C.0.
17226
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
(14576)
No. 1.
RECE Rege 21 MAY 09
[April 19.]
386
SECTION 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received April 19.)
(No. 138.)
Peking, March 31, 1909. Sir,
THE Grand Secretary Na-tung was taken suddenly ill on the day after the interview reported in my despatch No. 98 of the 3rd March, and this and the death of his mother a few days later have prevented me from seeing him again regarding the affairs of the Shanghae-Ningpo Railway. Though absolved by Decree from the obligation of going into retirement for the usual twenty-seven months, he cannot in any case transact official business until a hundred days after his mother's death, and as my information from Shanghae indicated that matters were getting worse on the railway, I addressed a note to Prince Ching on the 29th March, copy of which I have the honour to inclose. In this I have directly requested his Highness to bring the contents of my Memorandum of the 2nd March "before the Grand Council, and indirectly suggested that the assistance of the Prince Regent himself should be invoked to put an end to the irregular proceedings of the provincial bureaux. These are unusual steps, and I was quite prepared to hear objections against them, but yesterday at the Wai-wu Pu I was informed that copies of my note and Memorandum would be communicated to Prince Ch'ing and the Grand Secretary Shih-hsu, both of whom are in the Grand Council, and his Excellency Liang Tun-yen appeared to me to favour, rather than object to, the reference to the Prince Regent and Grand Council.
I have, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Your Highness,
Sir J. Jordan to Prince Ch'ing.
Peking, March 29, 1909. AT an interview on the 2nd March I discussed the affairs of the Shanghae- Ningpo Railway with the Grand Secretary, Na-tung, to whom I handed a Memorandum on the subject. I had specially arranged to see his Excellency for the reasons that he is a member of the Grand Council, and that the question under discussion had reached such a stage after months of protest that nothing short of the direct intervention of the Central Government could offer any solution of the difficulties. The Grand Secretary showed by his remarks to me that he thoroughly understood the situation, and the necessity of remedial measures, and said that he would consult with the President of the Board of Communications personally, and see what could be done. Learning that the affairs of the Board of Communications were being carefully inquired into at the moment by the commands of His Imperial Highness the Prince Regent, I further requested his Excellency to bring this question of the Shanghae- Ningpo Railway directly to His Highness' attention, and I gather that he would do so as soon as he had had his interview with the President. Unfortunately the Grand Secretary was stricken with illness the next day, and later he was afflicted, to my profound regret, with a great bereavement, which has removed him temporarily from active work at the Wai-wu Pu. However, further information lately received from Shanghae indicates that the provincial bureaux are displaying every day a more open disregard of the obligations of the Loan Agreement, and I feel that no other course is left but to request your Highness to be so good as to bring the contents of my Memorandum of the 2nd March to the notice of the Grand Council I am confident that the sense of justice of His Imperial Highness the Prince Regent, will secure that suitable commands are issued to the provincial authorities of Kiangsu and Chekiang for a faithful observance of an Agreement which was concluded by a British Corporation with the Central Government of China over a year ago, and the terms of which have, up to the present, been persistently ignored.
I avail, &c. (Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
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