CO129-337 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1906 — Page 699

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government. C. O.

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

36382

[September 19ECE

CONFIDENTIAL,

(30589]

No. 1.

TREGE 3 OCT 06

SECTION 1.

690

Mr. Carnegie to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received September 10.)

(No. 314. Confidential.) Sir,

Peking, July 23, 1906. WITH reference to my despatch No. 227 of the 15th May last, containing copy of a note addressed to Prince Ching in which I requested his Highness to impress on the Viceroy of Canton that the construction of a line from Canton through Whampoa would constitute a breach of the Preliminary Agreement with the British and Chinese Corpora tion for the railway from Canton to Kowloon, and urged the appointment of a negotiator to discuss a Final Agreement in regard to the latter line with a representative of the Corporation, I have the honour to inform you that, as I received no reply to my note, I had several interviews with the Wai-wu Pu, at which I pressed them for an answer. I was informed on each occasion that the matter was under the consideration of the Prince, who would be again consulted. As I had the honour to report in my telegram No. 116 of the 30th May, his Highness' view was that the Soochow-Hangchow and Canton-Kowloon lines could not be negotiated together, and that the former should be taken first as it offered less local difficulty. On the 13th June Mr. T'ong Shoa-Yi stated that if the question of the former line might stand over a negotiator would be appointed for the other. In view of the opinion contained in your telegram No. 112 of the 8th June, I expressed my acquiescence in this arrangement, and my hopes for an early settlement of the matter. As I was still without a reply when I received your telegram No. 120 of the 3rd July, I again went to the Wai-wu Pu and urged them to give me one without any further delay. Mr. T'ong was requested by the Grand Secretary Na to speak in the name of the Board. His Excellency then said that he had been told by Prince Ching to inform me that, the Canton-Kowloon Railway being a local matter of which the conditions were best known to the people of Canton, the negotiations should be referred there. I expressed my surprise at this announcement, to which I strongly objected. These negotiations had been transferred to Peking after fong and fruitless discussions in Canton, and the Chinese Government had on several occasions stated that they would appoint a negotiator here. His Majesty's Government had been informed of this arrange- ment, and they would regard the present proposal as a breach of faith. I added that I always wished to conduct all business with the Wai-wu Pu in an amicable manner, but that if this proposal was persisted in I should be placed in a very awkward position.

Mr. Tong said that the difficulty had arisen owing to a misunderstanding as to the terms of the transference of the negotiations from Canton to Peking. According to a tele- gram received from the Viceroy, Mr. Bland had approved certain bases which had been put before him, and had said that he would negotiate on them at Peking. Mr. Bland on the other hand averred that what he had approved was the transference of the negotiations to Peking, not the bases submitted to him.

I rejoined that the Wai-wu Pu know for the past month and more that all I was waiting for was the appointment of a negotiator by Prince Ching, and that I could not comprehend why the question of this misunderstanding had not been raised long ago. It was not possible to start it now with any show of reason.

After some further discussion Mr. Tong promised to see the Prince and discuss it with him again.

I asked Mr. Campbell to go and see Mr. Tong and talk matters over with him privately. Mr. Tong stated that the Wai-wu Pu knew nothing officially about the Whampoa scheme, which had been mooted by one Chang, a Singapore merchant. The Canton Notables objected to him, and nothing was being done. He appeared to attach no importance to the project. In regard to the Canton-Kowloon Railway, a telegram had been sent to the Viceroy in order to clear up the misunderstanding, and it was hoped that a favourable reply to my request for a negotiator would be sent in a short time. Mr. Tong complained that the Viceroy was using his great influence at Court to obstruct, and he begged for a little patience on our side. I had the honour to report my interview with the Wai-wu Pu and Mr. Tong's remarks to Mr. Campbell in my telegram No. 132, Confidential, of the 5th instant.

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