CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 464

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

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[19886]

No. 1.

402

រ

[June 17.]

SECTION 7,

26320

RECE REG 23 JUL 07)

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

(No. 202. Confidential.) Sir,

Peking, April 29, 1907. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith two Reports from the American Consul-General at Harbin which have been courteously placed at my disposal by my United States' colleague.

Mr. Fisher's information with regard to Mongolia does not appear to be very accurate, but his remarks on Northern Manchuria and the Russian position there deserve attention. That the affairs of the Chinese Eastern Railway, now that it is deprived of its outlet in Southern Manchuria, should be in a depressed condition is only what was to be expected, but the indifference of the Russian Government to all enterprises in its former sphere of political activity is also to some extent responsible for the present state of industrial stagnation.

The Russian Minister, who was formerly closely associated with the Russo- Chinese Bank and the Chinese Eastern Railway, frequently complains to me of the reaction which has set in since the war, and which appears to him as unreasonable as was the policy which, before the war, encouraged the schemes of Bezobrassof and others.

I shall have occasion in a later despatch to report upon the Customs question, to which Mr. Fisher refers in his letter of the 4th April.

I have, &c. (Signed) J. A. JORDAN,

Inclosure in No. 1.

Mr. Fisher to Mr. Rockhill.

Dear Mr. Rockhill,

Harbin, Manchuria, March 26, 1907. MR. KAWAKAMI, the Japanese Consul-General, arrived at Harbin on the 2nd instant, and assumed his duties on the 4th, having taken temporary quarters in the Gamartelli Hotel in New Harbin of the Russian Railway Settlement. I am informed that he did not ask the permission of General Horvat to establish the Consulate-General within the Railway Settlement, but that he is quite willing to recognize the Rail ay's competence to put the proposed municipal administration into effect, although he claims to be without instructions from his Government on the subject. It is possible that the Japanese interests in the south have influenced him in the position he has taken. Upon his arrival here the Russian authorities made very friendly overtures to him, and I am informed that Minister Pekotilov offered him a railway building for his offices. The cordiality appears to have cooled somewhat within the last few days. The Harbin Vestnik," the organ of the Railway Company, is now publishing some caustic accounts of Japan's administration in Corea, and her abuse of the Chinese in the south. In my opinion there is little indication that the Russians wish to join hands with the Japanese on the Manchurian question to the exclusion of other nations.

The Russian troops are practically all out of Manchuria. I am informed that only about 1,000 remain. General Dembovsky, who was in command, left for St. Petersburgh on the 22nd instant. A contract has recently been let for the removal of the Russian barracks at Harbin to the Primorsk and Amur provinces, the consideration being 700,000 roubles.

The depression of trade in Harbin continues to grow worse. The merchants are extremely pressed for money. Occasionally an establishment carrying heavy insurance takes fire, and as there is but little protection given against fire, it burns to the ground. The affairs of the Eastern Chinese Railway Company appear to be in bad shape. General Horvat recently made requisition for 1,500,000 roubles for payment of operating expenses,

[2524 r-7]