CO129-344 - Public Offices & Foreign Office - 1907 — Page 612

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keen interest in Mr Hillier's report of His Excellency

Te'ên's determination to get permission to raise £1,500,000

from foreign sources for the needs of the Canton Viceroy-

alty.

His Excellency then asked if we had the Chinese text

of our proposed contract and, having read it through,

declared emphatically that all reference to the Banque de

1'indo-Chine must be struck out.

We had coined the term Hui-Tung Co for a British cor-

poration to be represented by two banks, British and

French, and we explained fully the propriety of associat-

ing the name of the French bank with our own in the con-

tract.

The Viceroy listened with some impatience and at once

rejoined that his reason for applying to us was his long

friendship with my Government and myself and the special

aid rendered him in 1905; the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank(s

reputation in China stood high and he wanted to borrow

solely from that British institution and to have no deal-

ings with the French to whom he owed no consideration

whatever.

We pointed out that the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank

was under participation agreement with the German bank and

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