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Chinese text, which is to all practical intents and purposes identical with the German
text.
It will be noted that the Agreement only deals with the construction and working of the railway; there was no Loan Agreement, the entire capital of the undertaking having been provided by the Shantung Railway Company.
Mr. Hildebrand, the General Manager of the railway, from whom I obtained the text of the Agreement, particularly requested that it should be treated as confidential,
I have, &c.
(Signed)
Inclosure 3 in No. 1.
BERTRAM GILES.
TSINGTAU-CHINAN RAILWAY WORKING AGREEMENT.
Railway Regulations of March 21, 1900, or, according to Chinese reckoning, the 21st of
of the 2nd moon of the 26th year of Kuang Hsi.
BETWEEN the Governor of the Province of Shantung, his Excellency Yian Shih-k'ai and his Excellency Lieutenant-General Yin Chang, delegated by His Majesty the Emperor of China on the application of the Governor of Shantung to conduct the hereinafter-mentioned negotiations, of the one part, and the Board of Management of the Shantung Railway Company at Tsingtau, represented by H. Hildebrand, Royal Inspector of Railway Construction and Working, of the other part, with a view to obviate disturbances and interruptions of all kinds in connection with the construction of the Shantung Railway and to preserve a permanently good and friendly understanding between the population of the Province of Shantung and the railway undertaking, the following Regulations concerning the line of railway from the boundary of the German leased territory to Chinan have been agreed upon, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of the Shantung Railway Company in Berlin, and have been drawn up in German and Chinese of the same tenor.
Article 1. According to section 2, Article 2, of the Kiaochow Agreement, a German-Chinese Railway Company is to be formed, which will issue shares to Germans and Chinese. This Company is to be provisionally administered under purely German control. Every half-year it must report to the Chiao-shê Chu (or Bureau for the Transaction of Foreign Affairs) in Chinan, how many shares have been acquired by the Chinese. the value of these shares has reached the sum of 100,000 taels, a Chinese official is to be attached by the Governor of the Province of Shantung to the head office of the Railway Company, in order to co-operate therewith.
When
Art. 2. Should in the course of time any branch offices of the Railway Company be established in Shantung, a Chinese official shall be attached to each one.
Art. 3. When the line is being laid, local residents, Notables, or officials are to be consulted, in order that the route followed by the railway may also, as far as possible, meet the views of the inhabitants. In order to obviate difficulties, the negotiations in connection therewith shall be conducted on the Chinese side by the Chinese official appointed for that purpose by the Governor of Shantung. The technical determination of the line of route shall be left to the engineers of the Railway Company.
A sketch plan of the line of route is to be forwarded for the information of the Governor of Shantung on a scale of 1 to 25,000. Then the purchase of land is to be commenced, and only after the purchase of land is the construction of the line to be taken in hand.
The purchase of the land is to be carried on in as rapid and peaceful a manner as hitherto; and neither the purchase of land nor difficulties with individual proprietors are to be allowed to delay the construction of the line. In order to obviate all such difficulties, the above-mentioned Chinese official undertakes to negotiate the purchase of land, and to adjust any disputes that may arise. Purchases must be made on a fair basis, and local current prices must be paid for the land. Only so much land is to be be acquired as may be necessary for the purposes of the railway undertaking and its expansion in the future. However, for a small halting-place a minimum area of about 630 metres in length, and 70 metres in breadth inay be acquired, 1 foot being equal to 338 millim., that is to say, that 1 metre is equal to 2 feet 9 inches, and 6 fên Chinese measurement; for a large halting-place, a minimum area of 730 metres in
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length and 100 metres in breadth; for a station at a township of medium size, a minimum area of 850 metres in length and 130 metres in breadth; and for the stations at the larger towns correspondingly larger areas according to the actual requirements of the case. The areas specified above do not include ground used for the purpose of supplying earth for the embankments.
Art. 4. Where water-courses exist, care must be taken, by the building of bridges and culverts, to provide a sufficient outlet for the water, in order that no damage may be done to cultivated fields.
Art. 5. The line must be laid in such a way that it does not pass through or cause damage to city walls, fortifications, public buildings, and importaut townships.
Art. 6. Temples, graves (especially the higher-class burying-places belonging to members of the gentry, which are fenced in and surrounded with plantations of trees), houses, farms, and villages must, as far as possible, be avoided by the railway; whenever it is not possible for the line to go round them, the proprietors must be given two months' notice by the local officials, and an indemnity is to be agreed upon, which is to be fixed at such a rate that the proprietor will be enabled to rebuild elsewhere in the same style as before, without suffering any loss.
Art. 7 When acquiring land, the kung is to be used for measuring the ground, A kung is 5 official feet long; a foot is equal to 338 millim,; and a mow is reckoned as 360 kung, equal to 9,000 square feet.
As regards the payment of land tax on the land acquired for the Railway Company, the same principles are to be followed as in the case of any other most-favoured Railway Company elsewhere in China.
Art. 8. For the crops damaged by the preliminary works or by the construction of the line, compensation is to be paid, the amount of which is to be agreed upon with the local officials.
Art. 9. The salary of the assistants placed by the local officials at the disposal of the Railway, at the request of the latter, is to be a special charge on the Railway and is not included in the purchase price of land.
The price of the land is to be paid over by the Railway to the District Magistrate, who on his side accepts responsibility for its proper distribution to the proper individuals entitled thereto, and who will issue to the Railway Administration the title-deeds for the land required.
Art. 10. Should the Railway Administration wish to rent residences or offices in the neighbourhood where work is being carried on, application should be made to the District Magistrate, who will arrange for the hiring of suitable dwellings and for the signing of the lease agreement.
Art. 11. When purchasing materials for the railway everything must be purchased and paid for in a fair manner and according to current prices; and in case of necessity the support of the District Magistrate must be invoked.
Art. 12. In calculating the exchange between the various currencies, the rate of the day is to be taken.
Art. 13. No further railway lines or branch lines, beyond the railway lines provided for in the original Kiachow Agreement and the branch line to Po-shan Hsien, may be constructed without the express assent of the Governor of Shantung.
Any branch line or sidings necessary for connecting the railway with coal and other mines, quarries, gravel-beds, or with sources of supply for other materials, do not require such assent; but the construction of such lines must be reported beforehand to the Governor of Shantung.
Art. 14. Foreigners who wish to carry on business or to have any other dealings in the interior of the Province of Shantung must provide themselves with a passport sealed by one of the competent German and Chinese local authorities, for their better protection. Should no such passport have been issued the local officials can accept no responsibility.
Art. 15. The German and Chinese Railway employés must be provided with a certificate which is to be attested by the seals of the Railway Administration and of the local official, in order to enable them in case of necessity to produce evidence of their official authority.
During the progress of the preliminary works a functionary appointed by the District Magistrate shall accompany the engineers, and in cases of necessity lend the assistance of the police for the protection of the railway property and of the surveying
marks.
Any persons fraudulently representing themselves to be railway employés, shall be arrested and punished by the local officials.
B 2 [2065 m-]
-1]
42
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