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This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
[B]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
580
[April 13.]
SECTION 1. 0.0.
[13300]
No. 1.
Question asked in the House of Commons, April 13, 1910.
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RESP Ice 28 PK K
Earl Winterton,-To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is the fact that an agreement or understanding between Great Britain and Germany regarding German interests in the Shantung Peninsula and British interests in the Yang-tsze was last year, on the demand of Germany, considered obsolete or ineffective; and whether, in consequence, Germany successfully claimed a right to participate in the Hankow-Canton Railway project.
Answer by Mr. McKinnon Wood (for Sir Edward Grey).
An agreement was come to by British and German financial groups in 1898 in regard to railways in the two districts in question. It was not a formal undertaking by the two Governments. That agreement has not been cancelled, but the German group contended with the British group that it did not apply in the case of the loan for the Hankow-Canton and Hankow-Szechuan Railways, and it was not considered advisable to contest this claim, which would only have led to keen competition between the different groups.
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