This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No 1
279
[September 16.]
SECTION 9.
Consul-General Scott to the Marquess of Lansdowne.—(Received September 16.)
(No. 25.) My Lord,
Canton, August 15, 1901.
IN accordance with telegraphic instructions received from His Majesty's Minister, I have the honour to transmit herewith, for your Lordship's information, an extract from Mr. Vice-Consul Twyman's Intelligence Report for the period ended the 30th June of this year.
This extract deals with the subject of French activity in Kuang Tung Province.
I have, &c.
(Signed) B. C. GEORGE SCOTT.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Extract from June Intelligence Report, Canton, respecting French activity in Kuang Tung Province.
(Confidential.)
THE following well-authenticated case is an instance of the extraordinary protection afforded to Catholic converts in this Province by the French authorities. The owner of a certain launch owed large sums of money to a Catholic convert, who reported the matter to the French Consul. The latter asked Captain Yang, of the Shameen Guard, to arrest the launch as security for payment of the debt, which Captain Yang (himself a Catholic) accordingly did, and the launch was sold for the benefit of the creditor.
Considerable friction has occurred recently between the French Consular and Naval authorities on the one hand, and the Imperial Maritime Customs on the other, respecting certain matters connected with the Harbour Regulations.
For many years past, large sea-going junks, the property of the Superintendent of Native Customs, have, by the Harbour Regulations sanctioned by all the Consuls, occupied section 4 of the harbour, opposite the French Concession, as a place of anchorage. By means of a strong protest made to the Hoppo Superintendent of Trade, containing threats to remove them with the aid of gunboats if his request were not complied with, the French Consul obtained the removal of these junks from their anchorage opposite the French Concession. They now lie off the British Concession.
It appears, upon searching the records in the custom-house, that the present arrangement of anchorages in the harbour is based upon Regulations drawn up in 1896, and signed by Mr. Acting-Consul Fraser and all the other Consuls. According to these Regulations, section 4 (which is bounded on the east by a line drawn from the eastern side of the Shameen Creek to a point on the opposite side of Honam, and by a line parallel to it on the west drawn from a point marked on the wall of the French Bund also to Honam) was reserved for Chinese junks trading between Canton, Hong Kong, and Macao. This reservation almost coincides with that portion of the river which lies off the French Concession, and the fact is that the junks in question were, in anchoring off that Concession, complying with the Harbour Regulations as agreed to by the Consular Body in 1896.
Representations as to the inadvisability of permitting junks to occupy any portion of the harbour reserved for foreign shipping, outside of which foreign vessels cannot anchor, have accordingly been made by His Majesty's Consul-General to the Commissioner of Customs (the 4th July), and they are now under the consideration of that authority.
The French authorities have now also, themselves, placed buoys in the river for mooring their gunboats, regardless of the authority of the Imperial Maritime Customs in such a matter.
The Commissioner of Customs seems unwilling to raise any
[2282 q-9]
>
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
No 1
279
[September 16.]
SECTION 9.
Consul-General Scott to the Marquess of Lansdowne.—(Received September 16.)
(No. 25.) My Lord,
Canton, August 15, 1901. IN accordance with telegraphic instructions received from His Majesty's Minister, I have the honour to transmit herewith, for your Lordship's information, an extract from Mr. Vice-Consul Twyman's Intelligence Report for the period ended the 30th June of this year.
This extract deals with the subject of French activity in Kuang Tung Province.
I have, &c.
(Signed) B. C. GEORGE SCOTT.
Inclosure in No. 1.
Extract from June Intelligence Report, Canton, respecting French activity in Kuang Tung Province.
(Confidential.)
THE following well authenticated case is an instance of the extraordinary protection afforded to Catholic converts in this Province by the French authorities. The owner of a certain launch owed large sums of money to a Catholic convert, who reported the matter to the French Consul. The latter asked Captain Yang, of the Shameen Guard, to arrest the launch as security for payment of the debt, which Captain Yang (himself a Catholic) accordingly did, and the launch was sold for the benefit of the creditor.
Considerable friction has occurred recently between the French Consular and Naval authorities on the one hand, and the Imperial Maritime Customs on the other, respecting certain matters connected with the Harbour Regulations.
For many years past large sea-going junks, the property of the Superintendent of Native Customs, have, by the Harbour Regulations sanctioned by all the Consuls, occupied section 4 of the harbour, opposite the French Concession, as a place of anchorage. By means of a strong protest made to the Hoppo Superintendent of Trade, containing threats to remove them with the aid of gunboats if his request were not complied with, the French Consul obtained the removal of these junks from their anchorage opposite the French Concession. They now lie off the British Concession.
It appears, upon searching the records in the custom-house, that the present arrangement of anchorages in the harbour is based upon Regulations drawn up in 1896, and signed by Mr. Acting-Consul Fraser and all the other Consuls. According to these Regulations, section 4 (which is bounded on the east by a line drawn from the eastern side of the Shameen Creek to a point on the opposite side of Honam, and by a line parallel to it on the west drawn from a point marked on the wall of the French Bund also to Honam) was reserved for Chinese junks trading between Canton, Hong Kong, and Macao. This reservation almost coincides with that portion of the river which lies off the French Concession, and the fact is that the junks in question were, in anchoring off that Concession, complying with the Harbour Regulations as agreed to by the Consular Body in 1896.
Representations as to the inadvisability of permitting junks to occupy any portion of the harbour reserved for foreign shipping outside of which foreign vessels cannot anchor, have accordingly been made by His Majesty's Consul-General to the Com- missioner of Customs (the 4th July), and they are now under the consideration of that authority.
The French authorities have now also, themselves, placed buoys in the river for mooring their gunboats, regardless of the authority of the Imperial Maritime Customs in such a matter.
The Commissioner of Customs seems unwilling to raise any
[2282 q-9]
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