CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 404

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] 402

This Board accordingly notified the Governor-General, and asked him to com municate the appointment to Mr. Wu Ting Fang.

We now have the honour to furnish your Corporation with a copy of the Edict, and to notify you of the appointment.

We also should observe that in his Memorial the Governor-General asked that Wu Tachen should be appointed to devise the necessary arrangements in respect to the railway, at the provincial capital, and that he should first discuss matters thoroughly with your Corporation in Hong Kong, while all important questions would still be decided by the Governor-General as is laid down in the Loan Agreement.

We therefore have the honour to request you to communicate this to your Hong Kong representatives, and to ask them when occasion arises for discussing any question to give Wu Tachen a favourable reception.

As regards the Director-General of this railway, the Board has not yet submitted a name to the Throne, but as soon as the appointment is definitely made we shall not fail to inform you.

We avail, &c.

CHINA RAILWAYS.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[June 17.14463

SECTION 6.

27 11 JUL 07

[20037]

No. 1.

Mr. Ottewill to Sir Edward Grey, (Received June 17.)

(No. 1.) Sir,

Tengyueh, May 17, 1907. I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith copy of a despatch which I have addressed to His Majesty's Minister at Peking with regard to the Tengyueh-Talifu Railway reconnaissance.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

H. A. OTTEWILL.

Inclosure in No. 1.

Mr. Ollewill to Sir J. Jordan.

(No. 15.) Sir,

Tengyueh, May 17, 1907. WITH reference to my despatch No. 51 of the 22nd November last and various telegrams in which further negotiations with the Chinese authorities on the subject of the Tali reconnaissance were reported, I have the honour to inform you that the party arrived at Tengyueh on the 3rd February last.

It consisted of Mr. A. W. R. Lilley, Engineer-in-chief, Captain G. J. Watt Smyth, R.E., Messrs. R. D. T. Alexander and F. S. Bond, all officers in the Public Works Department, a native clerk and a hospital assistant, a Chinese interpreter, and twenty-seven Judian servants.

I had sent on the 31st January four passports for the I-hsi circuit to the Taotai to be stamped, but it was inevitable that the customary last-moment objection would be made. He answered on the 3rd February, requesting me to state that the party would do absolutely nothing else but travel, and to fill in exactly the route they would follow. I refused both requests, and stated the party were only travelling. The passports were returned on the 7th February, duly stamped, with an indorsement that the bearer in each case was only travelling.

As I could not make the Taotai send a Deputy with the party, I had previously obtained permission from the Government of Burmah to pay a Chinese who would carry out his duties. The man I selected, Liu Ch'ang-ling, had been a military officer, and had friends amongst the officials on the road. He had the additional advantage of being a pleasant man and a relation of the Commander-in-chief at Talifu. His chief business has been to act as go-between with the villagers and others when a camp has been pitched. Mr. Lilley informs me that he has been most useful and energetic.

The party left Tengyueh on the 8th February, and I accompanied them, in case there was any friction on the road. I had been informed from several sources that Yung-chang and Tali were disorderly places. It is curious that the towns in which Chinese officials reside should generally be more rowdy than others. Either because the above places have been maligned, or the officials took extraordinary pains, there was no look or word which could be construed as being in any way unfriendly. At Hsiakuan so little interest was taken in the party that a French priest passing through was unable to learn whether we were English or American. The officials were courtesy itself. At Yung- chang, where we arrived on the 14th February, the Prefect, Hsieh Yu-chün, who had been at Ssumao with Mr. J. W. Jamieson, expressed his regret that he could not ask us to dinner, as it was a day of official mourning. The District Magistrate, Han Hsi-hua, sent presents, and, what was also very much to the point, police to look after the camp. At Tali, where we arrived on the 2nd March, some thirty soldiers and The Commander-in- police were posted to prevent intruders con ing into the camp. chief, Chang Sung-lin, who is the most agreeable Chinaman I have met, invited us to dinner, and the Prefect and the District Magistrate were cordia!.

The party left Tali on the 6th March, and I came ahead by the Menghua-Shunning road because of the disturbances in Santa (Chanta). As there was nothing that could We passed be done here, I rejoined the party beyond Yungchang on the 5th April.

[2525 r-6]