CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 165

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

# CHINA RAILWAYS.

## CONFIDENTIAL.

C. O. 162 10573 [February 28.] SECTION 25 MAR 08, [6873]

No. 1.

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

(No. 52.) Peking, January 30, 1908.

Sir,

WITH reference to my despatch No. 514 of the 30th October, and your despatch No. 503 of the 10th December, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a Memorandum which has been prepared at my request by Mr. Bland, showing the present position of things on the Shanghae-Nanking Railway.

Although no appointment of Director-General has yet been made, his Excellency Liang Shih-yi has been intrusted with the direction of the Railway Department of the Board of Communications, with authority to deal with all matters which have hitherto fallen within the province of the Director-General. There has not yet been time to test the actual extent of his powers in practice, but although his title in Chinese is not that of Director-General, there is no reason why he should not satisfactorily fulfil our requirements if the Board of which he is a member delegates to him the necessary authority.

The li-kin question, it will be observed, is receiving his serious attention, but as it is admittedly a difficult one its solution will require time.

The Central Government, as being responsible for the interest of the loan and a large sharer in any profits that the railway may earn, is interested in its financial prosperity, while the retention of their li-kin receipts is the chief preoccupation of the provincial authorities, and where these two interests clash, experience teaches us that the struggle is likely to be prolonged. Added to this is the presence at the head of the Board of Communications of an ultra-conservative statesman, who has no sympathy with railways or other modern innovations.

## Inclosure in No. 1.

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

## Memorandum in re the Director-Generalship of the Shanghae-Nanking Railway.

SINCE the date of my last report (the 24th October) on this subject, the situation has been modified in so far that his Excellency Liang Shih-yi has been appointed to the direction of the Railway Department of the Board of Communications, with authority to deal with all matters heretofore pertaining to the post of Director-General. His Chinese title is not that of "Tu-pan Ta-jên," formerly held by Directors-General, though he signs himself as Director-General in English; he is actually styled "Chu-chang," and the fact that a "Tu-pan Ta-jên" has now been appointed for the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway indicates that his Excellency Liang's position is different from that hitherto associated with the directorate of Government railways; as a subordinate official of the Yu Chuan Pu, the extent of his powers and responsibility are a matter of conjecture, and it remains to be seen whether under the control of that Board the administration of the seven railways controlled by his Excellency Liang's Department will prove more effective than under separate Directors-General. Centralization, if accompanied by organization and administrative uniformity, would undoubtedly be of the greatest benefit to the construction and working of the Government railways, but it is yet to be proved whether the present appointment is anything more than a device whereby the high officials of the Yu Chuan Pu may retain for their uses the large salaries paid from the various railway accounts to their "Directors-General."

On the 18th December, with the approval of His Majesty's Minister, I addressed a despatch to the Yu Chuan Pu, drawing attention to the fact that so long as the li-kin question on the Shanghae-Nanking Railway remains in its present unsatisfactory state (involving a distinct breach of the loan agreement) there could be no immediate prospect of the enterprise proving remunerative, the rates levied on cargo handled by

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