CO129-343 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 252

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

CHINA RAILWAYS.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[3105)

No 1.

249

[January 28.]

SECTION 2.

5519

RECH Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received January 28, 1907.) REG 13 FEB 07, (No. 519.) Sir,

Peking, December 11, 1906. WITH reference to your telegram No. 185 of the 1st November, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a despatch which I have received from Mr. Goffe, Acting British Consul-General at Chengtu, from which it appears that the Viceroy's idea of raising a foreign loan to make up the deficit in railway finances has now been abandoned.

I have, &c. (Signed)

J. N. JORDAN,

Inclosure in No. 1.

Acting Consul-General Goffe to Sir J. Jordan.

(No. 72 a. Confidential.) Sir,

Chengtu, November 16, 1906. WITH reference to my despatch No. 69 A of the 15th ultimo, I have the honour to report that the idea of raising a foreign loan appears to have been abandoned for the present, owing to the majority of the gentry being opposed to such a step. This entirely accords with the Viceroy's personal wishes, and he is reported to have given some sort of undertaking that the deficit in the railway funds shall be made up within three years.

It is more than a coincidence that, since the gentry have begun to put pressure- on the Viceroy, the head priest of Chao Chueh Ssu, a temple situated about 12 li outside the north gate, and said to be the largest in Szechuan, has been arraigned on a charge of having secretly married and brought up a family. According to the "Official Gazette," six-tenths of the temple property have been confiscated to the Government, and, as the land belonging to the temple amounts to some 7,000 mou, with over 100,000 taels' worth of timber, the Viceroy is considered to have netted at least 200,000 taels, which will doubtless go to replenish the empty coffers of the Railway Company. The people do not seem to have objected in any way to this spoliation of the Church, and flocked to see the priest cangued in full pontifical robes outside the central police station. It is not improbable that, after this first success, pretexts will soon be found to confiscate the lands of other temples.

A few days ago Mr. Davey showed me privately a letter which he had received from Mr. E. S. Little, Messrs. Brunner, Mond, and Co.'s agent in Shanghae, requesting him to try and negotiate a loan for the purpose of constructing the Szechuan-Hankow Railway. Mr. Little in his letter stated that, during a recent visit to Peking, he had discussed this matter with Tang Shao-yi, who had referred him to the provincial authorities and gentry. He was, he said, in touch with a group of financiers who were prepared to advance the money on the following terms--issue at 90, 5 per cent. interest, to be secured on salt or some other revenue, and an Imperial Decree to be issued authorizing the loan.

I have, &c. (Signed) HERBERT GOFFE,

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