CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 445

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

CHINA TRADE.

CONFIDENΤΙΑΣ.

[June 17. REC

0.

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443

Secno2 16 JUL 07,

[19883]

No. 1.

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

(No. 199.) Sir,

Peking, April 29, 1907. WITH reference to my telegram No. 251 of the 26th December last, I have the honour to inclose for your information copies of correspondence with His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton, and His Majesty's Consul at Wuchow, on the subject of Customs and other Regulations which have been issued in connection with the opening of Nanning.

In a telegram of the 3rd April informing me of the publication of the Customs Regulations, Mr. Mansfield said that it was clear from them and from other sources that the Chinese authorities held the city of Nanning to be outside the open port, which was being confined to the so-called foreign settlement three-quarters of a mile below the east end of the business quartor, and he proposed, with my concurrence, to object to this restriction.

I approved his proposed action by telegram on the 5th April, and on receipt of the despatches of the 23rd March and the 4th April, I sent instructions to both Canton and Wuchow to lodge the necessary objections with the Viceroy, the Nanning Taotai, and the Customs authorities. As soon as I receive the Regulations which, according to the Nanning Taotai, limit the area within which foreigners may establish themselves in business to the foreign Settlement, I shall take up the question at the Wai-wu Pu.

I have, &c.

(Signed) J. N. JORDAN,

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Consul King to Sir J. Jordan.

(No. 6.) Sir,

Wuchow, March 23, 1907. WITH reference to the opening of Nanning to international trade, I have the honour to forward herewith a copy in English and Chinese of the Provisional Regulations for the interport traffic between Wuchow and Nanning, issued by the Imperial Maritime Customs.

Apart from the question how far these Regulations would be binding on British subjects without your previously expressed approval, and without entering here into a detailed criticism, I would venture to draw your attention to Regulation XX, which appears to me to be opposed in spirit to Article XII of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation made between China and Japan in 1896 in pursuance of the provisions of Article VI of the Shimonoseki Treaty.

Regulation II, also, when read in conjunction with section (g) of Regulation I, does not seem to me to be very clear. It cannot mean that registered steamers are debarred in future from plying between Wuchow and Nanning under their inland waters certificates, for that would be contrary to Rule 8 of Annex C of the Mackay Treaty.

However, in connection with the opening of Nanning, the most important point that has so far arisen is the declaration by the Nanning Taotai that, according to the Regulations, the area within which foreigners may establish themselves in business is limited to the foreign Settlement.

This pronouncement was made in reply to a letter from me informing him, at the request of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co., that that firm had appointed the Kut Iling Hong (Chi Hsing Hang) as their agents at Nanning.

The Taotai stated that, the premises of the Kut Hing Hong not being situated within the foreign Settlement, they could only be regarded as Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co.'s temporary agents, for to hold otherwise would be to seriously

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