This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
CHINA RAILWAYS.
29532
[JR 24.]
295
CONFIDENTIAL.
[25711]
No. 1.
:: 15 AUG 08 SECTION 1.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received July 24.)
Downing Street, July 23, 1908. WITH reference to your letters of the 29th June and the 1st July, and previous correspondence with regard to the Canton-Hankow Railway, I am directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you, to be laid before Secretary Sir E. Grey, the inclosed copy of a despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject of the inclusion of the French group in the negotiations.
I am, &c. (Signed)
A. L. ANTROBUS.
Inclosure in No. 1.
11
1
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Governor Sir F. Lugard to the Earl of Crewe.
Government House, Hong Kong, May 14, 1908.
I RECEIVED by last mail Confidential Foreign Office prints of the 22nd and 25th February (Colonial Office receipt stamp of the 25th March) relative to the proposals of the French Syndicate in reference to the Canton-Hankow Railway,
Both are telegraphic, and the former refers to a detailed despatch sent by mail to His Majesty's Minister, Peking. This explanatory despatch has not been sent to me.
2. The last previous date of any paper on this subject was the 17th September, 1907, and with reference to the fragmentary nature of the papers which have been sent to me on this matter in which this Colony is so vitally interested, I have already had the honour to address your Lordship in a separate despatch of even date.
3. It would appear from such papers as are in my possession that, for reasons which I am wholly unable to trace, and without reference to this Government (to whose action in lending 1,100,000, to the Governor-General of the Hukuang Provinces to redeem the Canton-Hankow Railway from the American-China Development Company, the British-Chinese Corporation is alone indebted for the first option of a loan for construction), a French group has been given rights (confirmed by the Foreign Office) to participate on equal terms with the British-Chinese Corporation, with the exception that the Chairman shall be a British subject nominated by the British-Chinese Corporation and shall have a casting vote. To the destructive criticism by Lord Elgin (Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 10th and 30th July and 24th August), upon this surrender of the privileges which it had been the object of the Hong Kong loan to secure, I have nothing to add, but I desire to submit a few observations upon the subsequent development of the question at issue.
4. The British group appear to have intended that the admission of French participation should be limited to purely financial assistance, and they urged upon the Governor-General that it was a purely Company matter confined to the methods of raising the capital required. The French do not appear to have taken this view, and regarded the right of the British group to appoint a Chairman with a casting vote as a concession for which they were entitled to a quid pro quo. The inclusion of the French had produced a deadlock since the Governor-General of the Hukuang absolutely refused to accept a loan except from purely British sources. The French, after a strenuous show of opposition, agreed that the British-Chinese Corporation should appear alone in the transaction, and with much skill they introduced into the negotiations the question of redemption of the Peking-Hankow line (on which their control was to be predominant). Since, however, the advantages accruing to them under this arrangement were judged inferior to those secured by the British group, they founded a second claim thereupon for a further quid pro quo. It is of essential importance to observe that the Foreign Office supported the first claim (in spite of the fact that the participation had been stated to be a purely Company matter relative to the raising of capital), and Sir F. Campbell in his despatch of the 25th July, 1907,
[1841 aa-]
-1]
1
}
18:
D
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
CHINA RAILWAYS.
29532
[JR 24.]
295
CONFIDENTIAL.
[25711]
No. 1.
:: 15 AUG 08 SECTION 1.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.-(Received July 24.)
Downing Street, July 23, 1908. WITH reference to your letters of the 29th June and the 1st July, and previous correspondence with regard to the Canton-Hankow Railway, I am directed by the Earl of Crewe to transmit to you, to be laid before Secretary Sir E. Grey, the inclosed copy of a despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject of the inclusion of the French group in the negotiations.
I am, &c. (Signed)
A. L. ANTROBUS.
Inclosure in No. 1.
11
1
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Governor Sir F. Lugard to the Earl of Crewe.
Government House, Hong Kong, May 14, 1908.
I RECEIVED by last mail Confidential Foreign Office prints of the 22nd and 25th February (Colonial Office receipt stamp of the 25th March) relative to the proposals of the French Syndicate in reference to the Canton-Hankow Railway,
Both are telegraphic, and the former refers to a detailed despatch sent by mail to His Majesty's Minister, Peking. This explanatory despatch has not been sent to me.
2. The last previous date of any paper on this subject was the 17th September, 1907, and with reference to the fragmentary nature of the papers which have been sent to me on this matter in which this Colony is so vitally interested, I have already had the honour to address your Lordship in a separate despatch of even date.
3. It would appear from such papers as are in my possession that, for reasons which I am wholly unable to trace, and without reference to this Government (to whose action in lending 1,100,000, to the Governor-General of the Hukuang Provinces to redeem the Canton-Hankow Railway from the American-China Development Company, the British-Chinese Corporation is alone indebted for the first option of a loan for construction), a French group has been given rights (confirmed by the Foreign Office) to participate on equal terms with the British-Chinese Corporation, with the exception that the Chairman shall be a British subject nominated by the British- Chinese Corporation and shall have a casting vote. To the destructive criticism by Lord Elgin (Colonial Office to Foreign Office, 10th and 30th July and 24th August), upon this surrender of the privileges which it had been the object of the Hong Kong loan to secure, I have nothing to add, but I desire to submit a few observations upon the subsequent development of the question at issue.
4. The British group appear to have intended that the admission of French participation should be limited to purely financial assistance, and they urged upon the Governor-General that it was a purely Company matter confined to the methods of raising the capital required. The French do not appear to have taken this view, and regarded the right of the British group to appoint a Chairman with a casting vote as a concession for which they were entitled to a quid pro quo. The inclusion of the French had produced a deadlock since the Governor-General of the Hukuang absolutely refused to accept a loan except from purely British sources. The French, after a strenuous show of opposition, agreed that the British-Chinese Corporation should appear alone in the transaction, and with much skill they introduced into the Begotiations the question of redemption of the Peking-Hankow line (on which their control was to be predominant). Since, however, the advantages accruing to them under this arrangement were judged inferior to those secured by the British group, they founded a second claim thereupon for a further quid pro quo. It is of essential importance to observe that the Foreign Office supported the first claim (in spite of the fact that the participation" had been stated to be a purely Company matter relative to the raising of capital), and Sir F. Campbell in his despatch of the 25th July, 1907,
[1841 aa-]
-1]
1
}
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