6
is in every respect British territory and wholly subject to British administration. This Government must therefore insist upon the Chinese authorities taking the necessary action without further delay.
(Translation.)
I have, &c. (Signed)
A. M. THOMSON,
Colonial Secretary.
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Wu Chung-Hsi to Consul-General Sir P. Warren,
April 28, 1904, IN the matter of the telegraph poles in the new territory at Kowloon, I have the honour to acknowledge your notes of the 24th February and 21st April. As I stated in my reply of the 5th February, although the telegraphs are under Government control, yet the shares are owned by private individuals, and the telegraph lines and poles are entirely private property. No prohibition has hitherto been put into force by your country forbidding Chinese to own property or engage in trade within your borders; in Hong Kong, for instance. It seems, then, as telegraphs form a portion of the trade of any place, that it is unnecessary to remove the lines and poles from the territory.
I have several times called a meeting of the shareholders and directors and informed them of the purport of the several communications received; the general opinion was that consent was impossible.
I therefore have the honour to request you thus to inform the Hong Kong Government.
Sir,
Inclosure 7 in No. 1.
Mr. Thomson to Consul-General Sir P. Warren.
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hong Kong, June 14, 1904, WITH reference to your letter of the 29th April forwarding a translation of a note from the Director-General of Chinese Telegraphs, I am directed to inform you that his Excellency the Officer Administering the Government is informed that some time during the Boxer troubles the entire administration of these telegraphs was handed over to the Chinese Government. Moreover, the name of the Administration, "Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration," precludes the idea that it is an ordinary commercial enterprise, and this Government cannot therefore see its way to treat it as such.
It is therefore on these grounds that I am to request you to be so good as to press for the early removal of the blockhouse to the Chinese side of the frontier, and for the transference of the poles and wires in the new territory to the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company.
7
On receipt of the above I instructed the General Manager to write a Report, which I have now received. It is as follows:-
"Although on the 12th December, 1902, the administration was handed over to Government by Edict, yet subsequently, on the 15th January, 1908, a second Edict was promulgated in the interests of commerce allowing existing shareholders to invest additional capital. During the past year no shareholders have sold out. This goes to prove that the property is that of a commercial body. In the seventh moon of this year (the 11th August to the 9th September) a dividend on the shares issued is to be declared, and notice will, as heretofore, be given in the papers to shareholders as to obtaining payment. This is further evidence that the property is that of a commercial body. As to the statement regarding the name, 'General Telegraph Administration of China,' I may say that, the head office being situated in the foreign Settlement at Shanghai, the name was intended to distinguish the Administration from the foreign Telegraph Companies in that port. It was not intended by the word 'China' to signify that the Administration was established by the Chinese Government. Only the Government has granted the monopoly to the Administration, and has appointed officials to supervise and watch over and support its interests. The statement in the despatch received that the name 'precluded the idea that it was an ordinary commercial enterprise, and that the Government could not therefore see its way to treat it as such,' displays a lack of knowledge of the position of the Administration. I propose to request your Excellency to inform the Colonial Secretary, through the British Consul-General, of the above facts, and request him to delay the removal of the telegraph poles for the present, pending the arrangement of the matter."
1
This Report has now been sent in to me. It is perfectly true that, as the Administration says, the capital and profits still belong entirely to the shareholders and are the property of a commercial body, and that the title "Chinese Telegraph Administration" was adopted in order to distinguish the head office at Shanghai from those of the foreign Telegraph Companies. Although under Government supervision and protection, it still has for its object private convenience and profit.
You have always been most impartial in your conduct of international affairs, and have encouraged commercial enterprise. With a view to the maintenance of friendly relations, and in the interests of commerce, I have the honour to ask you to reply to the Colonial Secretary, requesting him to delay the removal of the poles, &c., for the time being, pending the arrangement of the matter.
I have, &c. (Signed)
A. M. THOMSON,
Colonial Secretary.
(Translation.)
Inclosure 8 in No. 1.
Yuan and Wu to Consul-General Sir P. Warren.
July 23, 1904. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch inclosing a letter from the Colonial Secretary, Hong Kong, to the effect that during the Boxer trouble the entire administration of the telegraphs had been handed over to the Chinese Government; that, moreover, the name of the Administration, "General Telegraph Administration of China" (N.B.-The Chinese name contains no character signifying "Imperial") precluded the idea that it was an ordinary commercial enterprise, and the Hong Kong Government could not recognize it as such; and that he requested you to press for an early removal of the blockhouse to the Chinese side of the frontier, and for the transference of the poles and wires to the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company.
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