[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
75
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[30316]
No. 1.
[August 20.]
2.647
SECTION 1.
REC
Reos 16 SEP 10'
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received August 20.)
Sir,
Downing Street, August 19, 1910. I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, with reference to a letter from the Colonial Office of the 3rd August, copy of despatch and enclosure from the officer administering the Government of Hong Kong on the subject of the negotiations for the joint working agreement for the Kowloon-Canton Railway.
FRANCIS J. S. HOPWOOD.
I am, &c.
>
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Sir F. May to the Earl of Crewe.
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Government House, Hong Kong, July 9, 1910. WITH reference to my confidential despatch of the 23rd ultimo, I have the honour to transmit the enclosed minutes of a conversation held on the oth instant, by Mr. E. S. Lindsey and Mr. C, Clementi with Mr. Wei Han, concerning the proposed working agreement for the Canton-Kowloon Railway.
2. Your Lordship will observe that, under instructions from the Board of Communications at Peking, Mr. Wei Han professes himself unable to negotiate on the basis of any form of joint management. I am having prepared a memorandum to send to His Majesty's chargé d'affaires which will enable him to press the arguments of this Government for joint management on the Board of Communications, and I
shall send your Lordship a copy of what I write to Mr. Max Müller,
In the meantime I telegraphed to your Lordship this day as follows:--
"Wei Han states that he is instructed not to negotiate on basis of joint management of Canton-Kowloon Railway.
"I am addressing His Majesty's chargé d'affaires at Peking. Despatch follows."
I have, &c.
F. H. MAY,
Officer Administering the Government.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Minutes of Meeting to discuss the Question of the Joint Working of the British and Chinese Sections of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, held in the Council Chamber at Hong Kong on July 5, 1910.
Present: Mr. Wei Hau, Mr. Kwok Fung-i, Mr. E. S. Lindsey, and Mr. C. Clementi. MR. WEI HAN informed us that, as arranged at our meeting on the 7th ultimo, he had telegraphed the proposals made by us to the Board of Communications at Peking; that the Board had replied objecting to joint management, and had instructed and him to press for separate management and running powers, i.e., that passengers goods should go through from one section to the other in the same carriages, the engines only being changed, and that each section should pay the other a fixed price We asked Mr. Wei what were the per mile for running over the other's line. objections of the Board to joint management. He replied that they had given no reasons, but had instructed him that he must only negotiate on the lines of separate management; that, speaking for himself, he fully recognised that joint management was the best and most business-like method, and would be advantageous to both
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