[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
75
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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0 23539
[May 30.]
RECR RUETE JUL II
SECTION 3.
No. 1.
Dear Sir Francis,
Mr. C. S. Addis to Foreign Office.--(Received May 30.)
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation,
31, Lombard Street, London, May 29, 1911.
I HAVE your letter of the 26th instant, and, as requested, I have written to my French, German, and American colleagues to enquire if there is any objection on their part to communicating to the Japanese Ambassador a copy of the currency loan agreement. I have explained to them that the British group see no objection in doing so.
I shall communicate with you again as soon as I have their reply, but as the American group have, I understand, to obtain permission from New York, it may be some time before we hear from them.
I received this morning from Hillier what appears to be the final statement of the enterprise in Manchuria, for which the first instalment of 400,0001. of loan funds is required. It does not differ materially from the statement already handed to you, except in so far as it is a little more explicit in detail.
If we may credit M. Simon, we have not yet seen the end of Russian opposition to the currency loan. In a letter which I have received from him this morning, in which he begs me to give my serious consideration to the recent proposals of the Russo-Belgian syndicate to co-operate with the four groups in Mongolia and Manchuria, he concludes by saying
"Plus j'y réfléchis, plus une entente avec la Russo-Asiatique me paraît être le seul moyen pour nous de mettre fin à l'opposition russe, qui menace en ce moment de faire échouer le 'currency loan.'"'
For myself, I have been threatened too often in the course of these negotiations to yield to the menaces of either France or Russia until I am convinced that they can be made effective. I have therefore asked M. Simon to postpone the consideration of this question until Messrs. Hillier, Cordes, and Straight, who have either left or will shortly be leaving China, have arrived in this country.
Yours truly,
C. S. ADDIS.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Board of Finance to the Representatives of the American Group, the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the Banque de l'Indo- Chine, Peking.
(Translation.) Gentlemen,
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, London, May 29, 1911.
I BEG to inform you of the receipt of a letter from his Excellency Chao, the Viceroy of Manchuria, requesting that from the advance of 1,000,000. provided for in article 8, section 4, of the Imperial Chinese Government 5 per cent. currency reform and industrial development sinking fund gold loan, signed on the 17th day of the 3rd moon (15th April, 1911), the sum of 400,0001. be transferred as a first instalment to meet Manchurian requirements.
A statement clearly setting forth the purposes to which the Viceroy proposes to apply these funds is herewith presented for your perusal, with the request that if the same is considered satisfactory the banks will, as soon as possible, deposit with the Shanghai branch of the Ta-ching Bank to the credit of the Manchurian development account, the silver equivalent of the sum of 400,000. The rate of exchange for the same to be settled between the Ta-ching Bank in Shanghai and the transferring banks on the same day.
THE BOARD OF FINANCE,
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