Copy.
(F 7130/6/10)
130
The China Consortium.
Central Agency.
9, Gracechurch Street,
London, E.C.3.
December 27th, 1928.
My dear Ashton-Gwatkin,
1.
I have your letter of December 22, referring to a
project for making use of the British Indemnity Funds to
link up the incomplete sections of the Hankow-Canton railway
and suggesting that, if this were done, there could be no
objection on the part of the French and American co-signatories to the Hikuang Railway loan Agreement if all constructional
material and rolling stock were to come from Great Britain.
An expression of my views on this project is asked for in relation to (1) the Hukuang Railway Loan Agreement and (2) the Consortium Agreement.
2.
3.
In response to your request I should like to submit
the following observations for your consideration.
The agreement for the Hukuang Railway Loan of
£6,000,000 was signed by the Imperial Chinese Government of
the one part and by a Consortium of British, French, German and
American banks of the other, on May 20, 1911.
5.
It is stipulated in Article IVII that
"The construction and control of the railway lines
"shall be entirely and exclusively vested in the Imperial
"Chinese Government. For the work of construction the
*Imperial Chinese Government will select for appointment
*"a fully qualified British Engineer-in-Chief for the
"Hupeh-Hunan section of the Canton-Hankow railway line to
"Yichangshien and a fully qualified German Engineer-in-Chief
F. Ashton-Gwatkin, Esq.,
Foreign Office,
8.W.1.
for/