effected (or before any rights are transferred, or allowed to be transferred, to a Chinese subject).
5. Not to dispose of his lot, nor to grant any interest therein, or allow it to be granted to other persons, before such intending buyer or lessee has handed to the Imperial German Consul at Hankow a declaration in writing to the effect that he personally submits to the above Regulations, which declaration, if he is a subject of a Treaty Power, must be approved of by his Consul.
Declaration for Owners of Land situated in the European part of the "Deutsche Niederlassung" at Hankow.
2
As owners of a piece of ground entered in the Land Register ("Grundbuch") of the Imperial German Consulate for Hankow, vol. folio No., I herewith agree to conform to the Regulations as printed overleaf for the purchase of land in the German Concession at Hankow.
5
The German Minister, to whom I referred the matter, informs me that he has written to his Consuls at Hankow, Tien-tsin, and other ports for information on the subject, and that, on receipt of their replies, he will communicate his views to me, and furnish a report to his Government.
I shall not fail to let you know the result of this reference in due course. In the meantime I need only say that I entirely concur in your view of the question.
(No. 12.) Sir,
I am, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 7 in No. 1.
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Consul-General Fraser to Herr von Lochneysen.
Sir and dear Colleague,
Hankow, December 5, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt yesterday of your despatch of the 3rd instant, explaining the scope of the Regulations for the purchase by foreigners of land in your Concession.
The demand that foreign owners of lots in your Concession and their tenants shall be triable by the German authorities is an exception which, I understood from Dr. Kriege, your Government would refuse to have applied to German subjects resident in the Concessions of other nations in China.
I do not understand why, if this exception refers only to legal matters connected with a foreigner's land in the German Concession, your second Rule contains the words, "To submit to the German law and jurisdiction in all legal matters connected with his land and his position as a member of the municipal community"; nor how, if your Court renounces the claim to take hold of the person in case of infringement of your Concession Regulations, that Court proposes to vindicate its jurisdiction."
My predecessor's approval of the agreement between Mr. Cain and His Imperial German Majesty's Vice-Consul for the inclusion in your Concession of the lot purchased by the former prior to the grant of that Concession may well have been given in ignorance that your authorities claimed exceptional rights over foreign lot-holders, and on the supposition that nothing more was implied than the long-standing rule as to foreign lot-holders on the British Concession. I was myself inclined to that belief when I addressed you on the 28th ultimo.
In any case I do not feel justified without instructions from my superiors in approving any arrangement imposing on British subjects a disability from which German or other foreign subjects in a corresponding position are to be exempt. I am therefore forwarding the correspondence to His Majesty's Minister to-day, and will not fail to apprise you of his reply so soon as I receive it.
Thanking you for your courtesy in sending Dr. Kriege to afford me all possible information in regard to this question, I have, &c.
E. H. FRASER.
(Signed)
Consul-General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.
Hankow, February 13, 1908. I HAVE the honour to report that at the public auction of the house and ground, Lot 88 A on our Concession, belonging to the estate of S. J. Guzdar, deceased, the highest bidder was the German subject, Fritz Newel.
The auctioneer duly announced beforehand the condition of the title-deed requiring the sanction of His Britannic Majesty's Minister to any transfer to other than a British subject; and M. Newel has now come to ask me to apply for that sanction.
He is himself perfectly ready to sign a document identical with that demanded from alien purchasers of property within the German Concession by the German authorities, but His Imperial German Majesty's Vice-Consul told me before that they would not approve such a submission to alien jurisdiction.
Of M. Newel I know nothing beyond the fact that he is employed by Carlowitz and Co. and has recently come to Hankow, Whether the 12,100 taels bid by him is his own money or he represents a Syndicate I know not; he has just told me that he buys on his own account, not the firm's. The price is fair, but not excessive.
I have, &c. (Signed) E. H. FRASER.
(No. 8.) Sir,
Inclosure 8 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Consul-General Fraser.
Peking, February 17, 1908. I HAVE received your despatch No. 12 of the 13th February reporting the purchase at auction by a German subject of Lot 88 A in the British Concession, and the unwillingness of the German Consular authorities to allow him to comply with conditions which would be demanded from alien purchasers of property within the German Concession.
As stated in my despatch No. 47 of the 31st December last, I have been in communication with the German Minister in regard to the position of alien purchasers of property in German Concessions, but have not yet received a reply on the subject.
In the meantime I am not disposed to sanction forthwith the transfer of Lot 88 A to M. Fritz Newel, and would desire to learn further particulars as to his business standing and the use to which the property is to be put.
I am,
&c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure 9 in No. 1.
(No. 47.) Sir,
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Consul-General Fraser.
Peking, December 31, 1907.
I HAVE received and considered your despatch No. 95 of the 5th instant, on the subject of the refusal by the German Concession authorities to allow aliens to own lots unless, with their Consul's approval, they accept German jurisdiction.
(No. 13.) Sir,
Consul General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.
Hankow, February 15, 1908. BEGGING reference to my despatches No. 113 of the 3rd December, 1907, and No. 14 of the 13th instant, I have the honour to Report a visit this morning from Dr. Kriege, His Imperial German Majesty's Vice-Consul, who explained that his Government had actually expressed readiness to enter into an agreement ceding to the British authorities as full jurisdiction over German lot and householders in our Concession as they claimed
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