347
X.
(Secret.)
MY LORD,
No. 224.
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN.
(Received February 24, 1906.)
..
Government House, Hong Kong, January 27, 1906. IN continuation of my secret despatch of the 24th instant, on the subject of negotiations for the completion of a Loan Agreement and of a Joint Working Agree- ment in connection with the proposed Canton-Kowloon Railway, I have the honour to enclose, for your Lordship's information and record, a paraphrase of further tele- graphic correspondence with His Majesty's Minister at Peking and His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton.
2. The request to Mr. Scott referred to in my telegram to His Majesty's Minister of the 26th instant (XI.) is embodied in my letter to the Consul-General of the same date, of which a copy is also enclosed.
I have, &c.,
M. NATHAN,
Governor.
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S CONSUL-GENERAL, Canton, to GOVERNOR, Hong Kong. (Despatched 10.10 a.m., January 26, 1906; received 11.25 a.m., January 26, 1906.)
Your telegram of to-day. No. I will await a further communication from you.-
SCOTT.
XI.
GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to His Britannic MajesTY'S MINISTER, Peking. (Despatched 1.15 p.m., January 26, 1906.)
Your telegram, No. 4. I have now requested Mr. Scott to inform the Viceroy that as the Northern Railways Loan Agreement has no bearing on the engagement entered into by the Chinese Government in 1899 regarding the Canton-Kowloon Railway, I do not see any object in obtaining copies of the texts of that Agreement,. and further, that if the Viceroy had any object, beyond the wish to cause delay, in obtaining such copies he would doubtless have taken steps to procure them from his own Government.-NATHAN.
Enclosure 1 in No. 224.
PARAPHRASE OF TELEGRAPHIC CORRESPONDENCE.
VIII.
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S MINISTER, Peking, to GOVERNOR, Hong Kong. (Despatched 7.25 p.m., January 25, 1906; received 9.13 p.m., January 25, 1906.)
(No. 4.)
Your telegram, 24th January. Would it not be better to tell the Viceroy that, of course, he can procure the documents from his own government? For if we give them to him it might be inferred that we were not altogether adverse to his suggestion of making an agreement on the lines of the Northern Railways Loan. I feel sure that the idea was telegraphed to him from the Wai Wu Pu, as it has been mentioned to me by the Railway and Mining Member Tung. It seems to me that we should stand out for negotiations on the lines of the Final Agreements we have prepared. copies of which both in Chinese and English I have given to the Foreign Board. If in course of discussion the Chinese delegate were to bring up the proposal our man might condescend to examine it without showing any keenness to accept it in place of the British and Chinese Corporation's Draft Agreement.
If I can procure it I will send you the Chinese text.--SATOW.
Enclosure 2 in No. 224.
GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to HIS BRITANNIC Majesty's ConsUL-GENERAL, Canton.
SIR,
Government House, Hong Kong, January 26, 1906. REFERRING to my telegram of yesterday's date, asking you, if you had not already communicated the substance of my letter of the 24th instant, with regard to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, to the Viceroy, not to do so pending a further com- munication from me, and to your telegram of this morning, stating that you would await such communication, I have the honour to enclose, for your information, a para- phrase of a message received last night from His Majesty's Minister at Peking.
In the circumstances detailed in that telegram, I shall be obliged by your inform- ing the Viceroy, with regard to the Memorandum of request by Messrs. Wai and Wen of the 18th January, that as the "Northern Railways Loan Agreement" of 1898 has no bearing on the engagement which the Government of China entered into in 1899 with regard to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, I see no object in obtaining copies of the English and Chinese texts of that Agreement, and further, that if His Excel- lency has any object in obtaining copies of that document beyond creating delay, he will doubtless have taken steps to procure them from his own Government.
I have, &c.,
MATTHEW NATHAN,
James Scott, Esq., 1.8.0.,
His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General,
Canton.
Governor.
6544
No. 225.
IX.
GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to HIS BRITANNIC Majesty's ConsuL-GENERAL, Canton. (Despatched 11.20 p.m., January 25, 1906.)
Should be much obliged if you would inform me immediately by telegraph whether you have communicated the substance of my letter of the 24th instant regard- ing the Canton-Kowloon Railway. If you have not done so please take no action until you hear from me again.-ÑATHAN.
(No. 45.)
SIR,
THE EARL OF ELGIN to GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN. [Copy to Crown Agents. March 7, 1906. L.F.]
Downing Street, March 2, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that the Crown Agents have furnished me with a copy of their letter of the 23rd of February to the Colonial Secretary on
the subject of the recently issued Hong Kong Loan
2. I concur in the proposal contained in paragraph 6 of that letter with regard to the establishment of a special sinking fund.
I have, &c.,
A
ELGIN.
• No. 223.
18885
• Enclosure in No. 222.
2 X 2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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