CO882-6 — Page 687

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

6 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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17. In the event of an unfavourable state of the market rendering the issue of this loan, and the payment of its proceeds to the Railway Administration impossible on the terms named without loss to the Corporation, the Corporation shall be granted such extension of time for the performance of its contract with the Administrator- General as the circumstances demand, any advances or instalments of proceeds already made to the Railway Administration being in that case treated as regards payment of interest, repayment of principal, security, and Imperial Chinese Govern- ment guarantee in terms of this present Agreement, and as forming part of the principal amount of this loan. Similar extension of time for the issue of this loan and payment of its proceeds shall also be granted in the event of the Deutsch- Asiatische Bank, Berlin, objecting to its issue before the month of April next, in accordance with the terms of clause 9 of the Agreement for the Chinese Imperial Government 41 per cent. Sterling Loan of 1898.

18. Immediately after the signature of this Agreement, and before the issue of the prospectus of the loan to the public, the Administrator-General will memorialize the Throne and obtain an Imperial Edict confirming and sanctioning the provisions of this Agreement, the Imperial Edict so received being then com- municated officially and without delay by the Tsung-li Yamên to the British Minister in Peking.

1

19. The Corporation may, subject to all its obligations, transfer or delegate all or any of its rights, powers, and discretions to any British Company, Directors, or Agents, in consultation with the Administrator-General, with or without power of further transfer and sub-delegation.

20. This Agreement is executed in quadruplicate in English and Chinese, one copy to be retained by the Administrator-General, one by the Tsung-li Yamên, one by the British Minister in Peking, and one by the Corporation. Should any doubt arise as to the interpretation of the contract, the English text shall be accepted as the standard.

Signed at Peking by the Contracting Parties this

day of

day of the eighth month of the twenty-fourth year of the Emperor Kuang-Hsü, being the October, 1898, Western Calendar.

10498

No. 218.

EXTRACT FROM LETTER DATED FEBRUARY 16TH, 1906, to MESSRS. JARDINE, MATHESON AND CO., HONG KONG.

[Communicated by The British and Chinese Corporation, Limited, March 28, 1906.]

By this mail we send 25 reprints of the Agreement, in which have been embodied all the alterations we have received from time to time.

Also the following:-

Addition to line 3 of Article 1 respecting amount of loan as furnished by you to Sir E. Satow on the 12th January.

Deficiency paragraph to be inserted in Article 2, as furnished by you to Sir E. Satow on the 12th January.

Article 23. The wording prescribed by Sir E. Satow and sent to us by Mr. Ross on September 1st, 1905.

To meet the possible contingency that you might not wish these three alterations made at the present time, we have had separate reprints of the pages (viz., 4, 6 and 34) on which they occur, but omitting these three alterations, and we send you 25 copies of each, so that if you desire to do so you can substitute them for the corresponding pages in the 25 revises.

As regards the amended wording of Article 1, as to the amount of loan, viz. :— "not exceeding £1,500,000 sterling, in addition to the amount required to

pay for land, &c."

we take it that this will not be so expressed in the final text, but that the amount for the land will be agreed upon and then an inclusive fixed sum inserted as the amount of the loan, and it is most important that the amount of the loan should be specified definitely as so many pounds.

Not reprinted.

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The amount of loan has also to be inserted in Article 5, and unless it covers the land the wording of this Article will have to be altered. The cost of the land is to be inserted in Article 7.

It will be well to bear constantly in mind that if an alteration be made in any Article it may affect other parts of the Agreement, and render it necessary to examine the whole Agreement so as to avoid the creeping in of inconsistencies."

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SIR,

No. 219.

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received February 21, 1906.)

WITH reference to your British and Chinese Corporation, anuary 29, 1906.†

To British and Chinese Corporation, February 8, 1906.

Foreign Office, February 20, 1906. letter, 3022/05-06, of the 13th instant, enclosing copies of a despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong, and of a letter to the British and Chinese Corporation in regard to the Canton-Kowloon Railway negotiations, I am directed by Secretary

Sir E. Grey to transmit herewith, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, copies of correspondence between this Department and the Corpora- tion, together with copy of a telegram from His Majesty's Minister at Peking on the subject.

Sir E. Grey concurs in Lord Elgin's view that His Majesty's Government cannot acquiesce in the attitude of the Viceroy in this matter, and His Lordship will observe from Sir E. Satow's telegram that His Majesty's Minister and the Governor of Hong Kong, who are both perfectly aware of the importance attached by His Majesty's Government to the early construction of the Railway, appear to be doing everything possible to bring pressure to bear

upon him.

In the present state of public feeling in China in regard to railway and mining concessions to foreigners, which it may be hoped is only transitory, Sir E. Grey feels that it is necessary to exercise patience while resisting any encroachment duly acquired rights of British concessionaires.

the upon

I am to add that the substance of Sir E. Satow's telegram of the 7th instant has been communicated to the British and Chinese Corporation.

(Confidential.)

SIR,

F. A. CAMPBELL.

I am, &c.,

Enclosure 2 in No. 219.

Foreign Office, February 8, 1906.

I AM directed by Secretary Sir E. Grey to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th ultimo on the subject of a meeting between your representative and the Viceroy of Canton's Deputies with regard to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, and to inform you that a telegram has been addressed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking enquiring the present state of the negotiations on the subject.

At the same time I am to state, for the information of the British and Chinese Corporation, that on November 27th last the Governor of Hong Kong told the Vice- roy's Secretary that His Majesty's Government were bound to support the Corpora- tion in obtaining the fulfilment of the Agreement in regard to the Railway, and that if there were any details in it which did not meet with the Viceroy's approval, he should negotiate with the Corporation for their modification.

I am also to enclose, for the confidential information of the Corporation, a copy of a telegram from the Viceroy of Canton, respecting the Agreement which has been communicated by the Chinese Minister, together with a copy of the reply which has been addressed to Wang Tah Sieh on the subject.

The Chairman of the British and Chinese Corporation,

3. Lombard Street, London, E.C.

* No. 215.

I am, &c.,

F. A. CAMPBELL

↑ Similar, mutatis mutandis, to No. 204.