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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Govern
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL,
[4354]
No. 1.
341
5654
[February 7.] REC SECTION 24 FEB 10
(No. 27.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received February 7.)
Peking, January 21, 1910. I HAVE the honour to enclose, for your information, translations of telegrams which have passed between the Governor of Hunan and the Constitutional Government Committee bearing on the relations between the Hunan Assembly and the provincial and central Governments. The notables who control the assembly have always exhibited considerable independence, and there is nothing very unusual in their attitude on this question of foreign agreements involving Hunan interests. The foreign agreement inmediately in view, however, is probably the Hankow-Canton Railway Loan contract, and the antagonism of the Hunan gentry, which seems to be increasing, may soon be the source of another complication.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Constitutional Reform: Powers of Provincial Assemblies.
[Translation giving gist and text respectively of a telegram from the Governor of Human to the Constitutional Reform Committee and of its reply. ("Official Gazette of January 10, 1910).]
(1)
Governor of Hunan to Constitutional Government Committee.
(Telegraphic.) (Précis Translation.)
THE provincial assembly have raised the following question for my considera- tion: A clause in the regulations governing the debates of the Hunan Provincial Assembly provides that: "In all cases where the governor proposes to contract an agreement with any foreign nation involving the interests of Hunan, or in case of the issue of rules or regulations of provincial or local interest, they shall first form the subject of debate on the part of the provincial assembly." This clause virtually amounts to interference with foreign relations, and is not to be found in the similar regulations governing the debates of the provincial assemblies of Chekiang, Kiangnan, or Hupei.
In the reply issued by your committee to the memorial of Yu Shih-mei, constitu- tional reform commissioner, defining the duties and powers of provincial assemblies, it was laid down that their scope did not include the discussion of military and judicial matters or of those involving foreign relations--a direct contradiction, in fact, of the above-quoted regulation of the Hunan Provincial Assembly.
I have consequently, but in vain, attempted to deny the contention of the provincial assembly that they are entitled to debate on the subjects with which the regulation in question deals, and I have the honour to submit the question for your ruling for my future guidance.
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