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FOREIGN OFFICE,
May 27th. 1905.
The Chairman,
British & Chinese Corporation,
3, Lombard Street, E. C.
Sir:-
565
t
I am directed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to acknow-
ledge the receipt of your letter of the 22nd. instant, containing
a statement of the present position of the negotiations with the
Chinese Government relative to the Canton Kowloon Railway.
You state that delay is taking place in the negotiatin
in progress at Peking and you express the hope that His Majestyb
Minister may continue to support Mr. Ross, the Representative of
the British & Chinese Corporation at Peking, in overcoming any
difficulties which may arise in those negotiations, and that he
may assist that gentleman in concluding the final Agreement.
I am to inform you that, in the opinion of Lord
Lansdowne, no undue delay in the negotiations can so far be held
to have occurred which would justify a complaint being addressed
to the Chinese Government on the subject.
It should be borne in mind that the preliminary
contract for the line was signed in 1898. The position there-
fore is that, after letting the matter rest for close on seven
years, the Chinese Goverment have been now approached with a
proposal for a final agreement into which an entirely new element
has been introduced by the intention to work as one railway the
two sections which will be respectively in British and Chinese
territory.
It is therefore only reasonable that the Chinese
Government should take time to consider the proposal and to
consult His Excellency Sheng, Director General of Railways.
Sir E. Satow has however been instructed by telegraph
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