[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
4
pressed to send for the Chinese text of the agreement in order that he might go through it clause by clause and inform us of the nature of the alterations proposed, but this ho persistently declined to do, pleading as an excuse the absence of his Excellency Liang Shih-yi, on whom he evidently depended for assistance.
Finally, the president proposed another meeting on the 3rd January, at 3 P.M., for the discussion of the promised memorandum.
A copy of the English text of the supplemental agrcement dealing with American participation in the loan was handed to the president for translation in the board, and the meeting terminated.
[B]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[2592]
3447
[January 23.]
af 3 FEB 1
SECTION 1.
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 23.)
(No. 5.) Sir,
Peking, January 5, 1911. IN continuation of my despatch No. 474 of the 30th December, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a memorandum of the proceedings at the meeting which took place at the Board of Communications on the 3rd instant in connection with the Hukuang Railway loan negotiations. A copy is also enclosed of the memorandum which had been furnished privately some days previously by Liang Shib-yi to Mr. Straight. A comparison of its terms with the proposals put forward by Liang Shib-yi at the meeting will show that the Chinese negotiator had considerably modified his original suggestions, doubtless in consequence of the representations made in the meantime by the representatives of the four Powers to the Wai-wu Pu.
The changes which he still proposes to introduce into the initialled agreement are sufficiently drastic to give cause for serious reflection.
The recognition of a company in any shape or form, as suggested in clause 1 of the proposed emendations, would be suicidal in face of our experience in the Hangchow--Ningpo affair, and the fact that the suggestion emanates from the author of all our troubles in that case should make us especially chary of entertaining it.
The elimination of the so-called branch line from Ching-mên-chou through Shasi to Hanyang (Hankow) is, of course, a fundamental change which cannot be admitted without materially curtailing the rights granted by the preliminary agreement. This line is of special importance as connecting Hankow with Shasi, another important trade centre on the Yang-tsze, and linking it up by railway communication with other inland towns in the province of Hupei.
The appointment of a Chinese consulting engineer, as stated in clause 3 of the counter-proposals, is a concession which might be made without causing much practical difficulty.
There would seem, as the representatives of the banks stated, to be no insuperable objection to the acceptance of the substance of the changes mentioned under head 4, and the reference in article 17 of the preliminary agreement to the practice in force on the northern section of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Bailway, which covered a rather wide and not very definite undertaking, can, I think, be reasonably omitted.
Mr. Hillier seems to think that the negotiations, so far as they have proceeded, give a fair hope of a successful issue.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Notes of Meeting at Yuchuan-pu, January 3, 1911, at 3 P.M.
Present:
His Excellency Shen Yun-pei, Acting President, his Excellency Liang Shih-yi, Director-General of Railways, and Messrs. Hillier, Casenave, Straight, and Cordes.
THE object of the meeting was to discuss the memorandum of proposed verbal alterations in the agreement which was promised by the president at the last meeting. His Excellency Liang informed us that there had not been time to prepare this, but he proposed to submit for discussion the leading points, which were as follows :---
1. The insertion of a clause to the effect that the Yuchuan-pu, on behalf of the Imperial Government, borrowed the proposed amount of 6,000,000l. for the establishment of a general company (Tsung-kung-szu).
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