37
BY SAFE HAND.
Ref. 1/13C/1935.
Copy to Legation
No. 81.
Office of H. M. Commercial Counsellor
SHANGHAI.
25th March, 1935.
Dear Sir Alexander,
Kenneth Cantlie, the adviser to the Ministry of
Railways, came in to see me the other day, and told me of an
incident of which I had already heard something from Calder-
Marshall. It appears that during the past few weeks the
chief engineer of the Canton-Hankow Railway, Mr. Ling, who is
in charge of the construction work to link the two existing
portions of the railway, has purchased some 90,000 barrels
of Indo-China cement direct from Saigon, and proposes to use
for the purpose funds forthcoming from the sterling loan
secured on the British Indemnity. The first lot is said to
have arrived some 5 weeks ago, and the second some two weeks
ago. The contract is reported to have been signed at Canton.
It is thought that Ling (of whom, I may mention, Boothby has
a high opinion) and the Vice-Minister, Tseng Chung-ming, must
have made a good thing out of this. Ling first of all
appealed to F.K.Sah, chief engineer of the Ministry, and
later to Li, head of the Purchasing Commission, regarding the
proposed deal, and they both turned it down, owing to the
use of British funds. He then appealed to the Vice-Minister
and arranged the matter with him (I understand the chief
engineer of the Canton-Hankow Railway is only responsible to
the Minister and Vice-Minister of Railways). Cantlie said
that the Chinese in the Ministry were generally speaking angry
about this purchase as not being fair dealing. The native
Sir Alexander Cadogan, K.C.M.G., C.B.,
His Majesty's Minister,
British Legation,
NANKING.
cement/