445
7
to be expected that the Chinese will raise objections and
will not be able to divest themselves of their chronic
suspicion. In such circumstances the Colony will of course
look to His Majesty's Minister at Peking for diplomatic
assistance, the more so that both the Wuchang and the
Kowloon-Canton Railway Loan Agreements were negotiated
with the assistance of His Majesty's Minister, and thus
carry a more or less international sanction.
The time has not yet arrived to
anticipate the nature of the assistance required, but I
have thought it opportune to recall to Your Lordship's
memory before the final conclusion of the Canton-Hankow
Loan negotiations, and when submitting this draft Working
Agreement, the claims which this Colony as distinct from
the Financiers interested in that Loan has on the
Chinese Governmert in connection with the original
。
37732
"Wuchang Loan"
3.
The preference to be granted to
a British Loan for construction and to British Engineers
and material is, as Your Lordship will recollect, based
upon a letter written to Mr. Consul-General Fraser by His
Excellency Chang Chi-tung on the 9th. September, 1905, as
a return for the action of this Colony in advancing a sum
0*