CO129-331 - Public Offices - 1905 — Page 595

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his own private explanation of the present state of

affairs, which, he admitted, could not continue.

The outcry for the abrogation of foreign concessions,

railway and mining, was directly due to circumstances

connected with the Canton-Hankow railway concession.

In regard to that the people of the Hukuang provinces

accused the foreign (Belgian) concessionaires of un-

fairness, and in the end the agreement was annulled

with the help of English money. Other provinces -

Shantung, Chihll, Kiangsu, Anhui, Chêklang, and

Kuangtung observing the success of Hunan and Hupei,

and partly incited by students in the new provincial

colleges, commenced at once to agitate for the can-

cellation of foreign concessions and for the con-

struction of railways by native enterprise alone.

The agitation had not been confined to British railways:

the Shantungese wished to recover possession of the

German railway to Kiaochou and to withdraw the Tient-

sin-Chinklang railway concession, just as the Canton-

ese and the people of Chêkiang pressed for the annul-

ling of the Canton-Kowloon and Soochow-Hangchow

Ningpo railway agreements. They all wanted to build

these railways themselves, but of course they were

without experience and would soon discover in any

case that they could not find the money.

His Excellency had no charge of unfairness to

bring against British railway concessionaires, and

when I expressed aurprise at the fact that the Chi-

nese Government, instead of checking the provinces

and reminding them of the existence of binding con-

tracte, supported their unjustifiable demands for

cancellation, he asserted that it was not possible

for the Central Government to disregard the wishes

of the provinces and refuse to humour their agita-

tions to some extent.

greatly since 1900.

Circumstances had altered

Before that the use of compul-.

sion by the Court to obtain the execution of unpala-

it nowadays.

table duties was free from the dangera which beset

Since 1900 the provinces had acquired

habits of independence in local matters, and they

had to be reasoned with, not forced. He thought a

little patience was all that was necessary. The

Chinese Government would have to invite the provin-

cial Governments and the agitating gentry to examine

these

the