RECEIVED
- 7 APR 1931 COL.OFFICE
No. CONFIDENTIAL.
Copy to:-
Peking No. 4.
Canton No. 16.
6
16
GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
HONG KONG, 6th March, 1931.
My Lord,
1
With reference to my despatch No. 613 of the
(2) 1st of December, 1930, and Your Lordship's reply No.22 of the 21st of January, 1931, I have the honour to report that the Chinese Government has of its own motion endeavoured to
initiate conversations with me for the revision of the
Working Agreement of the Kowloon-Canton Railway.
2.
The immediate occasion of these overtures was a conference arranged in January last through His Majesty's Consul-General in Canton between the Manager of the British section and the Canton Authorities for the discussion of a number of points that had arisen in the joint working of the Railway. This arrangement, was, however, seized upon by the Chinese Ministry of Railways as an opportunity for reviewing the Working Agreement itself more especially the division ratio for earnings on through traffic. The Ministry accordingly sent down a special delegate Mr. Po Chiu Hsieh (who has since replaced Mr. Liu as Managing Director of the Canton Section) to attend the Conference which took place at Canton on the 6th of February but as I was not prepared to allow the British Manager to participate in any discussion of these major
issues,
-
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
LORD PASSFIELD,
&c.,
&c.
&c.,