This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government,
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[13291]
No. 1.
756
[April 18. JUL 08
SECTION 5.
792
(No. 103.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 18.)
Peking, March 2, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to forward copies of correspondence with His Majesty's Consul-General at Hankow regarding the refusal of the German Consular authorities at that port to allow aliens to own lots in the German Concession unless they accept German jurisdiction.
As Mr. Fraser explains, the rule in British Concessions as regards alien lot-holders is merely that they shall produce a guarantee in writing from their Consul to enforce the fulfilment of the conditions of the lease. This does not render them justiciable by the British Consular Court, but preserves their Treaty right to be judged by their own authorities. The German rule, on the other hand, seeks to enforce submission to the German Court in all legal matters connected with the land owned in the German Concession and affecting the owner's position "as a member of the municipal community."
I have informed Mr. Fraser that I have referred the matter to my German colleague, who has called for Reports from his Consuls at ports where there are German Concessions.
Their replies have not yet been communicated to me, and in the meanwhile a case has arisen at Hankow of a German subject purchasing at auction a lot of land in the British Concession. In inquiring whether I will sanction this transfer, Mr. Fraser states that while the purchaser is quite prepared to fulfil the condition demanded of alien purchasers in the German Concession, the German Consular authorities would not approve such a submission to alien jurisdiction,
I have accordingly refused to sanction the transfer pending a settlement of this divergence in practice between the two Concessions, and in the absence of satisfactory information as to the standing of the purchaser and the use to which the property is to be put.
I have informed Count Rex, the German Minister, of this action, and we have agreed to refer the whole question to our respective Governments.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
P.S. March 3rd.--A further despatch from Mr. Fraser, copy of which I have the honour to inclose, shows that an agreement with the German Government for the reciprocal cession of jurisdiction over British and German subjects, in so far as concerns their position as land or householders in the British and German Concessions, would not be an acceptable solution of the difficulty, and I have the honour to submit that it is the German law upon this subject which stands in need of modification rather than the practice which has obtained in British Concessions for many years.
J. N. J.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(No. 95.)
Consul-General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.
Sir,
Hankow, December 3, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to forward copies of letters exchanged with His Imperial German Majesty's Consul on the subject of the German Concession Rules for the purchase of land therein by foreigners, and to request your instructions as to the propriety of my opinion that British subjects are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the British Courts.
My German colleague very courteously sent his Vice-Consul yesterday to explain that his Government had declined positively to accept his suggestion to omit the words "and jurisdiction" in the first line of Rule 2, though expressing his readiness to
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