CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 492

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claim for equal participation, which is, however,

subject, it must be remembered, to the condition laid

down in the Memorandum communicated to Monsieur

Cambon on January 24th, 1906 (copy of which is en-

closed for convenience of reference) that the Chair-

-man of the joint Syndicate must be a British nominee

with a casting vote, who will thus be able to prevent

any action being taken which would be likely to be

antagonistic to British interests. He agrees with

the view expressed by Lord Elgin that any division of

the line whereby the construction of the southern

section should be entrusted to the French would be

objectionable; and as it seems impossible to dispense

with French participation altogether, the best course

would appear to be to take no further action at

present and to await developments.

Sir E. Grey will be glad to learn whether, tak-

ing the circumstances recited above into considera-

tion, Lord Elgin sees any objection to the communica-

tion