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part of the Russian Government, namely, the open recognition of the railway as a Russian Government line.
It seems that recently friction had arisen between M. Luba, the Consul-General, and General Horwath, in consequence of which they both travelled to Manchuria station to meet the newly appointed Russian Minister on his way to Peking. M. Luba was directed to proceed to St. Petersburgh immediately; General Horwarth returned to Harbin with the Minister, and a few days later took over charge of the Consulate-General.
Prince Mestchersky, the Russian Vice-Consul, told me plainly that the Russian Government were now prepared to identify themselves with the Chinese Eastern Railway, and stated that negotiations were now being carried on in Peking with the view of changing the railway territory at Harbin into a Russian Concession; such Concession, Prince Mestchersky considered, should be run on the same lines as the other foreign Concessions at the various Treaty ports.
Considering the position of the Russians at Harbin and the absence of any material British interests in the town at the present moment, a settlement of this nature is one practically against which His Majesty's Government might find it difficult to protest. All the available land is in the possession of the Railway Company, it would place Harbin in the position of a Russian Colony, with General Horwarth as Governor. In addition to his position as Chief of the Railway and Consul-General, he is, it is stated, to be given the command of the railway guards. An example of this kind is one which the Japanese Government would be not slow to follow, with consequences that I cannot fail to think would be prejudicial to our material interests.
The attitude of the Japanese Government at Harbin seems to support this view. Their Consul-General, Mr. Kawakami, who has been for many years resident in Russia, has been throughout a strong supporter of the Russian contention, and the Japanese Government, he informed me, have recognized the Railway Administration and its subordinate municipality.
I inquired of Mr. Kawakami whether he had not found in practice that the Russian Regulations pressed somewhat harshly on his nationals; I alluded in particular to the undertaking which has to be signed before the acquisition of a lease or sub-lease of land or buildings.
Mr. Kawakami replied that hitherto no attempt had been made to deal with Japanese subjects without reference to him; that he had not as yet encountered any practical difficulty, nor did he expect any in the future. The Russians, he said, were too weak to give anyone much trouble at present.
Mr. Fisher, the American Consul, never loses an opportunity of contesting the Russian position. An American subject was recently arrested by the Russian police for presenting a false bank-note at a café chantant. He was taken to the police station, where inquiries were made, as the result of which he was released. He was, however, compelled to sign a document in Russian, in which an account of the incident was given, and his passport was indorsed by the police authorities. Against this action, Mr. Fisher has lodged a strong protest. He claims that as soon as the man had made out a prima facie case that he was an American citizen, he should have been brought to the American Consulate, and that the police authorities, whom he invariably describes as "railway guards" in his communications with the Russian officials, had no right to call upon an American citizen to sign their documents or to tamper with an American passport.
Mr. Fisher considers that General Horwath's appointment as Consul-General is objectionable as showing a tendency to convert the Consulate-General into a department of the Railway Administration. General Horwath is rarely at the Consulate, which seems to be left almost entirely to the Vice-Consul, whilst the General receives his visitors, as he did myself, in the offices of the Railway Administration.
The municipality, I learnt, were having considerable difficulty in collecting taxes from non-Russians. The French Consular Agent, M. Dard, who is also the Manager of the Russo-Chinese Bank, informed me that he had supported French subjects in their refusal to contribute. His contention was that the municipal Rules and Regulations had not been notified to him officially, and that, unless the French Minister in Peking had signified his approval of such Regulations, it was out of the question that they could be enforced against French citizens. The other Consular Representatives, except Mr. Kawakami, hold similar views, and the question is now in abeyance.
The conversion of the railway territory into an international Settlement would be in many ways the best solution of the difficulty, but to this course, it seems hardly probable that the Russian Government could be brought to consent. Their property would, of course, be improved in value if the Chinese Government would consent to a perpetual lease in lieu of the present arrangement, and the preponderance of the Russian population is so overwhelming that it would seem that, even under international Regulations, the Russians must continue for an indefinite time to be, for all practical purposes, the administrators of the territory. From this point of view, their only danger would lie in the possibility of an influx of Japanese. Even now, there are 800 Japanese in Harbin, about 60 per cent. of the non-Russian foreign population.
In whatever rapprochement there may have been recently between the Russian and Japanese Governments, I feel quite sure that the Russian officials in Harbin will do all they possibly can to discourage Japanese from settling in Northern Manchuria. In fact, the stringent Regulations which have been drawn up for the leasing of land at Harbin were, I suspect, prompted by a desire to keep Japanese rather than any other people out of the railway territory.
The form of lease, of which I inclose a copy, contains a stipulation to the effect that no sub-lease will be valid unless given to a Russian or Chinese subject, and, though this Regulation is not enforced, it has never, Mr. Fisher informed me, been formally cancelled.
The Russians have practically no interests south of Kuan Chengtzu; their branch of the Russo-Chinese Bank has recently been withdrawn from Mukden, though they still continue at Newchwang. The question of the development of the Japanese Railway Settlements is one in which the Russian Government would not seem to be particularly interested.
I inclose a map of Harbin* with which I was supplied through the courtesy of General Horwath.
I have, &c. (Signed)
(Translation.)
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Form of Lease.
ROBERT WILLIS,
the Administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway, by the Superintendent in Harbin, and have concluded this Agreement, to wit:
1. The Superintendent of the Railway hereby grants a lease of land belonging to the Chinese Eastern Railway Company, shown on the plan as No. measuring square sajen (1 sajen is 7 feet), located at street, under the following conditions:
2. The term of the lease of this land shall be equal to the term of the Concession of the Railway Company, more particularly from the date of the conclusion of this Agreement until the 1st day of January, 1983.
3. The lessee hereby agrees not later than two years from the date of the conclusion of this Agreement to build upon or improve the ground, for which purpose during the said two-year term, there shall be expended a sum not less than roubles on each square sajen, or in all a sum not less than roubles.
4. Before commencing to build on the land, the lessee must present to the Administration for approval a general and detailed plan of the proposed buildings. After the approval of such plans, the building may be commenced according to the approved plans and by the observance of all published Rules and Regulations regarding structure.
5. The lessee shall submit to all police, structural, sanitary, trade, industrial, and other Rules that may be published by the Administration of the Railway; and also shall pay all taxes or duties brought in on the territory belonging to the Chinese Eastern Railway.
6. The lessee shall have no right to prevent the passing through his land of city or railway water-courses and sewer pipes, and also the suspension of poles of city and railway electric wires and cables.
7. After the expiration of the two-year term mentioned in paragraph 3, or sooner, according to the request of the lessee, the land will be inspected, and if the above required conditions shall be found by the Commission to have been executed, then a notation of the examination in accordance therewith shall be made on this Agreement.
* Not reproduced.