[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
2
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Agreement between the Board for the opening of the Mart of Changchun on the one part and the British firm of Samuel McGregor and Co. on the other part, for the purchase of beans (nine clauses).
(Confidential.)
THE British firm of Messrs. Samuel McGregor and Co. has contracted with the board for the opening of the mart at Changchun for the purchase of 40,000 English tons of Manchurian beans of good quality (each English ton to be, according to Chinese official weight, 1,680 catties, the total weight thus amounting to 67,200,000 Chinese catties).
The price has been mutually agreed upon at Shanghae "kuei ping" silver of good touch, either Shanghae sycee or bars, 1 t. 54 c. per 100 catties, the total price for the 40,000 tons thus amounting to 1,031,880 taels.
2. One week after the signing of this contract Messrs. Samuel McGregor and Co. will pay over one-tenth of the total purchase money as bargain money, i.e., Shanghae "kuei ping" silver 103,488 taels. This amount is payable at Changchun either in sycee or bars of good touch, and on its receipt the board will render an acknowledgment sealed with the official seal of the taotai,
3. The beans will be delivered from the commencement of the 9th Chinese moon of the present year up to the end of the 1st Chinese moon of next year in instalments, and it is agreed that receipts must be mutually given for the receipt of beans or money respectively. Such receipts must be sealed and must also bear the signature of the agents of the parties concerned.
4. Of the total amount of 40,000 tons, 25,000 tons are to be delivered in the Changchun-Kungchuling district, and 15,000 tons in the district to the south of Shwang-cheng Pu. In the event of the firm of Messrs. McGregor and Co. having land or godowns in the neighbourhood of the stations, the beans must be delivered at such places.,
5. The board must give the firm one week's notice of the intended delivery of cargo, so that they may make the necessary arrangements for the payment against the delivery. After the firm has taken over the beans, all charges for loading, freight, godown hire, &c., are the business of the firm and have nothing to do with the board for the opening of the mart.
6. All moneys are to be paid at Changchun in Shanghae silver sycce or silver bars of good touch; no portion of the amount can be paid in other kinds of money or by cheque or draft. The cost of bringing the money to Changchun must be borne by the firm, and is no concern of the board.
7. If the firm are unable to find the money for the payment of the beans con- tracted for by the due date, or if there is a delay, the board shall retain the bargain On the other hand, if the money as a fine for the non-fulfilment of the contract. board has not completed the delivery of the quantity of beans stipulated for by the end of the first moon of the coming year, the firm themselves will purchase in the open market the shortage so as to make up the 40,000 tons, and the board will pay any difference caused by a higher price, so that the firm may not suffer any loss. But the firm must produce clear proof (of the price paid) before receiving compensa- tion from the board.
8. The agents for the firm and of the board for receiving beans and money respectively, shall have the power of issuing and signing receipts. As the matter is of great importance, the names of the said agents and specimen copies of their signatures must be mutually notified beforehand.
9. Two copies of this agreement, both in Chinese and in English, will be provided. for signature. The English copy is a translation of the Chinese text, so that there may be no mistakes in the meaning of this agreement. Should, however, horcafter any disagreement arise, the Chinese text is to be taken as authoritative.
After the money has been paid and the cargo delivered in full, all receipts for. beans and money should be mutually exchanged and cancelled, and this agreement. being finished, must also be cancelled.
The above provisions having been mutually agreed upon, must be adhered to. In witness whereof, we have this day signed and sealed the above contract.
[B]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[38583]
No. 1.
36692 PE 5 Igral 5 NOVOU
[October 20.]
SECTION 1.
18
Memorandum respecting Hukuang Loan.—(Communicated to the United States Ambassador October 20, 1909.)
THE United States Government may be assured that the delay in reaching a settlement in the matter of the international railway loan in China is not due to any action on the part of Great Britain.
The case stands as follows :------
An inter-group agreement, arrived at in Berlin on the 14th May, 1909, placed the British in possession, as regards engineers, of the whole of the Hankow-Canton and of one-third of the Hankow-Szechuan Railway, as against one-third of the latter line only to the Germans and French respectively.
Subsequently the American group claimed to participate in the loan for the Hankow-Szechuan line, and negotiations were entered into with a view to meeting their wishes.
Early last month negotiations appeared to have reached something like a dead- lock in connection with the appointment of engineers to supervise the construction of the different sections. The only equitable solution appeared to His Majesty's Govern- ment to be that each of the three groups originally concerned should make some sacrifice in order to allow of American participation. The British group were fully prepared to do this. His Majesty's Government accordingly suggested to the French and German Governments that the whole of the Szechuan line from Hankow, with any branch lines constructed, should, as nearly as practicable, be divided equally among the four Powers as regards engineers, as well as in other respects, and that the agreement with the Chinese should be modified so as to permit of the Americans signing it. His Majesty's Government further proposed that, should the Chinese Government object to making any definite arrangement at present for the construction of the Szechuan line beyond the Hupeh section, China should undertake, as regards such extension, i.e., beyong Ichang, to apply to the four Powers for the capital required.
Before the advent of the American group it had been agreed that the Hupeh section of the Szechuan line should fall to the German group, while the extension beyond was to be shared between the British and French groups. The foregoing proposal, while entailing a diminution of the German section, likewise involved a decrease in the British and French shares of the extension, and provided, as far as His Majesty's Government could see, the only fair arrangement possible.
The German group, however, objected on the ground that the proposal would curtail in a one-sided manner their rights acquired by the agreement of the 14th May, and that by the preliminary contract with China of the 7th March of this year the German group were to have the engineer for the Hankow-Canton line, and that they only gave up this right on the condition that the engineer for the section of the 800 kilom. of the Hankow-Szechuan line already granted by the Chinese Government should be their nominee. In these circumstances the English proposal appeared to them to be unfair, and incompatible with the agreement of the 14th May, since it obliged them to give up acquired rights on the first 800 kilom, of the Hankow- Szechuan line, while the English group retained without any curtailment their rights on the Hankow-Canton Railway. According to the views of the German financiers, it would be only fair that, should the Hankow-Szechuan line be divided into four, the Hankow-Canton line should also be divided.
On the other hand, it appears to His Majesty's Government that, under the arrangement proposed by the Germans, the British group would be making a double sacrifice, one on the Hankow-Szechuan line and one on the Canton-Hankow line, while the Germans would be compensated for the sacrifice they made on the Hankow- Szechuan line by what they gained at the British expense on the Canton-Hankow line, and would thus be making no sacrifice at all.
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