CANTON
464 KOWLOON RAILWAY.
MINUTES of Second Meeting held at H.B.M. Consulate-General Canton on Tuesday 19th December 1905, between the Viceroy of Canton's Deputies and the representative of the British & Chinese Corporation Limited.
PRESENT; - Messrs Wei, Wen & Kung representing the Viceroy of Canton and Mr C.H. Ross representing the British & Chinese Corporation Ltd. Mr Tebbitt, H.B.M Vice-Consul being also present.
Mr Wen, on behalf of his colleagues, said they had explained the Corporation's proposals to the Viceroy, (though an account of the delicate state of His Excellency's health a bare outline only of the proposed agreement had been submitted) and had been instructed to reply that since the preliminary Agreement had been signed, circumstances had changed, and particularly a marked change had come over the spirit of the people, who now desired to themselves build this railway, and the Viceroy was not prepared to oppose this feeling which had been expressed in unmistakable tones by the local gentry.
In the Viceroy's opinion, the Preliminary Agreement was a non-binding document, which although authorised by the Tsung-li-Yamen, had not formally received the Emperor's sanction, and moreover Clause 5 of this Agreement seemed specially to provide for a state of affairs such as now existed.
Mr Ross, replying to the foregoing remarks, told the Deputies that if they would refer to their archives, dated he believed about the end of the year 1898, they would discover correspondence which passed between Sheng Kung-pao, and the then Viceroy of Canton, on the subject of this railway. In the letters referred to (copies of which Mr Ross had read) Sheng explained the instructions he had received from the Throne, quoting these in full with the Imperial rescript. Under such circumstances it was therefore quite incorrect to state that the
CANTON
464 KOWLOON RAILWA Y.
MINUTES of Second Meeting held at H.B.M.Consulate-General Canton on Tuesday 19th December 1905, between the Viceroy of Canton's Deputies and the representative of the British & Chinese Corporation Limited. PRESENT; - Messrs Wei, Wen & Kung representing the Viceroy of Canton and Mr C.H.Ross representing the British & Chinese Corporation Ltd. Mr Tebbitt, H.B.M Vice-Consul being also present. ́
Mr Wen, on behalf of his colleagues, said, they had explained the Corporation's proposals to the Viceroy, (1
(though an account of the delictae state of His Excellency's health a bare outline only of the proposed agreement had been submitted) and had been instructed to reply that since the preliminary Agree- men thad been signed, circumstances had changed, and particularly a marked change had come over the spirit of the people, who now desired to themselves build this railway, and the Viceroy was not
prepared to oppose this feeling which had been expressed in unmistakeable tones by the local gentry.
In the Viceroy's opinion, the Preliminary Agreement was a non-binding document, which although authorised by the Tsung-li- Yamen, had not formally received the Emperor's sanction, and moreover Clause 5 of this Agreement seemed specially to provide for a state of affairs such as now existed.
Mr Ross, replying to the foregoing remarks, told the Deputies that if they would refer to their archives, date he believed about the end of the year 1898, they would discover correspondence which passed between Sheng Kungpao, and the then Viceroy of Canton, on the subject of this railway. In the letters referred to (copies of which Mr Ross had read) Sheng explained the instructions he had received from the Thr one, quoting these in full withthe Imperial rescript. Under such circumstances it was therefore quite incorrect to state that the
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