PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
Trans- lations only'
396
province to engage engineers quite apart from the engineer for the present resurvey of the trace of the line. I should be grateful if you would at once ascertain from Kinder whether he is willing to undertake this task, and how much he would require roughly for monthly salary and expenses, so as to enable me to consult Hunan and Kuangtung by telegraph, and make a further communication to you."
I have, &c.,
Card of CHANG CHIH-TUNG
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Hankow, March 29, 1906.
Received from Shanghai, March 29, 1906.
London wires:-
Following wired at request of C. W. Kinder:-
21670
"Subject to sanction of His Excellency Yuan Shih-k'ai I will undertake 200 supervision of survey immediately after flood season over. Pay, per month, plus travelling expenses incurred. I can see Hankow Viceroy on my return in June. Recommend Cox make survey at once. I can fix, then, details in one month or less."
No. 259.
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received June 18, 1906.)
(Secret.) MY LORD,
Government House, Hong Kong, May 10, 1906. IN continuation of the secret despatch which I addressed to Mr. Lyttelton on the 5th April, 1905,* on the subject of a Chinese project to connect Canton with Whampoa by a railway, and with reference to Sir Ernest Satow's telegram to the Marquess of Lansdowne, dated the 18th of that month, on the same subject, of which telegram a copy was sent to me in Mr. Lyttelton's secret despatch of the 11th May, 1905,† I have the honour to transmit, for Your Lordship's information, a copy of a despatch which I have this day addressed to His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking, and of the translations of newspaper articles it enclosed. I also enclose a mapt on which I have approximately indicated the routes that have been proposed for the Canton-Kowloon and Canton-Whampoa-Amoy Railways.
I have, &c.,
SIR,
Enclosure in No. 259.
M. NATHAN,
Governor, &c.
Government House, Hong Kong, May 10, 1908.
In continuation of the secret despatch which I addressed to Sir Ernest Satow on the 6th April, 1905, and with reference to Sir Ernest Satow's telegram to the Marquess of Lansdowne, dated the 18th of that month on the subject of a Chinese project to connect Canton with Whampoa by a railway, I have the honour to transmit cuttings and transactions of articles from the "She Man Po," "Wah Tsz Yat Po," and "Tsun Wan Yat Po" newspapers of the 2nd and 4th April and the 3rd May, respectively, which tend to show that serious steps are being taken with a view to putting in hand the construction of a line of railway from Canton past Whampoa and along the right bank of the East River, with the intention of ultimately con- necting with the Treaty Ports of Swatow and Amoy.
2. The course of this railway, as indicated in the issue of the " She Man Po" of the 2nd April, would be the same as far as Shek Lung as that which must be followed by the railway from Canton to Kowloon.
3. Article 17 (2) of the draft final Loan Agreement for the Canton-Kowloon Railway, following in this respect (in accordance with the provisions of the
Not reproduced.
• No. 86.
† L.F. transmitting copy of No. 82.
397
Preliminary Agreement of March, 1899, between the British and Chinese Corpora- tion and the Director-General of the Imperial Railway Administration), the corre- sponding article of the final Loan Agreement for the Shanghai-Nanking Railway, lays down that without the express consent in writing of the British and Chinese Corporation no other rival railway detrimental to the business of the railway dealt with in the Agreement is to be allowed to the injury of the latter's interest within the area served by the railway or any of its branch lines.
4. According to this article the construction of the proposed railway to Whampoa independently of the line from Canton to Kowloon and without the consent of the Corporation would be a breach of the Agreement of March, 1899, and I have the honour to suggest that a representation be made to this effect to the Wai Wu Pu in order that instructions be sent to the Viceroy of the Liang Kuang, which will prevent an infraction of an engagement duly entered into on behalf of the Chinese Government.
5. I further suggest that the information contained in the newspaper articles with regard to the Whampoa line be communicated to Mr. J. O. P. Bland, who is now in Peking in connection with the conclusion of the negotiations for the Chinese section of the Kowloon Railway.
I have, &c.,
His Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires,
Peking.
M. NATHAN,
Governor, &c.
Translation of an Extract from the "She Man Po" of 2nd April, 1906.
The Canton-Amoy Railway Scheme.
The Canton-Amoy Railway is the main line joining the two provinces of Kwong Tung and Fokien. His Excellency Cheung Pat-sz, about the 6th or 7th moon last year, discussed with Viceroy Shum the method of its construction. They drew up 21 general regulations, which have been sanctioned by Their Imperial Majesties, through the Board of Commerce. On receipt of a telegram in reply from the Board in the 10th moon, His Excellency Cheung left Canton en route to different places, first to Whampoa, and then to Tsang Shing, Tung Kun, Shek Lung, Pok Lo, Hoi Fung, Luk Fung, Chiu Chau, Swatow, Fokien (Foochow), and Amoy, and took with him surveyors and engineers to survey the route. When this task was completed in the 2nd moon of the present year, he interviewed Viceroy Shum, and proposed to him that Whampoa should be opened as a treaty port, there is ample room in the neighbourhood. It is near the water, which is of considerable depth, and the steamers plying between Hong Kong and Canton it.
pass He proposed that the construction of the first section between Canton and Whampoa should immediately be put in hand, and that, in the meantime, an embankment should be erected at Whampoa for the purpose of opening it as an international treaty port. Besides a very large railway station, there should be built houses in European style, business premises, Government offices, godowns and wharves. All these should be carried out after the precedent in Shan Tung, where there is a treaty port opened by (China) Lerself, where all nations are at liberty to carry on business and their ships can freely lie at anchor and be loaded or unloaded. The estimated cost of opening this treaty port, which will extend more than 30 li along the line of railway, will be between 800,000 and 900,000 taels, including cost of land and materials. At first it was proposed to divide the estimated cost for this and the railway into 8,000 shares of 100 taels each, and to invite the Fokien and Kwong Tung merchants in the various ports in the southern ocean (ie., Straits Settlements, Australia, and other places) to take shares. But, later on, as Viceroy Shum was in a hurry to get this done, His Excellency Cheung took the responsibility upon himself of saying that the money could be advanced, although the shares had not yet been taken up. The necessary cost of building the railway, too, was to be temporarily borne by the Authorities on condition that the money (for making Whampoa a treaty port and the construction of the railway) thus expended should be repaid when the shares were taken up. When Cheung had settled the above with Viceroy Shum in the conference, he returned to Chiu Chau, his native place, to see about the funds, and as soon as he gets enough funds he will come to Canton to commence work. He
398.