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C.O.
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This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
P. 23 SEP 08
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[31034]
No. 1.
[September 7.]
SECTION 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.—(Received September 7.)
(No. 322. Confidential.) Sir,
Peking, July 20, 1908. IN my despatch No. 187 of the 29th April mention was made of the selection of Mr. D. Poyntz Ricketts, a British civil engineer, who has been employed on the Northern Railway under Mr. Kinder for many years, to locate and estimate the cost of the Honan section of a line of railway from Honan-fu to Hsian-fu, which a Chinese Provincial Company is anxious to construct.
Such a line would form a continuation of the Kaifeng-fu-Honan-fu Railway, which has been built by a Belgian Syndicate under an Agreement of 1904, Article 23 of which (see "Rockhill," p. 399) gives them an option for a loan to construct the Hsian-fu extension should a loan prove necessary for that purpose.
The Honanese gentry, anxious to avoid having another railway under foreign control in their province, have subscribed a small capital, sufficient possibly to start construction within their own borders, and now have before them Mr. Ricketts's Report, which has been communicated to me confidentially by that gentleman.
Mr. Ricketts treats of the line in three sections. The first 50 miles from Honan-fu to Mien Ch'ih Hsien present no difficulty, and will cost on the average 7,000l. a-mile. Then follow 20 miles of hilly country to Chang Mao Chên, which will cost about 25,000l. a-mile, while the third section of 70 miles up to the boundary of the province at Tungkuan, though somewhat difficult in parts, should not cost more than 8,000l. per mile.
Mr. Ricketts, who has met with most courteous treatment from the Governor of the province and the Directors of the native Company, has recommended that work should start immediately, but has been informed by the eldest son of Yuan Shih Kai, one of his Directors, that it has been decided to take no further steps till the autumn, ostensibly on account of insufficiency of capital, but in reality because Yuan Shih Kai is strongly opposed to the policy of provincial control of railways, and hopes to bring the proposed line under the control of the Central Government before work is begun.
Mr. Ricketts has strongly recommended in his Report that the Honan and Shensi sections should be administered as one line, and in conversation with his Directors has pointed out that the prolongation of the Honan-Kaifeng Railway eastward to the coast, which is contemplated by the native Company as a future operation, would result in the formation of a most important trunk line. Such a line could only be administered successfully by centralizing control without regard for provincial boundaries, and after redemption of the Kaifeng-Honan section from the Belgian Syndicate.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
[1940 g-1]