[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
ed.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[22681]
37
C.O. 123203
[June 23.]
SECTION 1.
No. 1.
Sir,
Foreign Office to Messrs. Pauling and Co.
Foreign Office, June 23, 1909. I AM directed by Secretary Sir Edward Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, on the subject of the proposed Chinchow-Taonanfu Railway. I am to observe that the fear expressed in the second paragraph of your letter, that "His Majesty's Government have decided to adhere to the principle that the official support of the Foreign Office must be confined to the operations of the British and Chinese Corporation and its associates," is devoid of foundation, and to inform you that in the course of the recent negotiations as to the Hankow-Canton and Hankow- Szechuan Railways the agent of the British group informed the agents of the French and German groups, at the instance of Sir E. Grey, that the British group must not count upon receiving the exclusive support of the British Government in regard to future business.
You have already been informed on more than one occasion that if you desire the support of His Majesty's Government for any scheme for which their support is not already pledged to other parties, the Secretary of State will be happy to consider the matter and afford you such support as he properly can. To this statement Sir E. Grey
adheres.
It is further stated in your letter that the absence of official support to your firm has had the effect of encouraging the Japanese to follow an aggressive policy, and that the Japanese Minister now goes so far as to inform the Chinese Government that Japan will not allow any extension of the Chinese Imperial Northern Railways to be constructed in a northerly direction, whether parallel or not to the South Manchurian line. His Majesty's Minister, who was informed by telegraph of this statement, has now replied saying that your agent in China has not applied to him for support, and that he has no information as to the alleged attitude of the Japanese Minister.
In conclusion I am to inform you that Sir E. Grey will be happy to see Mr. George Pauling on the subject of this correspondence, if that gentleman will communicate the date of his return to London to this Department, when an appointment will be made.
[2317 -1)
I am, &c.
W. LANGLEY.