5
*
194
4
it is essential for the interests of this railway that the control should be vested in the Viceroy. They refer chiefly to the financial aspect, while I have referred in this despatch chiefly to the political (the negotiation of the Joint Working Agreement and the complications which may arise with the Hankow line in case of protracted delay), but our conclusions are the same, and coincide with the views expressed by your Excellency to myself in conversation.
Mr. Grove has also called on me (1st August, 1908) since this despatch was written, and I spoke to him regarding the Working Agreement. He referred again to the letter which he had received from Peking, authorizing him to settle any questions which demanded adjustment with this Government and submit his proposals for approval. Acting on this letter, of which he informed me some months ago, the Chief Resident Engineer of the British section under my authority has communicated already on such matters as the point of junction of the two lines, the proportionate cost of the bridge at this point, the type of rolling-stock, &c. The larger question of workshops was also raised, but led to no satisfactory conclusion. I pointed out to Mr. Grove that questions of this class stood in a different category from the larger questions (appointment and construction of a Board of Management, basis of profit-sharing, &c.), which must be decided by the two Governments concerned, matters also should be discussed between himself and the Chief Resident Engineer of the British section (which amounts to a discussion between himself and this Government), and that when a basis of agreement had been reached which he felt that he could recommend to the Chinese Government, he should submit it in the same way as minor questions. In point of fact, this suggestion amounts to a proposal that this Government shall negotiate with an unauthorized agent, who, feeling that he represents the Chinese interests, will naturally put forward those interests, and the agreement arrived at would be taken by the Chinese Government as the full demands of the Hong Kong Government to be whittled down and delayed indefinitely. It would no doubt be a more dignified position for this Government to negotiate when the time comes with a duly accredited representative of the Chinese Government, and I am in doubt whether preliminary negotiations through Mr. Grove would result in any material hastening of the result.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Sir J. Jordon to Governor Sir F. Lugard.
F. D. L.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's Secret letter of the 6th August, and, with reference to the second and eighth paragraphs and the postscript I inclose for your information copy of a despatch which I have addressed to His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the subject of the difficulties which have arisen in connection with the construction of the Chinese section of the Canton-Kowloon Railway.
Peking, August 28, 1908.
Since my conversation with you in March the policy of the Chinese Government in regard to provincial railways has become more declared and definite, and for the time being it is settled as a cardinal principle that railways shall be subject to the direct control of the Central Government as far as practicable. The Board of Communications are endeavouring to recover the administration of those lines which have been intrusted to the provinces, and to withdraw all provincial Concessions upon which work has not yet been commenced. While I am ready to agree that central control may mean some delay in the construction of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, I do not think that in present circumstances the Chinese Government could be easily induced to transfer the control from the Board of Communications to the Viceroy, and from my experience of the Board so far, I should be disposed to consider that a Central Administration of Railways may in the long run prove more acceptable and satisfactory to us. As matters stand, I should in any case be averse from exercising pressure on the Central Government to reverse their policy and transfer the control of the Canton-Kowloon Railway to the Viceroy.
The question of the consulting engineer for the Chinese section has been under discussion with the Board of Communications, and it has been arranged that the practice of the Northern Railways should be followed. In accordance with that practice, Messrs. Barry will be intrusted with the inspection of all materials ordered in England, and will receive remuneration on the usual terms therefor. The chief reason given by the Chinese Government for refusing the precedent of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway was that they were greatly dissatisfied with the advice given by Messrs. Barry in connection with that railway, the estimates for which were revised at least three times, and had always proved insufficient.
I have arranged verbally with the Board of Communications that Mr. Wei Han shall, as desired by you, act as their Delegate for the negotiation of a Working Agreement, and that he shall be available for this purpose at any time after his return from Tonquin. The Viceroy will take the decision on the territorial point of junction of the two sections, but, that done, Mr. Wei Han will discuss at Canton with your Excellency's Delegate and His Majesty's Consul-General all questions relating to the Joint Working Agreement.
I have no reason to believe that the Board of Communications are raising obstructions or creating artificial delays, but I am disposed to concur with Mr. May and the technical experts in the view that an immediate discussion of the Working Agreement might not advance matters. The suggestion of Mr. Grove that he and the Chief Resident Engineer of the British section should endeavour in the first place to reach an agreement on the questions involved appears to me very practical, and I think that by following it your Excellency would be more likely to hasten a conclusion than to delay it.
According to my information, the prospect of a railway from Canton to Whampoa appears to have been abandoned, at least for the time being. I am also informed that the Concession for the construction of this projected line to Amoy has been cancelled by the Board of Communications,
As regards li-kin on railborne traffic, I inclose for your Excellency's information an abstract of despatches which I have addressed to Sir Edward Grey since my No. 123 of the 16th March, mentioned by you. As you will have observed, my main object is to secure that British-owned goods imported or exported at Treaty ports, whether seaports or inland, and goods sent from one Treaty port to another by rail, shall receive the same fixed treatment as water-borne goods under Treaty Regulations. The Chinese Government allege that li-kin being levied under varying conditions in different localities, special arrangements for the protection of the li-kin revenue must be made to suit each railway, and no doubt they will put forward the same arguments in the case of the Canton-Kowloon. The question is difficult, and the ground might, I think, be prepared for the consideration of it by a detailed inquiry into the existing li-kin charges in the territory along the route of the line from the frontier to Canton, but, so far as we are concerned, it only affects foreign goods sent into the interior of China and foreign-owned native produce on its way from the interior to a Treaty port, which are not protected by transit-passes. It is useful to remember that the difficulty may possibly be settled before the railway is completed through a general acceptance by the Treaty Powers of the provisions of Article 8 of Sir James Mackay's Treaty. The first and only Treaty port on the Canton-Kowloon Railway being Canton itself, it would, in any event, appear desirable that some arrangement should be concluded with the Imperial Maritime Customs for the levy of the regulation duties in Kowloon, the alternative being a new customs station on the frontier, with the attendant delays in the handling of traffic.
I have, &c.
0
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.