2
or as an unfavourable comment upon the procedure adopted by the Russian Consul-General in the case of Macdonough. I have carefully explained, in conversation with the Russian Chargé d'Affaires, that our acceptance of Russian assistance in such cases is due to the absence of a British Consular officer at Harbin, and not to any recognition of the principle that the Russian Administration possesses any special status with regard to the British residents there.
I have further informed him that your jurisdiction includes Harbin, and that you would proceed there to arrange with your Russian colleague for the administration on the lines indicated above of the estates of any British subjects who may die in that portion of your Consular district in the future.
The birth certificate and passport of Macdonough are to be forwarded to you by the Russian Consul-General.
You should take advantage of your visit to ascertain the prospects of British trade at Harbin, and whether there are now, or likely to be in the future, any British subjects residing there.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government,
C.O.
192
[October 19. 1916]
Page
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
(36197)
No. 1.
SECTION 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.~(Received October 19.)
(No. 389. Confidential.)
Sir,
Peking, September 2, 1908. I HAVE the honour to inclose, for your information, copies of a letter addressed to me by the Governor of Hong Kong with reference to the affairs of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, and of my reply to that letter.
I should add that the question referred to in paragraph 5 of Sir Frederick Lugard's letter that is, the possible future connection of Whampoa with Canton by rail is one which I have already dealt with in my despatch to you No. 565 of the 6th December, 1907.
I have, &c.
(Signed) J. N. JORDAN,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(Secret.) Sir,
Governor Sir F. Lugard to Sir J. Jordan,
Hong Kong, August 6, 1908. I HAVE the honour to inform you that I received by last mail a despatch (Secret, of the 26th June, 1908) from the Secretary of State for the Colonies calling my attention to the urgent necessity of moving in the question of a Joint Working Agreement between the Chinese and Hong Kong Governments on the subject of the Canton Kowloon Railway. I attach the duplicate copy of this despatch, in the last paragraph of which I am directed to keep you fully informed and in which it is suggested that I should consult with you in the matter.
I shall therefore be glad of any observations and suggestions which your Excellency may be good enough to make, I attach also a copy of my reply.
2. In the course of a conversation which I had with your Excellency at the end of March last you expressed the view that the interests of this Colony would best be served if the negotiations on the part of the Chinese Government were to be left entirely in the hands of the Governor-General of the two Kwang provinces, who should be fully empowered in that behalf as the Representative of the Central Government. By this means you anticipated that the interminable delays which took place in the former negotiations relative to this railway might to some extent be averted and the inconveniences arising from the distance which separates the parties to the negotiations might be avoided. You undertook to use your best efforts to this end, and I have the honour to inquire whether your Excellency has any information to give me in this respect. For the reasons given in the third paragraph of my despatch to the Secretary of State, it would seem advisable to press rather for the general control of the line to be vested in the Viceroy than to allude specifically to the matter of negotiations regarding the Joint Working Agreement.
3. Lord Crewe, in the despatch inclosed, considers that "the question has assumed a new aspect," owing to the fact that the Chinese Government has refused to appoint Sir John Wolfe Barry and Partners as Consulting Engineers to the Chinese section of the line. From this remark I conclude that it has hitherto been the impression of the Colonial Office that Sir John Wolfe Barry and Partners as Consulting Engineers to both sections would have a preponderant voice in advising as to the terms of the Joint Working Agreement. I understand that though the Chinese Government is not unwilling to accept the services of that firm in an informal way as regards preparation of designs of bridges and so on, it has been finally decided that they shall occupy no formal position as Consulting Engineers, and that in such a matter as the negotiation of a Joint Working Agreement they would not be consulted.
4. It is obvious that the first step for this Government to take in this matter is to ascertain with whom negotiations are to be carried on.
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