[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
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One of the most important of these disabilities, to which my Committee desire to direct your particular attention, is in connection with imports via Dalny. In addition to this being a free port, the Imperial Maritime Customs have now decreed that foreign goods re-exported from Shanghae to Dalny are entitled to duty drawback. The natural outcome of this legislation is that goods are shipped to Newchwang viâ Dalny duty-free, whereas on direct cargoes from Shanghae to Newchwang full duties are demanded.
The result is the concurrent existence of one toll-gate and one open gate to Manchuria, an anomaly for which there appears to this Chamber no justification.
I have therefore the honour, on behalf of the Chamber, to request that you will represent to the proper authorities the urgent necessity either of constituting Newchwang a free port, until the establishment of the Imperial Chinese Customus on the Manchurian boundary of the free port of Dalny, or of the immediate establishment of such customs control over imports from Dalny into Manchuria.
I have, &c. (Signed)
HENRY KESWICK, Chairman.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Doyen of Diplomatic Body to Shanghae Chamber of Commerce.
Le 10 Décembre, 1906. J'AI porté à la connaissance de MM. les Chefs des Missions Diplomatiques à Pékin la lettre du 29 Octobre dernier, par laquelle la Chambre Générale de Commerce de Shanghai se plaignait de la situation désavantageuse faite à la place de Newchwang par l'introduction en franchise en Mandchourie des marchandises débarquées à Dalny.
Il semble que cette situation soit à la veille de cesser, car le motif pour leque! les autorités Japonaises s'opposaient à l'installation d'une douane Chinoise à Dalny n'existe plus; elles ne voulaient pas de cette installation, tant que sur les places frontières Chinoises traversées par le Chemin de Fer Mandchourien, des douanes Chinoises n'auraient pas été établies. Or, le Gouvernement Russe a donné son asseutiment à cet établissement, et celui-ci, par conséquent, ne dépend plus que de la volonté du Gouvernement Chinois.
Les Légations intéressées, notamment celles d'Allemagne, de France, de Grande- Bretagne, pressent le Quai-ou Pu de s'exécuter, et nous avons lieu de penser que, sous l'effet de cette pression, l'Administration des Douanes Maritimes Chinoises aura bientôt établi son fonctionnement régulier tant à Dalny que sur la frontière septentrionale de la Mandchourie.
(Signé)
BAPST.
D. POKOTILOW. M. DE CARCER.
G. HAYASHI
J. N. JORDAN.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[3112]
(No. 526.) Sir,
No. 1.
[January 28
SECTION 7.
7655
REC
Red 28 FEB 07
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey-(Received January 28, 1907.)
Peking, December 12, 1906. WITH reference to my despatch No. 408 of the 12th October, I have the honour to state that since the interview reported in my despatch No. 401 of the 4th October the Wai-wu Pu have informed me verbally that Prince Ching was consulted as promised, and that the suggested participation in the issue of capital for the Soochow- Hangchow-Ningpo Railway has been placed before the Chekiang authorities and gentry by letter.
I did not propose to press this matter again until the Final Loan Agreement for the Canton-Kowloon Railway was sanctioned by Imperial Decree, but newspaper reports of a formal opening of work on a railway at Hangchow, which was attended by the high provincial authorities with the exception of the Governor, made it necessary for me to remind the Wai-wu Pu once more of the terms of the Preliminary Agreement. This I did in an interview of the 4th instant, and I also informed their Excellencies that Mr. Bland would return in a few days to Peking and would probably communicate with them on the subject. Their Excellencies said that they bore the Preliminary Agree- ment in mind, but made no comment on the proceedings reported to have taken place at Hangchow.
A despatch of the 30th ultimo received from the Acting British Consul at Hangehow, copy of which is inclosed, led me to repeat my caution yesterday at the Wai-wu Pu. The only Minister present during the greater part of the interview, the Grand Secretary Ch'u Hung-chi, ingenuously urged the oft-repeated difficulty which the Chinese Government found in imposing its will on the provinces. In this case, he argued, the Court was helpless, and could not exercise the pressure necessary to stop the work on the railway. I endeavoured to show his Excellency the absurdity of such arguments in international questions, but he is the member of the Wai-wu Pu least acquainted with the elements of foreign intercourse, and he seemed to be quite incapable of examining his confession of weakness from any but a purely Chinese standpoint.
I impressed on his Excellency the necessity of allowing nothing to be done in Chekiang which would prejudice the rights of the British and Chinese Corporation under the Preliminary Agreement, the validity of which had been lately confirmed by the Chinese Government. To this he rejoined by an appeal to retard the consideration of a Final Agreement for the present, but I gave him plainly to understand that the proceedings of the provincial authorities made a postponement impossible.
As soon as Mr. Bland reached Peking-he is expected on the 14th instant-1 shall consider with him the appropriate time and opportunity for opening the negotiations with his Excellency Tang Shao-yi for the conclusion of a Final Agreement relating to this railway.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
(No. 34.) Sir,
Inclosure in No. 1.
Acting Consul Smith to Sir J. Jordan,
Hangchow, November 30, 1906. I HAVE the honour to report that work on the Hangchow section of the Chekiang provincial railways was officially commenced on the 14th instant. In the absence of the Governor, who is on sick leave, the Tartar General performed the ceremony of cutting the first sod, and was supported by the Provincial Treasurer, Customs Taotai, and other high authorities of the province, as well as the local officials. No foreigners were invited.
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