PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PLLC.O. 882
9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
SIR,
£60
BOAT OFFICER, Whampoa, to COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, Canton,
桑
Whampoa, August 22, 1906. In answer to your letter of the 16th instant, I made enquiries in connection with railway matters, and forthwith beg to supply results.
Last year, about September, a party of Europeans and Chinese surveyed a track for the railway past Shik Kong, which place is opposite this station on the mainland, and the survey is supposed to have been for the Canton-Kowloon Railway. I was informed that the road is to be commenced as soon as the paddy has been cut and the fields are dry. A Viceroy's proclamation concerning the sale of land, &c., was posted at the different villages about ten days ago, a copy of which I enclose herewith.
On the 7th of July, 1906, Mr. Just, a Danish railway engineer, and a party of Chinese arrived here in steam launch "Mung Ming," towing two motor boats, which proceeded just below the Cambridge Barrier and anchored in the entrance of the Wu Chung Creek. Mr. Just, as I found later, is surveying for the Canton- Amoy Railway, and was sent to Wuchung to await orders, and in the meantime was instructed to make a survey of the river from Cambridge Barrier to Pak Sha, which he completed. This is evidently for the proposed new harbour.
On the 6th of August, Mr. Just received orders to shift the boats nearer to Canton, and is now at Kan Pui Shek, close to the Whampoa Barrier, and, as far as I can ascertain, commenced the survey for the Canton-Amoy line.
year.
Besides this survey of the river nothing has been done around Whampoa this
Kindly excuse delay, but there are so many conflicting reports here that it is very difficult to procure correct information.
I am making a rough sketch map of the places mentioned here, which I will forward as soon as completed.
F. J. Mayers, Esq.,
Commissioner of Customs, Canton.
I remain, &c.,
Boat Officer.
BOAT OFFICER, Whampoa, to COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, Canton. DEAR SIR,
Whampoa, September 12, 1906. Re the railway, I have been told that the line is being re-surveyed from Canton to Wuchung by the Amoy Railway Company, and by what I can hear is to be a section of the Amoy Railway. The Wuchung Creek is to be filled in altogether, and an area of two square miles on the river front to be set apart for a settlement. The Kowloon Railway is only to go as far as Wuchung, and there to connect with the Amoy system for Canton.
F. J. Mayers, Esq..
Commissioner of Customs, Canton.
Enclosure 2 in No. 299.
Yours, &c.,
Boat Officer.
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S MINISTER, Peking, to GOVERNOR, Hong Kong.
TELEGRAM.
September 17, 1906. No. 22. Mr. Carnegie's despatch of 9th September. I sent the following telegram to the Foreign Office yesterday
*-
"Whampoa Railway. At the interview on September 8th, referred to in Mr. Carnegie's telegram, No. 166, Prince Ching declined to admit that this project had anything to do with the Canton-Kowloon Railway, and refused to listen to any arguments to the contrary."
I yesterday addressed a note to His Highness, enclosing a map based on an official proclamation of the Viceroy, which has recently been received from Canton, which shows clearly that the Chinese project must be a rival line for about 40 miles,
461
and is therefore a contravention of the Corporation's agreements. I asked His Highness either to move the Viceroy to abandon the scheme or to accord me an interview for the purpose of pressing the views of His Majesty's Government.— JORDAN.
38928
(Secret.)
MY LORD,
No. 300.
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN.
(Received October 22, 1906.)
[Copy to Foreign Office, November 8, 1906. L.F.]
Government House, Hong Kong, September 21, 1906. In continuation of my secret despatch of the 8th September,* on the subject of negotiations for the completion of a loan agreement and a joint working agree- ment in connection with the proposed Canton-Kowloon Railway, I have the honour to enclose, for information and record, a paraphrase of further telegraphic corre- spondence with His Majesty's Minister at Peking in the matter.
2. The date of September 6th referred to in the first of these telegrams is that of a despatch in which Mr. Carnegie had sent to me a copy of one of the previous day, in which he had reported on the negotiations to Sir Edward Grey. This despatch to the Foreign Office has doubtless been communicated by that Department to Your Lordship. In transmitting the copy of it to me Mr. Carnegie stated as follows:-"The points stated in your telegram of August 28th are borne in mind, and will be brought forward at the proper time. They have been mentioned to Mr. Bland, who sees difficulties with regard to the introduction of Article 17 into his loan agreement."
3. Article 17 of the loan agreement as drafted in London was designed to prevent, inter alia, the construction of a rival railway detrimental to the business of the Canton-Kowloon line, and the insertion of a clause on these lines is of special importance now that the Chinese have projected a line which for 40 miles of its length follows the course which must be generally adopted by the Canton-Kowloon line from Shek Lung to Canton.
4. I also enclose a letter from Mr. J. O. P. Bland, and of the minutes of meetings refered to in it. The letter shows that no assistance is to be expected from the Corporation's representative towards getting into the loan agreement stipulations without which I am satisfied that the subsequent conclusion of a satisfactory working agreement will not be possible. For this I must rely on His Majesty's Minister at Peking.
5. The minutes show that the Corporation's representative is now disposed to accept terms from the Wai Wu Pu on the whole inferior to those which were offered by the Viceroy in April last. Your Lordship will remember that it was in order to obtain at Peking conditions more in accordance with the Chinese Government's undertakings" that Mr. Bland acted on the suggestion to transfer the negotiation from Canton that had been made to him by the Viceroy, who at the time had full power under an Imperial Edict to carry on the negotiations.
I have, &c.,
Enclosure 1 in No. 300.
M. NATHAN,
Governor.
PARAPHRASE of Telegraphic CorrESPONDENCE.
LIV.
From GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to HIS BRITANNIC Majesty's Minister, Peking. (Despatched 6 p.m., September 18, 1906.)
Canton-Kowloon Railway. Kindly inform me if any progress has been made
in the negotiations since the 8th of September.---NATHAN.
• No. 295.
↑ See No. 302.
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