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Majesty's Minister at the time; that it was duly ratified by Imperial Ediot; and consequently that the Viceroy of Canton cannot deny that it is a regular contract, nor ignore its terms.

With regard to Your Excellency's further claim under Article 5 of the Agree- ment, the Governor begs to point out that the arrangements and amendments in question refer merely to the local conditions and difficulties which may arise in the construction of the line; these were to be modified as circumstances arose.

Accordingly, the Governor of Hong Kong contends that Your Excellency has no justification to disregard or annul this Agreement.

10498

No. 239.

I avail, &c.,

(Card of Consul-General.)

359

Foremen, and the Chief Storekeeper, who will also for the present superintend the accounts, and passages had been arranged for these officers by steamers leaving England on the dates stated below:-

Personal Assistant: Mr. R. Baker, 17th March. Chief Storekeeper: Mr. J. Menagh, 12th April.

Two Inspectors: Mr. H. Kitchen, 14th April; Mr. H. Wilkins, 6th May. 3. It was not possible to cancel these arrangements without very considerable expense and inconvenience both to the Government and the men concerned, and as the Consulting Engineers assured us that there would be work for all, we decided to let them go on.

4. The appointment of "tunnel overseer" included in the staff list prepared by the Consulting Engineers is intended to be filled by Mr. Cooke, who has already been at work in the Colony. It was, in fact, not intended that all the appointments on the list should be filled by men to be newly sent out from this country. This, we understand, has already been explained to Mr. Eves; and we have now arranged with the Consulting Engineers that no further appointments should be made in this country till he reports his requirements.

THE EARL OF ELGIN to GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN.

(Paraphrase.)

(Sent 11.45 a.m., April 7, 1906.)

TELEGRAM.

Referring to your telegram of March 26,* your views have been communicated to the Corporation, but they are anxious that, if possible, Bland should negotiate. I understand that their agents are in communication with you. They have doubt- less shown you the telegram sent by the Corporation on March 27th.

The Honourable

The Colonial Secretary,

&c., &c.,

&c.,

Hong Kong.

I have, &c.,

P. EZECHIEL,

for Crown Agents.

12800

No. 240.

13945

No. 241.

། ?། །

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 882

6

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

SIR,

CROWN AGENTS to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received April 12, 1906.)

Whitehall Gardens, London, S.W., April 11, 1906. WITH reference to your communication, No. 11530, of the 5th instant, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a telegram which we have addressed to the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject of the staff required for the Kowloon-Canton Railway Construction, together with a copy of our confirming letter.

I have, &c.,

Enclosure 1 in No. 240.

P. EZECHIEL,

for Crown Agents.

CROWN AGENTS to the GOVERNOR, Hong Kong.

TELEGRAM.

April 9, 1906. Referring to telegram of 2nd April to Secretary of State for the Colonies, Kowloon Railway, Personal Assistant, two Inspectors, also Storekeeper already appointed; no other appointments will be made until Eves reports require-

ments.

(77 M.

J. 19.)

SIR,

Enclosure 2 in No. 240.

Kowloon-Canton Railway.

1

April 11, 1900.

On the 9th instant we sent to the Governor the following telegram in reply to his telegram of the 2nd instant to the Secretary of State relative to the staff required for the construction of the above railway :-

2.

[Enclosure 1.]

Prior to the receipt of the Governor's telegram we had already engaged (in addition to the Assistant Engineer-now called District Engineer, and the Draughts- man) the Personal Assistant to the Chief Engineer, two Inspectors, or General

↑ L.F. transmitting copy of No. 236.

• No. 230.

(Secret.)

GOVERNOR SIR M. NATHAN to THE EARL OF ELGIN.

(Received April 21, 1906.)

MY LORD,

Government House, Hong Kong, March 23, 1906. In continuation of my secret despatch of the 9th March* on the subject of negotiations for the completion of a Loan Agreement and of a Joint Working Agreement in connection with the proposed Canton-Kowloon Railway, I have the honour to enclose, for information and record, a paraphrase of further telegraphic communications with your Lordship, His Majesty's Minister at Peking, and His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton.

2. On account of Sir Ernest Satow's to me of the 10th March (XVI.), I post- poned the despatch of the telegram I had proposed to send to your Lordship asking that very strong representations might be made by His Majesty's Government to the Government of China in the matter of the delay of the Viceroy to open nego- tiations. A paraphrase of His Majesty's Minister's telegram to the Consul-General of the same date as his telegram to me (XVII.) was received on the 13th from Mr. Scott, who stated he was addressing a note to the Viceroy in accordance with the instructions it contained, but did not anticipate any satisfactory result, as he was satisfied from confidential enquiries he had made that the Viceroy had no intention of concluding any arrangement. On the 16th, Mr. Scott sent me the Viceroy's reply to his note, of which reply, as well as of the note itself, I enclose a copy. The gist of the reply is embodied in the telegram sent on the same date by the Consul-General to His Majesty's Minister (XVIII.). On the 18th, I received from Mr. Scott a copy of his letter of the previous day communicating the above correspondence to Sir Ernest Satow; it is enclosed in this despatch. It showed that the Viceroy was again endeavouring to shift the burden of the negotiations from himself. I then sent your Lordship my telegram of the 19th March (XIX.)† and informed Sir Ernest that I had done so (XX.). I had communicated in the meantime the Viceroy's unsatisfactory proposals confidentially to the Agent of the British and Chinese Corporation.

3. On the 20th I received from the Consul General a copy of a letter that had been handed to him on the previous evening, in which the Viceroy stated that he

↑ No. 226.

• No. 238.