2
to be handled by a bank, e.g., the bank of the Board of Communications at Shanghai, who would be responsible for buying up the shares and transmitting them to the Board of Communicatious. Mr. Mayers tells me that he informed Mr. Liang that in any case the operation should be concluded this year, and that he suggested that, as an inducement to the corporation to consider the question seriously, they should be promised the financing of the Kaifeng-Haichow line in which the Kiangsu Company is a participant.
Mr. Mayers came to see me the day after his interview with Liang Shih-yi, and we agreed to give him time to formulate replies to the questions raised by Mr. Mayers, so as to enable us to see whether his proposals were meant seriously before I again approached the Wai-wu Pu on the subject.
I allowed three weeks to elapse, and then I had an interview with the Grand Secretary Na-t'ung and his Excellency Hu Wei-te on the 1st instant.
I reviewed the history of the negotiations since the interview which Sir John Jordan had with Prince Ch'ing on the 20th July, 1909, at which his Highness gave Sir John Jordan his personal assurance that a satisfactory solution would be I said that nothing had come of the arranged with as little delay as possible. negotiations which had been proceeding between his Excellency Liang Shib-yi and Mr. Mayers, and that from conversations I myself had had with the Director-General of Railways I did not consider his proposals practical or acceptable. I had been unable to obtain even so much as a reply to the various notes I had addressed to the Wai-wu Pu on this subject, and I referred specially to the request contained in my note of the 14th June, that "the Wai-wn Pu should memorialise the Throne to issue a decree instructing the Yuchuanpu to resume control of the Shanghai-Ningpo Railway, and proceed with the construction of the line in accordance with the terms of the loan agreement." I had been pleased to learn towards the end of July that the Grand Secretary was concerning himself with this question, and had hopes of arriving at a satisfactory solution, and the dismissal of Tang Shou-ch'ien, who had successfully defied the Central Government last autumn, had appeared to me to augur well, but now over a month had passed and nothing further had happened, beyond the fact that his Excellency Liang Shih-yi had submitted to me some vague and unacceptable proposals. I must therefore again bring the matter to their Excellencies' notice, and request that steps be taken to carry out the repeated promises of the Wai-wu Pu to remedy a state of affairs which admittedly constituted an unjustifiable infraction of a covenant entered into by the Wai-wu Pu and the Yuchuanpu. The only way to secure this end was the resumption of the control of the line in the manner I had already indicated.
The Grand Secretary fully acknowledged the unsatisfactory state of affairs in connection with this railway, and the forbearance shown by the corporation and His Majesty's Legation in the matter, and took some credit to himself for the dismissal of Tang Shou-chien, to whom, he said, no successor had been appointed. He promised that the board would do their best to find a solution of the many difficulties, even if it were not possible to adopt my suggestion in regard to the issue of an Imperial decree. He laid stress on the fact that Tang Shao-yi would soon be arriving in Peking, and he promised that he would personally take the matter up with Tang at an early date.
As it is reported on all sides that Tang Shao-yi is arriving in Peking with the fixed intention of contracting no further foreign loans for the construction of railways in China for some years, until, in fact, some of the earlier railway loans are paid off, I do not myself pin much faith to his assistance in recovering the control of this railway from the two provincial companies and constructing it with foreign money, but Mr. Mayers agrees with me that we must wait and see whether he is willing or able to assist us.
I have, &c.
W. G. MAX MÜLLER.
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
35051
REC
Rros 24 NOV 10)
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
[November 4.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
SECTION 1.
[40176]
No. 1.
Mr. Addis to Foreign Office.-(Received November (4)
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Dear Mr. Alsion,
31, Lombard Street, London, November 4, 1910. AT the instance of the French, the conference of the four groups fixed for Saturday was, at a late hour last night, postponed until Tuesday morning.
I regret the delay, since, if Hillier's information is correct (vide enclosed telegram) the final agreement for the American loan is to be signed in a few days. The risk of delay is that we may be too late. With a final agreement in their hands, the Americans would be masters of the situation.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Yours, &c.
Copy of telegram from Peking, dated November 3, 1910.
C. S. ADDIS.
WE are informed new American loan final agreement will be signed probably in a few days. Agreement contains no stipulation in respect to application of funds. Securities said to be li-kin, general duty of which "Mukden contributes up to 27 lakhs of taels.
[2982 d-
-1]
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