[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
311
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
14802
[November 10.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
RECEIVED
Reef 5 DFC OF
SECTION 2.
[37807]
No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received November 10.)
(No. 23.) Sir,
Yunnan-fu, August 31, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to inclose copy of a despatch which I have addressed to his Excellency the Governor of the Straits Settlements, forwarding copy and translation of a communication in which the Governor-General of the Yun-kuei asks me to request his Excellency to issue instructions for the care of Miao Taot'ai, now proceeding to Singapore to sell shares in the "Yünnan-Szechuan and Tengyuel Railways."
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. H. WILKINSON.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Consul-General Wilkinson to Governor Sir J. Anderson,
Yunnan-fu, August 31, 1906. I HAVE received from the Governor-General of the Yun-kuei the communication of which I have the honour to inclose copy and translation. The Governor-General requests me to ask your Excellency to be good enough to give instructions that Miao Kuo-chun, an expectant Taot'ai on his establishment, be "looked after," in, of course, the more complimentary sense of the term.
Miao taotai has been sent, says the despatch, to the "Southern and Eastern Seas," in other words, the Straits Settlements and Japan, to sell shares in the Yunnan-Szechuan and Tengyueh Railways. These concerns are described in the provisional receipts for shares, a specimen of which I beg to inclose with translation, as purely Chinese companies, and the sale of a share to anyone not a Chinese subject is to invalidate it. As, however, the construction of a railway between Bhamo, in Upper Burmah, and Tengyueh is at the present time under consideration by the Government of India, I found myself unable to undertake to forward the present request to your Excellency unless the words "or Tengyueh" were deleted, or some explanation were forthcoming that their presence in the documents transmitted by me would not be taken as an admission that the British can have no part in a Tengyueh railway.
I accordingly wrote privately to Ting chih-t'ai, pointing out that I had more than once informed him that I had received instructions to discuss with him the construction of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh as soon as I shall have received a communication from the Government of India informing me of the nature of the proposals to be made. Pending the receipt of such communication, I suggested that the words "and Tengyueh" should be struck out.
Yesterday his two confidential advisers, Kuei-fu, the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, and Chiang Li-ch'eng, Acting Superintendent of Telegraphs, called on me. They explained that it would be easy to delete the words in the despatch--they suggested, indeed, that I might omit them in the copy sent to your Excellency, but practically impossible to do so in the share receipts, since Miao taot'ai will probably have already disposed of several of these last. I must not, however, attach too much weight to them. "The Tengyueh Railway Company" would, of course, eventually take the form which might be agreed upon between the Governments of China and Great Britain. In any case, some expenditure would have to be incurred by Yunnan. For example, even should the railway be altogether a British concern, just as the Laokai-Yünnan-fu Railway is French, still Yunnan would, if the regulations were similar, be called on to provide the land, for some of which she would have to pay; and for such payment the words "and Tengyueh" might be taken to provide.
I answered that if it is understood that these words do not commit me or your Excellency's Government to an acknowledgment that shares in a Tengyueh railway...
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Page 33
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
311
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
14802
[November 10.]
CONFIDENTIAL.
RECE
Reef 5 DFC OF
SECTION 2.
[37807]
No. 1.
Consul-General Wilkinson to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received November 10.)
(No. 23.) Sir,
Yunnan-fu, August 31, 1906.
I HAVE the honour to inclose copy of a despatch which I have addressed to his Excellency the Governor of the Straits Settlements, forwarding copy and translation of a communication in which the Governor-General of the Yun-kuei asks me to request his Excellency to issue instructions for the care of Miao Taot'ai, now proceeding to Singapore to sell shares in the "Yünnan-Szechuan and Tengyuel Railways."
I have, &c.
(Signed) W. H. WILKINSON.
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Consul-General Wilkinson to Governor Sir J. Anderson,
Yunnan-fu, August 31, 1906. I HAVE received from the Governor-General of the Yun-kuei the communication of which I have the honour to inclose copy and translation. The Governor-General requests me to ask your Excellency to be good enough to give instructions that Miao Kuo-chun, an expectant Taot'ai on his establishment, be "looked after,” in, of course, the more complimentary sense of the term.
Miao taotai has been sent, says the despatch, to the "Southern and Eastern Seas," in other words, the Straits Settlements and Japan, to sell shares in the Yunnan- Szechuan and Tongyueh Railways. These concerns are described in the provisional receipts for shares, a specimen of which I beg to inclose with translation, as purely Chinese companies, and the sale of a share to anyone not a Chinese subject is to invalidate it. As, however, the construction of a railway between Bhamo, in Upper Burmah, and Tengyneh is at the present time under consideration by the Government of India, I found myself unable to undertake to forward the present request to your Excellency unless the words "or Tengyuch were deleted, or some explanation were forthcoming that their presence in the documents transmitted by me would not be taken as an admission that the British can have no part in a Tengyuch railway.
31
I accordingly wrote privately to Ting chih-t'ai, pointing out that I had more than once informed him that I had received instructions to discuss with him the construction of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyuch as soon as I shall have received a communication from the Government of India informing me of the nature of the proposals to be made. Pending the receipt of such communication, I suggested that the words "and Tengyueh" should be struck out.
Yesterday his two confidential advisers, Kuci-fu, the Assistant Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, and Chiang Li-ch'eng, Acting Superintendent of Telegraphs, called on me. They explained that it would be easy to delete the words in the despatch--they suggested, indeed, that I might omit them in the copy sent to your Excellency, but practically impossible to do so in the share receipts, since Miao taot'ai will probably have already disposed of several of these last. I must not, however, attach too much weight to them. "The Tengyuch Railway Company" would, of course, eventually take the form which might be agreed upon between the Governments of China and Great Britain. In any case, some expenditure would have to be incurred by Yunnan. For example, even should the railway be altogether a British concern, just as the Laokai-Yünnan-fu Railway is French, still Yunnan would, if the regulations were siunlar, be called on to provide the land, for some of which she would have to pay; and for such payment the words "and Tengyueh" might be taken to provide.
1 answered that if it is understood that these words do not commit me or your Excellency's Government to an acknowledgment that shares in a Tengyuel railway
[2226 k-2]
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