322
private firms to the detriment of our mutual friendly relations. My decision that each country should build its own line and subsequently make the necessary arrange- ments when the rails meet, is sincerely actuated, not only by a desire to aid the expansion of trade, but also to permanently consolidate our neighbourly intercourse. The declaration of the Governor of Hong Kong, that he considers my attitude unfriendly, is probably due to his not having carefully examined into this matter.
I have therefore the honour to request to inform the Governor of Hong Kong to lay weight upon our friendly relations, and it is my sincere hope that be will act in accordance with the suggestions contained in my previous letter.
Enclosure 3 in No. 211.
GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to Consul-General, Canton.
SIR,
Government House, January 7, 1906. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, enclosing a copy and translation of the Viceroy's reply to your letter forwarding mine of the 28th December, on the subject of the Canton-Kowloon Railway.
In this reply His Excellency refers to the Preliminary Agreement of 1899, which embodies a solemn engagement entered into by China as a Draft Agreement, and takes upon himself to repudiate it.
I am, of course, unable to accept this attitude as representing the views of the Government of China, and am communicating to this effect to His Majesty's Minister at Peking.
I have, &c.,
James Scott, Esq., I.S.O.,
His Britannic Majesty's Consul-General,
MATTHEW NATHAN,
Governor.
323
I have communicated a Chinese translation of this, and of the joint working agreement, to the Wai Wu Pu at their request, and shall send English texts as soon as copies are procurable.
May I have two printed copies by first mail?-Satow.
IV.
GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, to His BRITANNIC MAJESTY's Minister, Peking. (Despatched 5.15 p.m., January 11, 1906.)
Your telegram of to-day's date. Ross is protesting against Viceroy's refusal to negotiate.
Two printed copies of draft agreement go to you by to-morrow's English mail.—
NATHAN.
4861
(Confidential.)
No. 213.
4859
Canton.
No. 212.
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN. (Received February 10, 1906.)
(Secret.) MY LORD,
Government House, Hong Kong, January 11, 1906. In continuation of my secret despatch of to-day's date, 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 telegraphic correspondence with His Majesty's Minister at Peking.
I have, &c.,
M. NATHAN,
Governor.
}
Enclosure in No. 212.
Paraphrase of Telegraphic CORRESPONDENCE.
III.
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S MINISTER, Peking, to GOVERNOR, Hong Kong, (Despatched 1.10 p.m.: Received 2.33 p.m., January 11, 1906.)
No. 2. My telegram, No. 1. I think that the British and Chinese Corporation should be asked to persist in negotiating at Canton, and not to treat the despatch of the 20th September to Consul-General as the Viceroy's last word on the subject. I hope to induce the Wai Wu Pu to send definite instructions to the Viceroy to discuss the draft final agreement.
MY LORD,
GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN.
(Received February 10, 1906.)
[Answered by No. 256.]
Government House, Hong Kong, January 12, 1906. In the twelfth paragraph of my confidential despatch of the 20th October, 1905, on the subject of the survey and preliminary work for the section of the Canton- Kowloon Railway within British territory, I stated that the question of the extent and nature of the reclamation required for the Kowloon terminus of that line required careful working out and that I had placed that matter in the hands of Mr. J. F. Boulton, Senior Executive Engineer in the Public Works Department, and formerly the Engineer of the Praya Reclamation Works.
2. I have now the honour to forward a copy of a letter from Mr. W. Chatham, M.I.C.E., Director of Public Works, covering preliminary drawings and estimates drawn up by Mr. Boulton for a scheme of reclamation to provide a site for a pas- senger station and goods depôt in Hunghom Bay on the east side of the Kowloon Peninsula.
3. In the report made by Mr. P. T. Somerville Large in 1899 for the British and Chinese Corporation, the terminus was assumed to be on the reclaimed land at Tsim Sha Tsui to the extreme south of the peninsula and this site had been generally accepted locally. Apart, however, from the fact that the reclaimed land was private property, which could only be resumed at enormous cost, it seemed to me, when I first went into the matter in the autumn of 1904, that the area available was too restricted for a satisfactory terminus, that it could not be extended without unduly encroaching on the fairway of the harbour and that access to it would involve utilizing for the railway the main north and south road of Kowloon which would have ham- pered traffic and interfered with the development of the town. On the other hand, Hunghom Bay appeared to have the advantages now set forth in the first paragraph of Mr. Chatham's letter.
This view received independent corroboration from a letter, dated January 13th, of which I enclose a copy, from Mr. A. J. Barry, M.I.C.E., whom I saw on the occasion of his visit to Hong Kong shortly before that date, but with whom I had not dis- cussed this matter.
4. The plans now submitted are based on a detailed survey of Hunghom Bay, which the Commander-in-Chief, China Station, was good enough to have carried out for me by H.M.S." Albion" in February, 1905.
No. 211.
18885
* No. 171.
181
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTC.O. 882
6
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.