!
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.!
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[March 20
Scrjoz 46
113
[10109]
(No. 80.)
Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.—{Received March 20.)
25 RR I
ཀྭཀཱ 1!
Peking, February 23, 1911.
I HAVE the bonour to transmit to you herewith translation of an Imperial rescript sanctioning a recommendation made by Sheng Hsuan-huai, the President of the Board of Communications, that Liang Shih-yi should be relieved of his duties as Director-General of the Imperial Railway Administration and Assistant Director of the Chiao-tung Banh.
Liang Shih-yi's name will be familiar to you in connection with railway negotiations, in which he has played a prominent part during the last four or five years, He was the author of the arrangement with the Kiangsu and Chekiang Railway Boards, which practically cancelled our Shanghai-Ningpo Railway Agreement of the 6th March, 1908, and since then he has consistently opposed every proposal designed to give foreign capital any participation on fair terms in railway development in China. His connection with the recent "Birchal loan," for which he was largely responsible, exposed him to severe public criticism, and was probably the immediate cause of his downfall. My personal relations with Liang Shih-yi have always been friendly, but I have never hesitated to tell him and the Ministers of the Wai-wu Pu that his policy has been short-sighted and far from beneficial to the interests of his country.
Whether his withdrawal from the railway directorate will accelerate the consummation of the Hukuang and other railway questions remains to be seen, but it is hardly conceivable that any successor can be found who will combine to the same degree as Liang Shih-yi all the qualities which go to make a successful obstructionist in China.
Tay
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN,
(Translation.)
Enclosure in No. 1.
Imperial Edict of February 22, 1911.
WE approve of Sheng Hsuan-huai's recommendation that Liang Shih-yi be relieved of his duties as director-general of the Imperial Railway Administration and assistant manager of the General Bank of Communications.
[1920 u-]
-1]
Page 120Page 121