PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PC.O. 882
لستينيا
84
7. A royalty shall be payable to Government on the value of all precious stones found and removed by a licensee. Such royalty shall be at such rate, not exceeding fifteen per cent., as shall be fixed by the licence. Neglect to report the discovery of any such stone within a reasonable time shall involve the forfefture of the licence, and of all claim to have an application for a mining or prospecting lease favourably considered.
8. Such licence shall give no exclusive or preferential rights, but in considering rival claims for a prospecting licence or mining lease due regard will be had to opera- tions conducted under cover of an exploring licence.
24400.
(Extract.)
No. 62.
COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.
Downing Street, October 9, 1900:
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th of September respecting a recommendation which has been made by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation that the British dollar should be made legal tender at Wei-Hai-Wei.
I am to enclose for Their Lordships' consideration a copy of a despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject, and I am also to invite attention to the 43rd paragraph of Sir F. Swettenham's report, a copy of which is enclosed for facility of reference.
"
Mr. Chamberlain is inclined to agree as to the desirability of introducing the British dollar into Wei-Hai-Wei but it is impossible to give the "reasonable assurance that the British dollars would be freely accepted without consulting the local authorities; reference will be made to them in due course, and Sir F. Swettenham will also be consulted on the subject.
*
Mr. Chamberlain is in communication with the Marquess of Lansdowne and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty as to taking over charge of Wei-Hai-Wei (a copy of the letters to the War Oflice is enclosed), and he has suggested the 1st of January next as the date from which the administration of the dependency should be transferred to the Colonial Office, but so much must depend at present on military and naval considerations that it would be premature to make any immediate proposals to Their Lordships will regard to the expenditure of the coming year and the grant in aid which will be required to meet it. It can only be said that as far as this Office is con- cerned every effort will be made to keep the expenditure within narrow limits.
24400.
SIR,
No. 63.
COLONIAL OFFICE to ADMIRALTY. [Answered by No. 66.]
Downing Street, October 9, 1900. WITH reference to previous correspondence, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to request you to lay before the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty the enclosed copy of a report upon Wei-Hai-Wei, which has been made by Sir Frank Swettenham containing proposals for its future administration. I am also to enclose a copy of a letter§ on the subject which has been addressed to the Secretary of State for War.
Mr. Chamberlain would be glad to be favoured at an early date with such observa- tions as Their Lordships may see fit to make on these papers.
I am, &c.,
C. P. LUCAS.
• No. 56.
↑ No 55.
No. 52.
f No. 61.
33051.
85
No. 64.
COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.
[Answered by No. 67.]
SIR,
Downing Street, October 18, 1900. WITH reference to paragraph 3 of the letter from this Department of the 9th instant, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain to forward for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury a copy of a lettert from Sir Frank Swettenham on the proposal to make the British dollar legal tender at Wei- Hai-Wei.
2. Mr. Chamberlain is of opinion that there can be no objection to the proposal, if the Commissioner reports favourably; but he presumes that the Mexican dollar would also be made legal tender at Wei-Hai-Wei as it is in Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements.
3. In this connection I am to ask you to draw Their Lordships' attention to the recent correspondence regarding the supply of subsidiary silver coin for Hong Kong by the Indian Mints, terminating in the letter from this Department of the 28th June last. It is assumed that all coin required for the Dependency should, if possible, be supplied by the Indian Mints, and Mr. Chamberlain proposes, if Their Lordships concur, to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Indian Government would be prepared to undertake the supply.
34577.
(Confidential.)
SIR,
No. 65.
I am, &c.,
R. L. ANTROBUS.
FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received October 23, 1900.)
Foreign Office, October 22, 1900. THE Marquess of Salisbury has had under consideration your letter of the 9th instant, § enclosing a copy of a report by Sir Frank Swettenham on the future administration of Wei-hai-Wei, and requesting that Mr. Secretary Chamberlain might be furnished with His Lordship's views on the various points dealt with therein.
1. As regards the manner in which the leased territory should be treated, viz., whether the precedent of Cyprus should be followed, or whether it should be dealt with as part of the British dominions as was done at Kowloon, I am to state that in regard to this last alternative Lord Salisbury is of opinion that the two cases are essentially different, in that Kowloon adjoins the Colony of Hong Kong, of which it forms merely an extension, whereas Wei-hai-Wei is distant more than 1,000 miles from the nearest British territory. Wei-Hai-Wei is held by Great Britain on the same terms that Russia holds Port Arthur, and on the understanding that it will be handed back to China if, and when, Russia gives up Port Arthur. When the instructions to Mr. Gray for drafting the Wei-hai-Wei Order in Council were under consideration, it was felt that to incorporate the territory in the British dominions would create a pre- cedent that would probably be followed by other Powers who had leased territory from China. Moreover an agreement has just been concluded with Germany in accordance with which Great Britain and Germany agree not to take advantage of the present complications to obtain any territorial advantages for themselves in China, and to invite the other Powers interested to give a similar undertaking. The present time therefore seems especially inopportune to make any change at Wei-hai-Wei, and Lord Salisbury adheres to the view that the precedent of Cyprus should be followed in dealing with it.
2. Lord Salisbury fully appreciates the objections made by Sir F. Swettenham with regard to the continuance of Chinese jurisdiction within the walled city of Wei-hai-Wei, but in view of the express provision on the subject in the Convention of July 1st, 1898, His Lordship cannot assent to its being abolished except after communi- cation with the Chinese Government, and in pursuance of some arrangement arrived at with them in regard to it.
• No. 62.
† No. 59.
19076: not printed.
f No. 60.
9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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