CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 376

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

374

CHINA TRADE.

(

CONFIDENTIAL.

[17909]

No. 1.

:

[June 3.]

SECTION 1

C

23672

RECE PG 4 JUL 07)

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received June 3.) (No. 188.) Sir,

Peking, April 18, 1907. REFERRING to my despatch No. 512 of the 7th December last and your reply No. 45 of the 4th February, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a despatch from His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton, from which you will see that the bunding of the portion of the river frontage at that port, in which we are especially interested, has been placed under the supervision of Mr. Danby, a competent British civil engineer resident in Hong Kong.

I agree with Mr. Mansfield in regarding the conclusion of the Agreement, which places the work in the hands of Mr. Danby, as eminently satisfactory, and I have conveyed to him my entire approval of the important part which he has taken in bringing about this result.

I have, &c. (Signed)

J. N. JORDAN,

Inclosure in No. 1.

(No. 16.) Sir,

Consul-General Mansfield to Sir J. Jordan.

Canton, April 8, 1907. REFERRING to my despatch No. 50 of the 11th November last on the subject of the bunding along the south side of the Canton City, I am happy to be able to report that the repeated representations of the former Commissioner of Customs and myself, aided by the good sense of the present Viceroy and his Excellency Wu Ting Fang, have been of some considerable effect.

On the 26th ultimo an Agreement was signed between Mr. Danby, a civil engineer resident in Hong Kong, whose local representative is Mr. Powell, and Taotai Hsü, the Manager of the Bunding Office, whereby 5,000 Chinese lineal feet of bunding are placed under the supervision of Mr. Danby, whose remuneration is 5 per cent, of the value of the work done. The Agreement bears the signature and personal seal of the Provincial Treasurer, and is signed by his Excellency Wu Ting Fang as introducer of Mr. Danby to the Bunding Commissioners. It provides also that, if

any further extension is required, a new agreement will be drawn up. Further, Mr. Danby is to aid and assist the Bund Manager in obtaining tenders for the execution of the works; while no payments are to be made to contractors except on Mr. Danby's certificates that so much work has been done and so much is properly due therefor. The length of bund placed under Mr. Danby's supervision includes the lower wharf and a con- siderable portion of the foreshore property of the Hong Kong, Canton, and Macae Steam-Boat Company, as well as part of the foreshore land of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company.

I regard the conclusion of this Agreement as particularly satisfactory in view of the hostile attitude of the late Viceroy Ts'en and the continued anti-foreign pro- clivities of the Provincial Treasurer and the Board of Reorganization. I am satisfied that, but for the influence of their Excellencies Chou Fu and Wu Ting Fang, matters would not have reached their present satisfactory conclusion.

I have, &c. (Signed) R. W. MANSFIELD.

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