C.0
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
46270
REC?
६.
[November 14.]
CRE 17 DEC 08
SECTION 3.
[39613]
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 14.)
(No. 427. Very Confidential.) Sir,
Peking, September 24, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to report the substance of several conversations which I have had during the last few days with his Excellency Tong Shao-yi, who left this morning for Japan en route to America and Europe.
Speaking of the Customs Service, his Excellency reminded me of the conversations we had nearly two years ago respecting the succession. He had always held that it was undesirable to select the successor to Sir Robert Hart from the service, and his own idea had been to find a man like Sir T. Jackson or Mr. Whitehead, who could assist the Government with financial advice. The question had come to a crisis during his absence at Mukden, and, at Prince Ch'ing's suggestion, Sir Walter Hillier had been brought out with the idea that his services might be utilized eventually as Inspector-General of Customs. This had not been made known to Sir Walter himself, but the Wai-wu Pu, in answering inquiries which had been addressed to them by the Japanese and other Representatives, admitted that such was their intention.
A few days ago the Wai-wu Pu and the other members of the Government were seriously concerned to learn through Sir Walter Hillier that Sir Robert Hart proposed to return to China, and he (Tong) had been asked to talk over the matter with me. There was no wish to get rid of an old and valued servant, but it was plain that Sir Robert Hart's only object in returning was to promote the interests of his kinsman, Sir Robert Bredon, and prolong the uncertainty with regard to the succession.
Mr. Tong therefore invited an expression of my views on the matter, and expected, I think, to receive a declaration in favour of Sir Walter Hillier. While agreeing with him that Sir Robert Hart's return at his time of life was inadvisable, I confined myself to discussing the choice of his successor in merely general terms. Sir Walter Hillier was well known to Chinese and foreigners as a man of sterling character and wide attainments in Chinese, but Customs work would be unfamiliar to him, and I doubted if he would find the appointment altogether congenial. Mr. Tong's original idea of selecting the future Inspector-General largely for his financial qualities struck me as being a very sound one, and it appeared to me that his present mission afforded an excellent opportunity of giving effect to it. In London he would meet the leading men in the financial world, and would, I felt sure, be afforded every assistance in securing the services of someone who combined administrative experience with the necessary knowledge of finance. The British Empire produced a fair supply of such men, and China required the best she could get.
Tong said the proposal had one disadvantage which weighed greatly with the members of the Government. It was felt by them all that a man who did not speak Chinese lost 70 per cent of his value, and then there was the risk of an untried man who knew nothing of Chinese customs and ways of thinking.
I replied that with the increasing knowledge of English the first objection did not appear to me so serious, and, while admitting the force of the second apprehension, it might, I thought, be largely removed by a careful process of selection. While still adhering to his own view, Tong, however, said that he would give the question his careful attention when he reached London next spring.
During the course of the conversation Tong mentioned that Sir Robert Bredon had recently told him that some of the Powers were claiming a representation in the higher ranks of the Customs Service proportioned to the amount of their trade, and asked how he was to meet the demand. "Tell them," said Tong, "that China has herself a fair share of the trade and no representation."
From the general drift of Tong's remarks I gathered that, as the originator of the Shui-wu Ch'u, he is anxious to strengthen the Chinese hold over the Customs, and that the choice of the new Inspector-General will be influenced by motives of that kind.
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