:
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
6
the loan agreement to secure, and, in order that the interests of the bondholder in this respect may be duly protected, it will be necessary that this clause shall not preclude Mr. Bellingham from reporting to the corporation upon any matters on which they are entitled to information. I have therefore to suggest that the words in clause 6, "and he is forbidden to give any information to outsiders or disclose anything regarding railway business to other people," should be replaced by the following, "subject always to the duties and responsibilities of the engineer-in-chief and general manager to the bondholders as implied by the terms of the loan agreement of the 10th October, 1898, and of the protocol of the 29th April, 1902, and the said Mr. Bellingham shall not divulge private information regarding the affairs of the railway to any party or parties outside the railway administration."
The corporation naturally considers it an essential consideration of their assent to Mr. Bellingham's appointment that his relations and responsibilities towards them should be clearly expressed in his agreement in order to avoid future misunder standings, and I have therefore to ask that your Excellency may be so good as to give these proposed amendments your careful consideration.
I am handing a copy of this letter to Mr. Bellingham in order that he may be informed of the objections of the corporation to his agreement.
I have, &c.
(Translation.)
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Liang Shih-yi to Mr. Hillier.
E. G. HILLIER.
October 9, 1909,
IN reply to your letter stating the objections of the British and Chinese Corporation to the agreement signed between the director-general and Mr. Bellingham, in the 6th article of the loan agreement for the Shanhaikuan Railway, signed between the late director-general and the British and Chinese Corporation on the 25th day of the 6th month of the 24th year of Kuang Hsü, it is provided that, "in the event of its being necessary to appoint a new engineer-in-chief, the appointment shall be made iu consultation with the British and Chinese Corporation." On the 14th of the 5th month you wrote to the director-general stating your concurrence with the appointment of Mr. Bellingham. The loan agreement in question does not state that the approval of the British and Chinese Corporation is necessary in the case of agreements for the hiring of workmen. The director-general's opiniou is that, were it not called for by the loan agreement of the 25th of the Sth month of the 24th year of Kuang Hsü, and by the regulations of the 22nd of the 3rd month of the 28th year of Kuang Hsu for the handing back of the line, the Peking-Mukden Railway would probably not require this engineer-in-chief and general manager, and the fact of his having now been appointed is in itself a recognition of the loan agreement and of the regulations for the handing back of the line. Why, then, should it be necessary to state this specifically in the agreement of a hired workman ?
With regard to the second paragraph of your letter, referring to the distribution of the powers of railway officers, this is a matter which comes under the control of the director-general alone, and therefore need not be closely gone into.
With regard to the third paragraph of your letter, you appear to be under a misapprehension, since the agreement of the engineer-in-chief of the Shanghae- Nanking Railway was formerly worded in the same manner,
LIANG SHIH-YI,
[B]
39215
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Ra 2 UEC 09
[November 16.]
SECTION 1.
No. 1.
[41686]
Sir Edward Grey to Mr. Whitelaw Reid,
Your Excellency,
Foreign Office, November 16, 1909. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 12th instant, stating that the settlement of the Hukuan loan proposed by Mr. Straight is acceptable to the German Government, provided that the American engineer for the Hsiang-yang- Kuangshui section will not interfere with the judgment of the German chief engineer in respect of the purchase of materials, and expressing the hope that as a settlement on these lines is understood to be in harmony with the proposals of His Majesty's Government, as stated in the Foreign Office memorandum of the 20th ultimo, the latter will at once cause instructions to be issued to the Hong Kong and Shanghae Banking Corporation to sign the agreement.
Your Excellency is correct in assuming that such an arrangement would be agreeable to His Majesty's Government, viz., that an American engineer should be appointed for the Hsiang-yaug-Kuangshui section of 200 kilom, to co-operate with and to be subject to the general direction of the German chief engineer, and that by private arrangeinent the Szechuan line is to be divided as follows:-
First section of 500 kilog. Second
"}
Third
600 500
31
>T
وو
French chief engineer. American British
25
J5
I have, however, the honour to observe that the above information does not appear to be in accordance with the views of the Imperial German Government as contained in a memorandum communicated to this department on the 5th instant. trust, however, that the statement furnished by your Excellency is of more recent date, as the arrangement mentioned by you is one to which His Majesty's Government would have no difficulty in adhering. The whole question as between the four groups would then be considered as settled, after which the representatives of the four Powers concerned at Peking would be in a position to approach the Chinese Government with a view to securing the promise of the Szechuan extension.
[2486 q-
-1]
I have, &c.
E. GREY.
0
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