This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
392
# CHINA TRADE
## CONFIDENTIAL
[29347]
No. 1.
C. O. [August 24.]
44783 SECTION 5.
* 5 DEC 08
(No. 319.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received August 24.)
Peking, July 30, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 267 of the 6th June, in which you inclose copies of a correspondence with the Colonial Office regarding the registration of steam launches plying in the inland waters of China. In your reply of the 5th June to the Colonial Office you state that you will defer making any observations on the proposals contained in Sir F. Lugard's despatch until you have ascertained how the King's Regulations issued on the 9th January last are working in practice.
As illustrating this latter point, I have the honour to inclose copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Acting Consul-General at Canton, which shows that the number of steam launches flying the British flag, which was at one time forty-five, is now reduced to seven, and that Mr. Fox regards the elimination of the doubtful element in the ownership of such vessels as no serious loss to genuine British interests or prestige in Canton waters.
The French, who are the only other Power that allowed a similar use of their flag, have recently adopted Regulations identical with ours, the result being a considerable reduction in the number of launches claiming French protection.
Reports which have reached me from the other ports where steam inland navigation goes on do not indicate that there has been any serious abuse of the flag, and, under the circumstances, I am inclined to think that further legislation is not required for the present.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
(No. 26.) Sir,
## Enclosure in No. 1
Acting Consul-General Fox to Sir J. Jordan.
Canton, June 25, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to report that the two principal owners of launches engaged in the passenger traffic in the Canton Delta under the British flag, namely, the Po On Company and Mr. C. T. Fisher, have recently transferred their launches, fourteen in number, to the Chinese flag.
This step, they affirm, has been forced upon them by the pressure which the Association of Chinese Launch Guilds has recently brought to bear in the form of a boycott of non-associated launches, ferry-boats, and persons engaged on or making use of them.
This Association, called the "I Yuan Tang," has published a set of Regulations of a tenor uncompromisingly hostile to rival interests, of which I inclose précis for your information.*
I pointed out, both to Mr. Fisher and to the Po On Company, that I would be prepared, should they wish me to do so, to protest against any illegal boycotting of their launches as the result of these Regulations, but this course did not commend itself to either of the parties as likely to be of any practical benefit.
I did not press the point, as I have never been quite satisfied as to how far Mr. Fisher was the real owner of the launches registered in his name, nor as to the existing status of the Po On Company, the majority of whose shareholders I had reason to suspect were no longer British subjects.
The transfer of these fourteen launches to Chinese owners reduces the number of
* Not printed.
[1904 aa--5]