PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
6
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
886
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No. 47.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
(Received January 11, 1905.)
[Copy to Governor, January 13, 1905. Confidential. L.F.] [Answered by L.F. transmitting copy of No. 80.]
The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and, by direction of the Secretary of State, transmits herewith copy of the under-mentioned paper relative to the Canton- Macao Railway.
Foreign Office,
January 10, 1905.
DESCRIPTION OF ENCLOSURE.
Name and Date.
Subject.
Mr. Jamison, Shanghai, No. 19, of November 23
Transmits translation of the agreement respecting the proposed railway between Canton and Macao.
Enclosure in No. 47.
Mr. J. W. JAMISON to the MARQUESS OF Lansdowne.
(C. A., No. 19.)
MY LORD,
Shanghai, November 21, 1904.
I HAVE the honour to enclose herewith a translation of the agreement respect- ing the proposed railway between Canton and Macao.
Your Lordship will therefrom see that China has succeeded in obtaining from Portugal terms more favourable to herself than she has found it possible to secure from other negotiators of contracts of a similar nature.
The Marquess of Lansdowne, K.G.,
&c.,
&c.,
(Translation.)
&c.
I have, &c.,
J. W. JAMISON,
Commercial Attaché.
CANTON-MACAO RAILWAY AGREEMENT.
On the 14th day of the 9th moon of the 28th year of Kuang Hsü (October 15th, 1902), the Wai Wu Pu informed the Portuguese Minister at Peking that the Chinese Government had agreed to the formation of a company for the purpose of building a railway between Macao and Canton with joint Chinese and Portuguese capital. A copy of this despatch is appended to the present agreement.
On behalf of the Imperial Chinese Government, Sheng, Director-General of Railways, Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and a former Vice-President of the Board of War, and
On behalf of the Royal Portuguese Government, Castello Branco, His Most Faithful Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary at Peking,
have met at Shanghai and negotiated an agreement regarding the Chinese-Portu- guese Railway Company, on the general principle that the joint management shall rest with Chinese and Portuguese merchants, between whom capital and executive powers are to be equally divided. They have also ordered the Chinese merchant, Liu Te-yttan, and the Portuguese merchant, Botelho, on the signature of this
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agreement by the two Plenipotentiaries, to meet and draw up a preliminary agree- ment, which they shall then hand in to the Chinese Director-General of Railways for his examination.
The conditions on which the Chinese Government give their consent to the formation of a Chinese-Portuguese Railway Company are as follows:--
(I.) The entire construction of the railway between Canton and Macao shall be jointly undertaken by Chinese and Portuguese merchants having an equal share in the capital and an equal voice in the direction of affairs. The head office for controlling the traffic on this railway shall be established at Macao, with branch offices in Kuangtung. The title of the company shall be the "Chinese-Portuguese Railway Company." As the Company is to be jointly managed by Chinese and Portuguese merchants, no matters connected therewith shall be made a pretext for interference on the part of the Portuguese Government.
(II.) The company shall always be under the sole management of Chinese and l'ortuguese subjects. Any infringement of this condition gives China the right to cancel the agreement authorizing the construction of the railway.
(III) The capital required for the construction of the railway shall be subscribed equally by Chinese and Portuguese; half of the shares shall be issued to the former and half to the latter. But in the Portuguese half of the capital will be included the shares taken up by Portuguese merchants residing in Macao and by those naturalized in other countries. The company shall draw up a preliminary agreement as a basis for the management of all matters connected with the Company. This agreement must state clearly that Chinese and Portuguese merchants are on exactly the same footing as regards the number of shares to be issued to them, and the voice they will have in the direction of the Company's affairs. As the majority of shares are to be held by Chinese, and the greatest stretch of the line traverses Kuangtung, all regulations drawn up with regard to shares, shareholders' interests, directors, auditors, shareholders' meetings, &c., of the said Company shall be in accordance with the Chinese Company Law of the 5th day, 12th moon, of the 29th year of Kuang Hsü (January 21st, 1904), and with the terms of the preliminary agree-
ment.
(IV.) As the route of the railway has not yet been determined, engineers must be engaged to survey the country between Canton and Macao, so that a decision may be arrived at.
(V.) After the survey for the railway has been made, a plan shall be drawn showing in detail the places through which the line is to pass, and the points at which stations as well as the necessary buildings, yards and warehouses, &c., have to be established, and shall be transmitted for the inspection of the Director-General of Railways; only after his inspection and approval may the work of construction be commenced. Four copies of this plan shall be made, one for transmission to the Director-General of Railways, the three remaining copies to be forwarded by the latter to the Wai Wu Pu, the Board of Commerce, and the Governor-General of the Liang Kuang, for inclusion in their respective archives.
(VI.) All surveying expenses as well as those for the construction of the railway shall be advanced by the Chinese-Portuguese Canton Macao Railway Company.
(VII.) The Chinese Government will not allow any other person or company to build any line of railway parallel to that of the Chinese-Portuguese Railway Company within ten English miles thereof.
survey,
(VIII.) When, in the first place, the engineers commence their afterwards, when they begin work on the railway, His Excellency the Director- and General of Railways and the Portuguese Consul-General at Canton must give detailed information to the Governor-General of the Liang Kuang, who will then issue a passport for each of them. All engineers, surveyors, and others, will be afforded complete protection by the various territorial authorities.
(IX.) Any dissensions which may arise during the construction or after the completion of the railway shall, in the first place, be submitted to the Portuguese Consul-General at Canton, and the Governor-General of the Liang Kuang, after this, a satisfactory decision is impossible, appeal may be made to the High If, Authorities at Peking and the Portuguese Minister.
(X.) The measures to be adopted by the Company in order to purchase land for the route of the railway, as also lands and buildings for the necessary workshops and warehouses, are as follows:-
(a) In the case of Crown Land, the Company shall inform the local officials,