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the Shansi Concession) before commencing other operations, but I was unable to encourage the idea. His Excellency also deprecated any immediate attempt to work the other four fields in Shansi, namely Yuhsien, Luanfu, Tsechou, and Pingyang.
I impressed upon his Excellency the urgent importance of closing all the new mines recently opened within the area covered by the Syndicate's Application for Permit in Pingtingchou, but I could not obtain a definite promise that this should be done, although I pointed out that the Syndicate was being all the time thereby unfairly placed more and more at a disadvantage while the case was still under discussion. On this point I shall probably have some representations to make to your Excellency before long.
His Excellency En Shou concurred with me in thinking that it would be advisable for me to come to an understanding with the Wai-wu Pa on main principles and then visit Taiyuan Fu to settle details when his Excellency would be more conversant with the local circumstances and the situation generally.
Thauking your Excellency for the full assistance given me in this matter, I have, &c.,
GEORGE BROWN.
Sir,
(Signed)
Inclosure 5 in No. 1.
Peking Syndicate to Mr. Carnegie.
Tien-tsin, August 2, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to inform you that the discussion of the rights of the Peking Syndicate in Shansi, which arose from the refusal of the Shansi Governor in October last to grant the permit to open a coal mine, has at length reached another phase. After much procrastination, all previous attempts to obtain a further meeting with the Wai-wu Pu having been ingeniously turned aside, I succeeded in arranging a conference for the afternoon of Friday, the 27th ultimo. Their Excellencies Tong Shao Yi and Chu Pa Fei with Mr. Un (a junior) received me and they were afterwards joined by his Excellency Lien Fang.
I at once opened the business by remarking that the losses incurred by the Syndicate through its not being allowed to carry on its work in Shansi were very heavy and the matter was becoming more serious every day; that I had been very patient and had given every opportunity for the consideration of the question, but that my Board of Directors were now most urgently pressing for a settlement and I trusted to their Excellencies to bring this about at once and to instruct the Governor of Shansi to issue the permit to which we were entitled. The text of the Agreement was referred to and I pointed out that by the terms of the second paragraph of Article 1 the Governor was to report to the Tsung-li Yamên and "at the same time issue a permit for the mines to be opened without the least delay." His Excellency Tong pointed out that the Governor was to see that the proposed works were not injurious to the place and said that if, as Mr. Jamieson proposed, all the people were to be driven away from the permit area this would be injurious. I denied that Mr. Jamieson had suggested such a thing. His Excellency said that the natives could not be prohibited from mining with native methods. I said that the Syndicate had no desire to interfere with natives mining in a small way for local consumption, but that it would object to their competing with the Syndicate. At present the Syndicate which held the Agreement was not allowed to mine, whereas others, who had no Agreement, were mining and putting coal on the train of the approaching Cheng Tai Railway. I had also heard reports of foreign capital and machinery being obtained from Tien-tsin firms. His Excellency Tong gave me his word that this was not so, and attirined that no other foreign interest than that of the Syndicate would be admitted. He then went on to say that the permit applied for covered too great an area. The Tongshan Colliery, the second largest in the world, he asserted, covered only 2 or 3 l, while the Syndicate wanted 40 li. Only a small piece of ground could be wanted on the surface for the mine which could extend underground for any distance. I explained that we must protect our workings from being invaded by shafts sunk in proximity to ours. As to the size of our permit area,
I would submit on Tuesday, the 31st (his Excellency having assured me that I should be welcome at the Wai-wu Pu on any Tuesday or Friday afternoon), maps showing the extent of our application and also the new mines sunk within our claim to which we objected and the encouragement of which I said was grossly unfair; they ought to be stopped at once.
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Further desultory argument ensued and we touched on the subject of sole right which arose through his Excellency remarking that we had not the monopoly. I asked whether the Chinese Government, assuming for the moment its willingness, had the right to make an agreement similar to that held by the Syndicate with any other foreign Company for the five specified districts of Shansi. He said emphatically "No." That admission I contended showed that the Syndicate had the monopoly and therefore the sole right. I left with his Excellency a short statement of the object of my visit of which I have the honour to furnish a copy. On Tuesday the 31st I took two maps to the Wai-wu Pu, one showing the permit area applied for last October, as well as all adjacent native mines old and new with their histories, and the other showing the permit area and the new mines opened in and around its borders up to April last. Their Excellencies Tong Shao Yi and Chu Pa Fei with Mr. Un received me, and evidently took great interest in the maps. His Excellency Tong said that the Wai-wn Pu would like to have some guarantee that the Syndicate would not, after receiving the permit, hang it up and do nothing. They wanted to know that a proper sum would be spent in earnest mining. I said that the Syndicate's work in Honan showed that it was prepared to devote its energies and funds to the business thoroughly. There, unprecedented difficulties had been met with and had been resolutely faced one after another with expenditure of money and hard work. The last overwhelming inrush of water just as coal had been won was a terrible disappointment, but the Syndicate had not been deterred, and had at heavy cost ordered more pumping machinery to cope with it. His Excelleney said that he would examine the maps carefully, and I proposed that I should call again on Tuesday the 7th. His Excellency, however, expressed himself as anxious for a long discussion at our next meeting which he fixed for Thursday the 9th at 3:30 PM., when there would be freedom from interruption, and he agreed that I should ask Mr. Reid, the Syndicate's Engineer-in-chief to attend and furnish expert information and personal knowledge of the locality.
I have the honour to inclose copies of the two maps.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
GEORGE BROWN, Agent-General.
Inclosure 6 in No. 1.
Statement by Mr. G. Brown.
THE Agent-General of the Peking Syndicate would once more point out the serious losses that are being incurred through the failure of the Chinese authorities to carry out the provisions of the Shansi Concession which was sealed by the Tsung-li Yamên and formally approved by the Throne.
The advantages that would accrue to the people of Shansi, to the people of China generally, and to the Chinese revenue from the faithful carrying out of the agreement and the utilization of the mineral resources of the Shansi Province, which are at present lying idle and undisturbed of little good to any one, have long ago been fully set forth and explained. The Syndicate would regret to see on the part of the Chinese officials and people an attitude of apathy and indifference to the benefits to be so easily, so inexpensibly, and so speedily obtained. But the Syndicate is a commercial under- taking, and is concerned in the first place with the objects for which it was created. There is no dispute that under the terms of the Concession the Syndicate has most important rights in Shansi. It is debarred from exercising these rights and deriving legitimate profit therefrom by the refusal of his Excellency the late Governor of Shansi to grant a permit. This deprivation means a heavy loss day by day to the Syndicate. The new Governor, his Excellency En Shou, has now bad ample time to study the question in the light of local conditions. His Excellency Tong Shao Yi, to whom the matter was referred for consideration, has certainly been able to master the details and see where justice lies. The Agent-General therefore trusts that he may be able to report to his Board in London without delay that the Chinese Government has ordered the issue of the permit and that the rights of the Peking Syndicate are no longer under a ban.
(Submitted to their Excellencies of the Wai-wu Pu the 27th July, 1906.)
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