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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
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AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
170
[May 18.118595 SECTION 2
Rrof18 JUN 10
([17713]
No. 1.
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received May 18.)
(No. 123.) Sir,
Peking, April 25, 1910. IN continuation of my despatch No. 87 of the 25th March, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a summary of the chief items of interest which have appeared in the Peking press during the month of March, prepared by Mr. Phillips, Assistant Chinese Secretary at this legation.
I have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Monthly Summary of the Peking Press, March 1910.
Railways.
Hupei. As a result of the representations of the provincial delegates, two officials were sent by the Board of Communications to enquire into the question of what funds were really in hand. They have not yet returned, but according to a private telegram received from the provinces, the "Shuntien Shih Pao " ("Peking Times") asserts that out of a total sum of 25,000,000 dollars required for the two railways, 7,000,000 dollar shares have been taken up, and this, it is urged, is quite sufficient guarantee that the whole sum will be subscribed by the time it is wanted.
Another paper reports that great indignation exists both in Hupei and among the Hupei delegates in Peking at the continued opposition of the Board of Communications to construction by the provinces. The immediate cause is an unsuccessful interview recently held between the delegates and the heads of the board.
The agitation against the final conclusion of the Hukwang Railways Loan Agreement has redoubled during the month, and the native newspapers are full of telegrams from the Railways Aid Society at Hankow, the Hupei Provincial Assembly, and the Hupei schools urging the Board of Communications to cancel the preliminary agreement. It is further reported that on the 22nd March one of the Hupei delegates wept publicly outside Hsü Shib-ch'ang's (President of the Board) private residence and refused to go away. The Board of Communications finally yielded to popular clamour and issued a somewhat vague reply to the petition of the Hupei delegates, authorising them to form a company for the collection of shares for the construction of the Hankow-Canton Railway.
Of late the press have been denouncing Liang Shih-yi, of the Board of Communica- tions, as being chiefly responsible for the opposition offered by the board to the construction of the Hupei railways by the provinces, and rumours are rife as to his impending downfall.
Tien-tsin-Pukow.It is stated that the estimated amount required for the completion of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway is 9,000,000 taels; that the balance remaining from the British loan for the southern section is even less than 400,000 taels, and the general managers of the two sections therefore propose to request the director-general to borrow the sum required from Anglo-French sources.
It is also rumoured that Lu Tsu-hua, the General Manager of the Northern Section, has been accused of extensive peculations, and has been summoned before the Board of Communications, where an enquiry is being held into his conduct.
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Financial Reform.
In the Gazette of the 30th March the Board of Finance published a set of rules for the guidance of the various offices in the capital, and of the provincial
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