CO129-329 - Governor Nathan - 1905 [7-12] — Page 475

CRET.

Sir,

472

Government Tose

1

3th October, 1905.

With reference to that part of my Secret

despatch of the 22nd September last which dealt with

negotiations for the completion of a loan agreement

and a joint working agreement in connection with the

proposed Canton-Kowloon-Railway I regret to have

little progress to report.

2.

You will doubtless have received from the

Foreign Office a copy of the despatch which Sir Ernest

Satcw addressed to the Secretary of State for Foreign

Affairs on the 21st vltimo, covering copies of a

letter in which Frince Ch'ing again expressed the

desire of the Chinese to raise funds and themselves

undertake the Chinese section of the line and of Sir

Ernest's reply again insisting on the terms and condi-

tions of the preliminary agreement of arch 28th 1899

being faithfully carried out.

3. The attitude of the Chinese will be made

clearer to you by the extract I enclose from the

issue of "The Hong Kong Daily Fress" of the 4th instant.

It is from a letter from the newspaper's Canton

correspondent dated the 1st October, and purports to

give a translation of a dogpatch from the Viceroy at

Canton to Cheong Pat Si alias Chang Chin isun (in

Cantonese -Cheung Chan Tan) Director General of

agriculture