456
9850
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get is that it is open to them to remove their establishment to Dairen, a course which is obviously impossible, in view of the large amount of capital which they have sunk in Newchwang. The agent therefore asks the assistance of the chamber of commerce at making representations in the proper quarter in order that pressure may be brought upon the railway company so as to induce them to place their rates from Dairen and Newchwang on a mutually fairer basis than is at present the case.
The chamber have accordingly brought the matter in their turn to the notice of the cousular body, by which it has been decided that each consul shall address his Minister separately on the question, my Japanese colleague objecting to a joint despatch to the doyen at Peking.
The Asiatic Petroleum Company's agent puts his case so clearly that comment on it on my part is scarcely necessary. As it may, however, be argued that, as long as the railway freight from Dairen to the interior is not lower than from Newchwang, the latter port is not at any actual disadvantage, even though deprived of the benefit which its closer proximity to the trade centres of Manchuria should give it, I venture to point out that sea freights to Newchwang are higher than to Dairen, and that for large steamers expenses here are considerably greater than they are at Dairen, so that the discrimination in the railway rates is without question a very severe handicap to the trade of this port. The importance of the question to the Asiatic Petroleum Company has been accentuated too by the fact that, tempted by the favourable freights offered and by the promises of the railway administration, the Standard Oil Company, their chief rivals, propose to make Dairen their head-quarters, and to erect there, instead of at Newchwang, the tanks they have in contemplation.
I also enclose a copy of the letter addressed by the chamber of commerce to the senior consul, transmitting the Asiatic Petroleum Company's complaint.
Sir,
I have, &c.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
F. E. WILKINSON.
Newchwang Chamber of Commerce to Mr. Beltchenko.
Newchwang, January 29, 1910.
I BEG to bring to the notice of your honourable body the disadvantage at which Newchwang is placed vis-à-vis Darien, in the matter of freight rates on certain commodities by the South Manchurian Railway.
In their latest freight tariff dated the 3rd November, 1909, equal rates are charged from both ports to the principal trade centres of Manchuria, although the distance from Dairen is 137 miles greater than from Newchwang.
As an illustration of the way in which this discrimination on the part of the South Manchurian Railway Company is affecting an important branch of Newchwang trade, I beg to lay before your honourable body the enclosed copy of a communication, dated the 28th instant, which this chamber has received from the Newchwang agent of the Asiatic Petroleum Company (Limited), London, in which it is pointed out as an instance that on its oil dispatched from Newchwang to Mukden the Company is most inequitably compelled to pay more than twice the freight per mile than is paid on oil from Dairen.
This chamber considers most unsatisfactory the verbal reply made by the South Manchurian Railway to the Asiatic Petroleum Company's representations, amounting as it virtually does to an admission that the rate basis has been fixed with the object of diverting trade from Newchwang to Dairen, and this chamber would ask your honourable body to take up this question with the object of securing, by fair and proportionate adjustment of mileage rates, that equality of treatment which the trade of Newchwang has the right to enjoy.
I have, &c.
W. F. HARLEY, Chairman.
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Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Asiatic Petroleum Company to Newchwang Chamber of Commerce.
REP Real 4 APR 10
Sir,
Newchwang, January 28, 1919. WE should like to draw your attention to the baggage and freight tariff of the South Manchurian Railway Company, published on the 3rd November, 1909, in which, on p. 33, under the heading Specific Freight Rates," there appears the following:-
་
The car-load rate on kerosene oil
"(V) Freight Rates on Kerosene Oil. from Dairen and Yingkou only shall be as follows :---"
Following this the rates are given per ton to Liaoyang, Mukden, Tiehling, Kaiyuan, Changtu, Ssupingchieh, Kungehuling, Changchun, and Kwanchengtau.
The list comprises all the important towns in Manchuria, and the distance from Dairen to any of these places is 137 miles greater than the distance from Newchwang (Yingkou), In making the freight rates the same from Dairen as from Newchwang the railway company are undertaking the haulage over this distance of 137 miles for nothing. To Mukden, for instance, the largest distributing centre in Manchuria, the distance from Dairen is 2487 miles, while from Newchwang it is only 111 miles, so that on kerosene oil sent from here we are paying more than twice the rate of freight per mile than is paid on oil from Dairen.
Such discrimination is greatly to the detriment of the trade of this port, and entirely obviates the advantage which its closer proximity to the trade centres of Manchuria should give it; and at the same time it gives to companies establishing themselves at Dairen an unfair advantage over companies established at Newchwang.
We have gone to the expense of erecting an oil-tank installation at Newchwang and have made this port our head-quarters for Manchuria, relying on the principle of "equal opportunity" which Japan has so many times expressed a willingness and desire to maintain in this country. We are of opinion that the present schedule of rates is in contravention of that principle, and we have approached the South Manchurian Railway Company and put this view before them, but we are met only with the reply that it is quite open to us to establish our head-quarters in Dairen instead of in Newchwang. It is, however, obviously impossible, when capital has been sunk on tanks and buildings, &c., in one port, to transfer such tanks and buildings to another port without great loss; and we are thus hampered in every way in our endeavours to work the trade of Manchuria through Newchwang.
It is because we consider that the rates as published, not only on kerosene oil but on all goods, are calculated seriously to hamper the trade of Newchwang and to give a great and unfair advantage to the trade of Dairen that we wish to lodge this protest with you, and to ask the assistance of the chamber of commerce in making represen- tations in the proper quarter, in order that some influence may be brought to bear upon the railway company so as to induce them to place their rates from the two ports on a mutually fairer basis than is at present the case.
We beg, &c. For the Asiatic Petroleum Company (Limited),
G. S. HAWKINS.