MINUTE
OF
INTERVIEW
32
Present:
SHANGHAI, May 5th, 1930.
and hot Leichmans;
Смој
Sir Miles Lampson/d Mr Procter.
CABLE COMPAKIES' NEGOTIATIONS.
Mr W.D.Procter, Divisional Manager of the Eastern
Extension Telegraph Company in China, called upon H. M.
Minister this evening, preparatory to his joint call with
Captain Bahnson, the representative in China of the Great
Northern Telegraph Company to-morrow.
In reply to the enquiries of H.M.Minister, who sug-
gested that in all these matters we must ultimately aim at
some form of compromise, Er Procter furnished the following
information.
The negotiations were to be resumed in a few days,
when the Cable Companies would put forward their counter
proposals, including a draft landing license.
The minimum requirements of the Companies were: (1)
a landing license for a reasonable mumber of years: they
were going to ask for thirty years, though he admitted that
the normal term in many countries was ten; and (2) The right
in China"
to work the cable ends with direct dealings with the public.
As regards this latter point, he said (in reply to Sir
M. Lampson's specific enquiry) that the Companies, like other
foreign Cable Companies, were permitted in most countries
(including Great Britain but not Germany) to have their own
offices and direct dealings with the public. In Mr Procter's
personal opinion this was essential in China, as they could
not, for instance, trust the Chinese to carry out routing
directions, etc.
Minor points the Companies desired to secure included
canvassing