CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 533

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Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Consul-General Fulford to Sir J. Jordan,

(No. 13.) Bir,

Mukden, April 22, 1907. I HAVE the honour to inform you that the Japanese Consul-General at this port, Mr. Hagiwara, departed from Japan via Harbin and Vladivostock on 11th instant, nominally on short leave, but doubts are entertained of his return. There is left in charge of the Japanese Consulate-General Mr. Yoshida, a very young official who, he informs me, graduated only last year, and arrived here within the last month, replacing Mr. Ohta, the former Vice-Consul, transferred to Harbin. The absence of an experienced Consul at the time when the period of Japanese military occupation of Southern Manchuria expired, may be of some significance.

He is at

The Russian Consul-General for Mukden, M. A. Grouchetsky, assumed office on the 16th instant. He has with him a medical attendant, Dr. A. de Sternberg, and a Vice-Consul, M. Nikitine, and is to have an assistant in the future. present living in the annex to the Mukden Foreign Office as the guest of the Tartar General.

Both M. Grouchetsky and Dr. Sternberg were here during the war attached to the Military Staff. M. Grouchetsky was some years ago in the Russian Legation in Seoul.

There is still great difficulty in renting suitable houses in Mukden or its vicinity. No immediate change is visible as the result of the ending of the Japanese military occupation. The buildings formerly occupied by Japanese troops in the town are still retained by them, with a few soldiers as guardians, although the troops have been withdrawn.

The Japanese Consulate-General is in occupation of the house formerly tenanted by the Russian Consul, and it was anticipated that there might be a Russian claim to these quarters, but M. Grouchetsky is apparently desirous of renting a temple outside the town near the proposed foreign Settlement.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

H. E. FULFORD.

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

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[17388]

No. 1.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 28.)

531

C. c. 27192

[May 28.130 JUL 07. {..

SECTION 1.

(No. 95.) (Telegraphic.) P.

Peking, May 28, 1907. HAVE the honour to report the reappointment of Ts'ên as Viceroy at Canton, after having been President of the Board of Communications for three weeks only.

An Imperial Decree to this effect was issued this evening.

[2494 ee-

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(No. 14.) Sir,

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

Consul-General Fulford to Sir J. Jordan.

Mukden, April 22, 1907.

I HAVE the honour to inform you that there is still no progress made with regard to customs arrangements for the port of Mukden.

Mr. Oliver, Commissioner of Customs, informs me that nothing can be done until the establishment of the Dalny custom-house. It is obvious that while goods are passing in and out of Manchuria duty free by that route, no Customs supervision of goods at Mukden or other inland ports could be effective without producing strong Japanese protests. To make the duties of the Maritime Customs in Manchuria more onerous, the Japanese are claiming the right to junk navigation on the Liao and tributary rivers, whether solely between Treaty ports or generally, is not yet clear.

The situation remain as described in previous Reports, and the impending change of Chinese officials in this province will tend to prolong the present state of affairs until the new Governor, Tang Shao Yi, has taken charge. It is said that this will be towards the end of June.

I The Antung Maritime Customs, which were opened on the 21st March, are, believe, working satisfactorily; the duties collected averaging up to the present 1,000 taels a-day. The question of the land frontier reduction of duties has been postponed for several years by the arrangement that the reduction should not be granted until the railway bridge over the Yalu River is completed. A more difficult matter to arrange arises from the fact that the only suitable anchorage for sea-going ships is on the Corean side of the mouth of the Yalu and in Corean waters. collection of tonnage dues by the Chinese Customs is therefore opposed.

I have, &c. (Signed)

Tho

H. E. FULFORD.