[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL,
(16211)
No. 1.
35776 [May 18.]
REG 8 OCT 07 SECTION 8.
(No. 162.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 18.)
Peking, April 2, 1907. I HAVE the honour to forward to you herewith copy of a despatch which I have received from His Majesty's Consul-General at Hankow, reporting the conclusion of a provisional Agreement between the Chinese Customs Taotai and the Japanese Consul for an extension of the Japanese Concession at that port.
With reference to Mr. Fraser's statement that the existence of the Standard Oil Company's premises has hitherto been one of the obstacles to the conclusion of such an Agreement, I have the honour to report that my American colleague informs me that be has protested against the inclusion of the Company's premises in such an
extension.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
(No. 20.) Sir,
Inclosure I in No. 1.
Consul-General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.
Hankow, March 15, 1907.
I HAVE the honour to forward copy and translation of a provisional Agreement for an extension of the Japanese Concession at this port.
This document, which reached me through a confidential channel, I have every reason to believe to be authentic.
Its result will be to give a total frontage of 250 chang, equivalent to just over 2,900 feet, against our 2,700 feet, and a total area of 30,000 fang or about 95 acres.
The obstacle to the conclusion of such an Agreement has been the question of the match factory, to which the Hupei Government gave a monopoly of manufacture, and on behalf of which the Viceroy last year protested against a Japanese projected competition, and of the premises to which the Standard Oil Company removed when their original site was included in the German Concession.
I understand from my American colleague that when there was a difficulty in obtaining the Standard Oil Company's site, that Company's agent in Japan approached the Japanese Government directly, and offered that his Company if aided would consent to have their premises included within the extension; that no aid was actually given, and that, so soon as he heard of the impending conclusion of the present Agree- ment, he notified the Viceroy of the Company's firun determination not to accept Japanese Concession jurisdiction.
The Chinese deputy, on the other hand, assures me of the existence of a despatch from Dr. Wilcox, the previous United States' Consul-General, to the T'aotai agreeing to the Company's property forming part of the Japanese Concession, if granted.
The Standard Oil Company, like the Shell Transport and Trading Company and the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, pays a royalty of three-quarters of a cash per gallon on bulk oil poured into its tanks so long as no other tanks pay less. If the Company is included in the Japanese Concession, and pays its rates and taxes, payment of the royalty would handicap it as compared with its local competitors which are farther down the river; but, if it succeeds in getting off the royalty payment, those competitors will certainly claim equal exemption.
The Company's position is weakened, on the other hand, by the fact of their river frontage being only 300 feet long, quite insufficient to berth a tank oil steamer. They have arranged to buy an adjoining strip, but the Chinese authorities have not sealed the deeds.
It will be noticed that the Agreement contains nothing as to the Osaka Shoshen Kaisha's rented lot in the native town, removal from which was, according to Mr. Midzumo, the inducement offered to gain the Viceroy's consent to this extension.
[2494 s-8]
243
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