of the South Manchurian Railway and all its subsidiary enterprises for a similar period was only 92,859.
The legal title of the Company to this valuable asset would, however, appear somewhat doubtful.
The mines are situated about 25 miles E.S.E. of Mukden, and about 8 miles southwards from the town of Fushun. The mining area, I am informed, measures about 3 miles from east to west by 2 miles from north to south. The district is divided into two portions by a small river, the western portion being termed Ch'ien Chin-shan, and the eastern Yang Po-pao.
It appears that as far back as September 1901 two Chinese merchants, named Weng Shou and Wang Cheng-jao, applied to the Provincial Government for permission to open these mines, each of them contributing 10,000 taels to the Government Treasury. The matter was reported to the Throne, and an Imperial Rescript issued granting the Concession,
A survey was then made and the western portion of the district was assigned to Wang, the eastern to Weng. Endless disputes over their respective boundaries now arose between the two concessionnaires, and in order to strengthen their case each side ultimately had recourse to the support of Russian capital. Wang succeeded in persuading the Russo-Chinese Bank to invest 60,000 taels in the enterprise, and with this backing he was able to obtain recognition by the provincial authorities as the sole proprietor of mining rights in the district. The Central Government, however, signified its disapproval of this arrangement, and whilst the question was still under discussion between the Provincial and Central Governments the Russo-Japanese war broke out.
[2960 g--2]