[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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· No22. !!!
[July 3.]
SECTION 4.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received July 3.)
(No. 252. Confidential.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith the copy of a despatch from
Peking, June 17, 1911. Mr. Willis, acting consul-general at Mukden, enclosing the translation of an agree- ment signed on the 12th May between the Chinese provincial authorities on the one hand and the Japanese consul-general at Mukden and a representative of the South Manchurian Railway Company on the other for the working of the Fushun and Yent'ai coal mines. The various phases through which the ownership of these mines has passed are recorded in my despatches No. 148 of the 30th March, 1908, No. 569 of the 21st December, 1908, and No. 191 of the 24th May, 1909. By the instru- mentality of this agreement the railway company become the de jure as well as the de facto owners of the collieries.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN,
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Acting Consul-General Willis to Sir J. Jordan.
(No. 27. Very Confidential.) Sir,
Mukden, May 31, 1911. I HAVE the honour to forward a translation of the Chinese text of the recently signed detailed agreement for the working of the Fushun and Yent'ai coal mines.
The document was shown me in strict confidence by Mr. Koiké, my Japanese colleague, who informed me that the terms of the agreement were being kept secret at the desire of the Chinese Government.
The agreement seems to me to be very favourable to the South Manchurian Railway Company.
A royalty of 5 per cent. nominal on value at the pit's mouth is payable, but the value has been placed at 1 gold yen per ton. The export duty is fixed at 1 mace per ton, which is only half the duty the company have hitherto been paying on export from Dairen or Newchwang, and, as far as I am aware, less than is payable on similar concessions elsewhere in China,
The daily output of the mines is at present approximately 3,500 tons, and will reach between 5,000 and 6,000 tons within the next few months.
I have, &c.
R. WILLIS.
:
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Fushun and Yent'ai Mine Agreement.
THE following are the conditions of the detailed agreement for the working of the Fushun and Yent'ai coal mines, arranged between representatives of China and Japan, who have been duly appointed by their respective Governments in accordance with clause 3 of the treaty regarding Manchurian affairs, signed at Peking on the 4th September, 1909 :----
1. The South Manchurian Railway Company (hereinafter called the company) agrees to pay to the Chinese Government a tax of 5 per cent. ad valorem on the value at the pit's mouth of the gross output of the Fushun and Yent'ai mines (hereinafter
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