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quite clear that the power of administering the Government in the district of Harbin ought certainly not to be seized on by the Chinese Eastern Railway Company.
The Chinese Government now wishes to preserve the sovereign rights to which she is entitled, and at the same time to safeguard the proper interests of the various nations which trade with China. The Board therefore has the honour to communicate this special circular, and it is hoped that the various Governments will give it their attention.
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Willis to Sir J. Jordan.
(No. 60. Confidential.) Sir,
Mukden, November 29, 1909.
I HAVE the honour to submit the following report on the present state of the Harbin Railway settlement question, which has been gathered from conversations I held with the Chinese and Russian authorities and my foreign colleagues during my recent visit to Harbin,
After the signature of the agreement between the Russian and Chinese Govern- ments at Peking in May last it seems that three leading Chinese residents, members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, were nominated by Mr. Alfred Sze, the acting taotai, to join the Russian town council of six members, which had been elected under the original regulations of December 1907. The body thus constituted has been functioning as a town council, and has further been engaged in drafting improved regulations, which, I understand, are ultimately to be submitted to the taotai and the director of the railway.
With the exception of German subjects and protégés, American citizens, and British subjects, the remaining foreign residents appear to be paying the municipal taxes demanded by this body, though there have been several disputes as to the rate of assessment. There are about sixty resident Germans, no Americans, and as yet only one British firm has permanently established itself.
I have not yet been able to obtain figures, but I understand the total assessment is about 400,000 roubles per annum, of which about 20 per cent. is payable by the Chinese population, and not more than 10,000 roubles at the outside would be leviable from residents other than Russian or Chinese. It is therefore obvious that under present conditions it is quite out of the question that foreign residents could under any system of voting procure the election of a representative on the council, and although Mr. Sze expressed himself as desirous of introducing some scheme of representation by nationality, with the view of strengthening the hands of the Chinese, I do not see how it would be possible to formulate any practical system which would be effective in curtailing the power of the Russian majority.
My German colleague at Mukden has, I understand, put forward a suggestion that one of the foreign consuls, elected by his colleagues, should be associated with the taotai and the director of the railway in their position as supervisors of the assembly and council. Even supposing this were agreed to, it would seem impossible to secure the nomination of a representative satisfactory to all parties, as the majority of the consular representatives apparently accept the Russian position.
As far as I can judge the only practical method of safeguarding the interests of the foreign minorities, is by strictly defining the scope of the town council's functions and by bringing them, if possible, under the control of an International Court of Arbitration.
There does not, however, appear to be any desire on the part of either Russian or Chinese to enter into the detailed regulations concerning municipalities and police as provided for in article 17 of the May agreement.
Mr. Sze, when pressed for an answer as to when negotiations were likely to be entered upon, stated that the Wai-wu Pu considered that the preliminary steps should be taken at Harbin, but that he had made no proposals as yet for the reason that, as the American Government had objected to the principle of the May agreement, he saw no use in wasting time elaborating details. It appeared to me that although Mr. Sze realises that the Chinese will be in a position of perpetual minority vis-à-vis the Russians, he is at the same time strongly opposed to any scheme of international government within the Harbin railway area.
In my interview with General Horwath, at which Mr. Poppe was also present,
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the general stated at the outset that the effect of the opposition of foreign Govern- ments to the Russian contention in the railway areas would be to compel Russia to come to an arrangement with Japan. The Japanese Government, he said, held strongly to the contention originally maintained by the Russian Government under clause 6 of the agreement of September 1596 for the constraction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and the obvious inference from General Horwath's remarks seems that the Russian Government were contemplating, in the event of effecting an arrangement with Japan, the denunciation of the May agreement and a return to their former position.
I stated in reply that the position of His Majesty's Government, as far as I understood it, was simply that regulations could not be enforced against British subjects unless such regulations had received the approval of their authorities; that with the development of the bean export to Europe it seemed likely that our commercial interests in North Manchuria would develop to the mutual advantage of our trade and of the interests of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and that it was there- fore my sincere wish to arrive at an understanding as to the conditions under which British subjects might reside in the railway areas, I said that I could see nothing unfriendly to Russia or unreasonable in asking to be consulted as to rules which were to be enforced against our subjects.
General Horwath then said that he was willing to give every facility to British traders, and added, as I have reported in my immediately preceding despatch, that be had agreed to a through tariff for cargo shipped from Ch'ang Ch'un to Vladivostock and was prepared to lease land to British subjects at points along the line, if only I would countersign the lease.
After stating my objections to this course, I asked whether any date had been fixed for commencing the detailed negotiations under article 17 of the May agreement, to which General Horwath replied that they were waiting for the proposal to come from the Chinese. He stated that though the Chinese Government had made use of the opposition of the foreign Governments to obtain for themselves a share in the government of the railway settlements, they were not willing to go far in the direction of internationalisation.
The interview concluded by General Horwath's complaining that the representations of the foreign Governments against the railway agreements were of far too genera la nature, and he asked me if I would provide him confidentially with a detailed criticism of the original municipal regulations drawn up in 1907. If I would do this, he said he would try and meet the views of His Majesty's Government, and attempt to embody them either in municipal regulations or in a subsequent agreement with the Chinese Government. I replied that at present my instructions confined me to watching any negotiations that might take place at Harbin between the Russian and Chinese Governments in pursuance of article 17 of the May agreement, but that if he would supply me with a translation of the regulations in question, I would ascertain your views as to his proposal.
Mr. Poppe then promised that he would send me the regulations in due course. It seems to me that leaving out of sight for the moment the question of the exercise of administrative rights by the railway company, a visit to Harbin cannot fail to impress one with the great strength of the company's position for all practical purposes. They are at any rate the land-owners of all desirable land in the vicinity of the railway, and if the Chinese Government will not contest their title, it seems difficult for any foreign Government to do so. Further, if the position taken up by the American Government, viz., that the May agreement conflicts with their treaty rights, be rigidly adhered to, the Chinese Eastern Railway, by ceding a small portion of their ground for an international settlement, could apparently strengthen their hands in the remainder of their railway town.
I am not sure whether the proposal to convert some 6,000 "mou" of waste land adjacent to the Chinese town of Fu Chia Lien into an international settlement has as yet been made, as has been reported in the European press; should this be accepted the situation at Harbin will be almost identically the same as now maintains at Antung, as If an international reported in my despatch No. 27 of the 10th August last. settlement be brought into existence, as has been the case at Antung, amply sufficient for present needs, it seems to make it more difficult than before to demand conditions in areas ouside such settlement. The British merchant class at Harbin, of course, wish to reside in the present town, where they reap the advantages of the capital expended by the railway company, and are by no means adverse to paying for this privilege. All they wish to secure is that taxes
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