CO129-337 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1906 — Page 264

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on to make the necessary arrangements", and argued

this that the arrangements for the construction of He further said line depended on local conditions.

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the situation had changed in the interval since the decision of the preliminary agreement and that any in-

tation to compromise would involve both sides in diff-

iculties; and requested that the question of British firms

constructing the Chinese section should be dropped.

(5

I must observe in the first place that the Chinese and

English of the above quotation from (clause) of the Prelim-

inary Agreement do not correspond, and as both texts are

authenticated by the Director-General of Railways both must be

referred to in case of dispute. Mr. Ross, the agent of

British and Chinese Corporation who is now negotiating

in Canton is the person who drafted this clause in 1899

in Shanghai, and he explained to the Viceroy's delegates

that the local difficulties contemplated were interference

with survey parties, feng shui prejudices, troubles over

graves etc., for all of which the Director-General said

that the Viceroy of Canton would if necessary make arrange-

ments.

8.

It is evident therefore that in his communication of

December 20th to Mr. Scott the Viceroy merely proposed to

abrogate the preliminary agreement on the ground that the

situation has changed since 1899. That such a proposition

could be seriously put forward by His Excellency after all

the telegrams and correspondence which has passed on the

subject is amazing. It is enough to remark that if the

abrogation of the preliminary agreement, of March 28th 1899

could be so justified, there would be nothing to prevent

the