[B
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
со
20
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[29458]
No. 1.
[August 15.2913
SECTION
REPR 101
+
(No. 243.) Sir,
Mr. Max Müller to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received August 15.)
IN the course of a recent interview with the Governor of Shantung, Mr. Wilton,
Peking, July 26, 1910. His Majesty's consul at Chinan-fu, elicited some interesting information on the subject of railway development in that province.
The project of a line from Chefoo to Weihsien, thence to Ichow-fu, in Southern Shantung, to connect ultimately with the Tien-tsin-Pukow main line, had, said the governor, been abandoned. This was partly due to the physical difficulties of the country through which the line would run, partly on account of the possibility of political complications with Germany.
The railway from Chefoo to Weihsien would be built in any case, but, owing to lack of funds, there was little likelihood of a start being made this year.
The line which the governor hoped to take in hand at once was one from Kiaochow or Kaomi (on the Tsingtao-Chinan-fu Railway) to Yichow-fu, for eventual extension to the Tien-tsin-Pukow line via Yihsien. This line was now being surveyed, and work would be commenced early next year, in accordance with a promise made to the German authorities that the line would be constructed by the end of 1914. It will be remembered that a German-built railway from Kiaoehow to Yichow-fn formed part of the Kiaochow Agreement of 1898, and although I was not aware that any limit of time had been set for the completion of this line, it is quite possible that the Germans made some stipulation to that effect when they agreed, at the time of the Tien-tsin- Pukow negotiations, to waive their right to construct the line themselves.
The governor's statements are confirmed by reports from His Majesty's consul at Chefoo, and by information placed at my disposal by the Peking agent of the British and Chinese Corporation.
As regards the Chefoo-Weihsien line, Mr. Mortimore reports that the scheme is making no progress whatever, as the people of Shantung are either unable or unwilling to provide the necessary capital, some 10,000,000 dollars (840,0001). They might, he thinks, agree to a foreign loan, but under the Kiaochow Agreement they are bound to apply in the first instance to Germany, and, as you are aware, there has lately been a recrudescence of anti-German feeling in the province.
Mr. Mayers informs me that his corporation are prepared to finance this line, and he seems to think that the Germans would not raise any serious objections were the connection between Kianebow and the Tien-tsin-Pukow line, above referred to, assured.
As regards the construction of the Kiaochow-Yichow line, Mr. Mayers thinks there is every likelihood of an early start being made, as labour and materials can now be diverted from the completed section (Tien-tsin to Techow) of the Tien-tsin-Pukow line. He says that, to the best of his knowledge, there is no truth in the report, published in the Shanghai newspapers, that the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank have undertaken to finance the Kiaochow--Yichow-fu line.
A disturbing factor in the situation, as far as the German programme of railway development in Shantung is concerned, is the movement now on foot to construct à Chinese line from Kaifeng-fu, the capital of Honan, to Haichow, a seaport on the north-eastern coast of Kiangsu just south of the Shantung border. A writer in the June number of the "Far Eastern Review," a monthly magazine published in Manila and Shanghai, which is usually well informed on Chinese railway affairs, gives some interesting particulars regarding this project. He states that the Board of Communica- tions, after considering various alternative routes, have finally decided on the construction of a line from Kaifeng-fu to Haichow via Hsuehow (on the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway) and Tsingkiangpoo, on the Grand Canal. A glance at the railway map of China, published by the War Office, will show the importance, both from a political and a commercial point of view, of the proposed line which, it will be observed, forms the
[2875 p-2]