CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 372

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

370

CHINA RAILWAYS.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[June 17.]

SECTION 3. C. C.

23671

[19588]

No. 1.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received June 17.)

REC Ps 4 JUL 07

(No. 204.)

Sir,

Peking, April 29, 1907, REFERRING to my despatch No. 179 of the 15th instant, I have the honour to inclose, for your information, copies of further despatches from His Majesty's Consuls- General at Canton and Hankow on the subject of the employment of British engineers on the Canton-Hankow Railway.

I have, &c.

(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.

(No. 18.) Sir,

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Consul-General Mansfield to Sir J. Jordan.

Canton, April 15, 1906. I HAVE received from Mr. Consul-General Fraser copy of his despatch to you No. 28 of the 2nd instant, and have the honour to inclose herewith copy of an extract from a local native newspaper, the "Ling Hoi Yat Po" of the 13th instant, according to which his Excellency Chou, while sanctioning the recording of Mr. Yamamoto's engagement as an Assistant Engineer on the Kuangtung portion of the line, has declared that no "full Assistant Engineer" must be engaged without previous reference to him.

In the present state of affairs of the Canton Railway Company I do not think that there is sufficient unanimity, fixity of purpose, or authority to make the engage- ment of a first-class man as Deputy Chief Engineer possible. Should, however, the affairs of the Company be placed under the charge of his Excellency Wu Ting Fang (vide Mr. Harding's intelligence notes forwarded in my despatch No. 17 of the 11th instant), I shall lose no time in pressing upon him our view of the matter that the Chief Foreign Engineer should be a Britisher. I feel sure that his Excellency Wu is fully alive to the impossibility of an arduous and important enterprise of this kind being carried through by his fellow-countrymen without competent foreign

assistance.

Copies of this despatch and its inclosure have been sent to Hong Kong and Hankow.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

R. W. MANSFIELD.

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

Extract from the "Ling Ho Yat Po" of April 13, 1907.

THE engagement of an Assistant Engineer is officially permitted to be put on record.

Petition by Cheng, President of the Railway Company :---

"A Japanese, named Yamamoto, has been engaged as sectional Assistant Engineer, in accordance with the Imperially sanctioned Regulations. I now hand in Yamamoto's draft Agreement and past record for your Excellency's inspection and instructions.”

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