184
C.O 15128
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Ma esty Government.]
REGS 5 MAY 09
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AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[December 30.]
SECTION 3.
[44841]
No. 1.
Sir Edward Grey to Sir J. Jordan.
(No. 564.) Sir,
Foreign Office, December 30, 1908. I TRANSMIT to you a copy of a Memorandum recording an interview between Mr. Hurst, Assistant Legal Adviser to this Office, and Dr. Kriege, who are respec- tively British and German Delegates to the International Naval Conference now being held in London, on the subject of a proposal that the present exclusive jurisdiction possessed by this country and Germany over their respective nationals should be modified in so far as matters relating to land tenure and the enforcement of municipal Regulations in British and German Concessions are concerned.
I shall be glad if you will let me have your observations on this proposal as soon as possible by the Siberian route.
I am, &c. (Signed) E. GREY.
Minute.
A difficulty has arisen owing to the German authorities in German Concessions in China insisting on British subjects (when buying land in these Concessions) agreeing, with the approval of the British Consul," to submit "to German law and jurisdiction in all legal matters connected with his land and his position as a member of the municipal community." This engagement is interpreted by the German authorities as meaning that the British subject has to appear, in case of non- observance or infringement of the Concession Regulations, before the German Court even when he is a defendant.
At present it is for the German Consul to enforce the carrying out of the letter and spirit of the conditions of a lease held by a German in a British Concession provided it is the Concession authorities who bring the proceedings. But if the German is the plaintiff the British Consul tries the case. In cases of doubtful interpretation the custom in the Concession would doubtless be examined as a basis for a decision. Such doubtful cases would not be more difficult to settle than cases in which a Chinaman might take proceedings anywhere in China against a British or German subject for non-fulfilment of a contract. In all respects, besides the condition of the lease, German law would presumably govern cases of German land- holders in British Concessions having proceedings brought against them by the British Concession authorities.
Dr. Kriege now suggests an arrangement under which Germany would consent to a similar exercise of British jurisdiction over a German landholder in return for our agreeing to their view as regards British landholders in German Concessions. The arguments for Dr. Kriege's proposal, from our point of view, are----
1. That it will bring far more Germans under British jurisdiction than British
under German, as British Concessions are much more numerous.
2. That it will effect some sort of settlement of a difficult question.
The arguments against are---
1. That there is no gain in extending our jurisdiction over German subjects in China.
What we want is for British land lots to be taken up and the British Concession to be prosperous; we do not want an imperium in imperio in China.
2. That the idea of surrendering, even in principle, any part of our jurisdiction to German authorities may cause an outery among the British community in China, as well as a diminution of the old-established British prestige before the Chinese.
3. That it will make it difficult for us to assert our rights in Manchuria and
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