PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TELEC.O. 882
9
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
14
The principal exports from the Tung Kun, Sanon, and Kwaishin districts appear to be:-
Hags (Mille)
Bricks "
Chinaware (Picula)
Tong Kun.
Sanon,
Kwaishin.
Total.
21,310
I
16
2
8
26
76
21,386
5,832
733
6,565
Course Cloth, Native (Piculs),
•
58
13
1
72
Fireworks and Five-crackers (Picula)
43,644
21
562
11,227
Firewood (Piculs)
17,254
69,077
28,316
114,647
Fish Dried and Salt (Piculs)
3,756
1
6,890
10,647
Fresh Fruit (Piculo)
2,567
7,198
5
9,770-
Hemp, Twine and Thread (Piculs)
4,745
77
4,822
Jose Sticks (Picule)
++
860
202
મ
1,070
!
Paper, 1st Quality (Piculs)
24
24
Paper, 2nd Quality (Piculs)
78
2
80
Pigs (Number)
---
30,720
7,484
38,204
Pottery, Earthenware (Piculs)
5,281
81
5,365
Samshu (Picals)
11,283
67
6
11,356
Sugar, Brown (Piculs)
6,396
12,412
6,037
24,845
Timbers and Wood (Value in Taels)
Tobacco (Picula)
31,216
5,313
36,529
77
53
130
15
a letter (received from a trustworthy source) from the Chinese Minister at Washing- ton to the Director of Chinese Railways on the subject of disputes that have arisen between the Belgian and American shareholders in the Railway Concession which is held by the American China Development Company.
2. The course that I should like to see adopted would be for the Chinese Govern- ment to cancel the Concession on the ground that its terms have been infringed by permitting persons who are not Americans to acquire shares in it, and to re-grant it to a British and American Syndicate.
3. I can only repeat that I regard it of vital importance to this Colony and to British trade generally that England should have a substantial, and, if possible, a controlling interest in any railways connecting the Yangtze Valley with South China.
I have, &c.,
F. H. MAY, Officer Administering the Government.
The export in Brown Sugar in 1901 was 49,733 piculs from Tungkun, and 32,106 piculs from Sanon. It is not possible to ascertain from the returns from what districts the matting comes, but the Commissioner tells me that it is exported chiefly from Shiklung, on the East River, and Lin Tau, on the West.
The total export in 1901 was 409,128 rolls valued at 1,779,707 taels. In 1902 it was only 219,001 rolls, valued at 985,505 taels. The Commissioner, in his report for 1902, says that the large decrease in the export of matting and of Brown Sugar is chiefly due to fiscal changes. From other sources learn that sugar can now be obtained in Hong Kong from other places cheaper than it can be obtained from Tungkun, and that a great part of the sugar from that district goes to Canton. An increase in the use of Japan matting is, I understand,, the cause of the reduction in the export of that article.
12581
attach a tracing* showing the positions of the places named above.
(Confidential.)
SIR,
No. 11.
A. W. BREWIN, Registrar-General.
ACTING GOVERNOR MAY to MR. LYTTELTON. (Received April 9, 1904.)
[See No. 9.]
Government House, Hong Kong, March 11, 1904. WITH reference to my confidential despatch of the 30th of January last.t I have the honour to transmit, for your information, the enclosed copy of translation of
Enclosure in No. 11.
TRANSLATION of a letter from Sir Chentung Liang to His Excellency Sheng Kungpao.
United States of America, 26th of the 9th Moon,
November 14, 1903.
YOUR EXCELLENCY,
Or late there has been frequent references in the Foreign Press to the fact that the Belgian stockholders in the American China Development Company have been making trouble. The facts, as far as I know them, are as follows:-
Since the death of President Brice there have been differences of opinion between the shareholders, of whom some, scared by the troubles in North China, privately sold their original shares. It was said that the Belgians bought two- thirds of the shares; in other words, only one-third of the shares was left in American hands; and that the then Minister at Washington (Wu) was never consulted in the matter. Ever since that time the stockholders of the two nations (American and Belgian) have been unable to work smoothly together, and it is greatly due to Mr. Parson's credit that no serious rupture has occurred; the cause of Mr. Gray's trouble and difficulties might also be fairly attributed to the difference of opinion among the stockholders. Mr. Parson came to see me the other day, when he explained to me the difficult situation in which he is placed, and at the same time he suggested three alternative ways for carrying out the construction of the Canton-Hankow lines, viz., (a) Surrender of all the stock remaining in the hands of the Americans to the Belgians and then surrender all the rights of the American Company to a Belgian Company, allowing the Belgians to take over the entire control and the construction, or (b) let Your Excellency deal firmly with the matter, recognising only the American Com- pany as entitled to do the entire construction work, and the American Directors to manage the Company, and allowing no other person to interfere therein. If (a) and (b) are not practicable suggestions there remains (c), viz., divide the construction work into two parts, one under the American Company and the other under the Belgians, such division to be defined and approved by the Director-General.
In my humble opinion the reason why the Concession of the Canton-Hankow line was given to the Americans lay in the fact that America has never given China any trouble, and would never attempt to weaken China's sovereignty in the control of this railway. Its Government is strong, and can be used, if necessary, against aggression by the Belgians and French on the Lu Han Line. This is, no doubt, your own view. If the American Company surrenders its concession to the Belgians there will be endless troubles, and people will say that both the Northern and South- ern trunk lines must fall into the hands of the Russian and French. proposal (a) cannot be accepted. With regard to (c) and the division of the railway. Therefore, it seems, on the surface, to be a fair way of dealing with the shareholders of the two nationalities, and calculated to prevent trouble. It is, however, the American Com- pany which has entered into the contract (with us), and when the American sold their share they never notified us; now each side wants to obtain more power. This is certainly a matter which must be settled by the stockholders themselves; it is not possible for us to recognise the Belgian shares; therefore proposal (c) appears to require careful consideration. As to (b), viz., that only American, and no other
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