432
32381
[August 10. FF 08
SECTION 5.
2
After all, M. Bapst considered the position he now occupied not unlike what mine was recently when I insisted, in face of much popular opposition, upon the grant of the Chekiang Railway Concession.
I demurred to this analogy, and explained that the negotiations in that instance had as their sole object the fulfilment of a written undertaking given in 1898, and had no political complexion of any kind.
The date carried us back to the year when France obtained her Concession for the Laokai-Yunnan-fu railway, which formed a more fitting parallel to the Chekiang grant in its original form. The difference was that in giving effect to the latter we had parted with all rights of control, and reduced to a very attenuated form the privileges which France and other Powers had secured and still enjoyed in that memorable year of Railway Concessions.
I have, &c.
(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[27705]
(No. 279.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received August 10.)
Peking, June 23, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to inclose copies of correspondence with His Majesty's Consul-General at Shanghae, with reference to a proposition made by the Chairman of the Shanghae Municipal Council to the Senior Consul that all the lands lying between the International Settlement on the north and the railway line should be incorporated within municipal limits and made subject to administration under the Land Regulations.
The extension of the International Settlement arranged in 1899 was intended to include the lands above referred to, but the Chinese authorities were then resolute in excluding them, alleging that they were in another administrative district, Paoshan, and for that reason outside the area of the Treaty port of Shanghae. This contention was, of course, not admitted, but, rather than allow the negotiations to fall through, the exclusion was acquiesced in by the Municipal Council, and the boundary offered by the Chinese authorities was accepted.
The question has now again been brought forward in consequence of a conflict of police jurisdiction over certain roads made by the Municipal Council on land purchased by the municipality, wholly or partly beyond Settlement limits.
My despatch No. 33 of the 17th June to Sir Pelham Warren sufficiently explains my attitude in the matter. While recognizing the desirability of the proposed extension, I express the personal view that, unless the Viceroy of Nanking and the Provincial authorities are in the first place prevailed upon by the Consular Body at Shanghae to support it, there is little prospect of the Central Government considering it favourably.
I have taken occasion in a Confidential despatch, No. 34 of the 19th June, to draw attention to the dangers of the use of force by the Municipal Council for the purpose of asserting or maintaining the right of police over extra-Settlement roads, which has been exercised by the Councils with the tacit acquiescence of the local Chinese authorities for years past, and I have pointed out that, if the exercise of this right is seriously objected to, the proper course is to invite the Chinese authorities to state their objections in the regular manner and to arrange a maintenance of the status quo while these are under discussion.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Consul-General Sir P. Warren to Sir J. Jordan.
Shanghae, June 4, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to forward to you herewith a copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Senior Consul by the Chairman of the Shanghae Municipal Council, asking for the support of the Consular Body to the proposition that all the lands lying between the Settlement and the railway line be incorporated within municipal limits and made liable to administration under the Land Regulations.
This demand on the part of the Council, as the letter indicates, has its immediate origin in the attempted arrest by the Chinese police on the outskirts of the Settlement of a foreign constable while patrolling that portion of the North Chekiang road which lies along the Settlement boundary. The road in question is a municipal road, that is, it was built by the Council on land specially acquired by them for the purpose, but where the incident took place the actual boundary-line of the Settlement runs for about 300 yards along the middle of the road, so that one-half of it is inside and the other half outside the Settlement and within the Paoshan district.
Until the so-called Chinese Commercial Settlement at Paoshan was established some two years ago by the late Taotai, the right of the Council to police all municipal roads was tacitly admitted.
[1905 k--5]
B
432
32381
[August 10. FF 08
SECTION 5.
2
After all, M. Bapst considered the position he now occupied not unlike what mine was recently when I insisted, in face of much popular opposition, upon the grant of the Chekiang Railway Concession.
I demurred to this analogy, and explained that the negotiations in that instance had as their sole object the fulfilment of a written undertaking given in 1898, and had no political complexion of
The date carried us back to the year when kind. any France obtained her Concession for the Laokai-Yunnan-fu railway, which formed a more fitting parallel to the Chekiang grant in its original form. The difference was that in giving effect to the latter we had parted with all rights of control, and reduced to a very attenuated form the privileges which France and other Powers had secured and still enjoyed in that memorable year of Railway Concessions.
I have, &c.
(Signed) J. N. JORDAN.
This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[27705]
(No. 279.) Sir,
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received August 10.)
Peking, June 23, 1908. I HAVE the honour to inclose copies of correspondence with His Majesty's Consul- General at Shanghae, with reference to a proposition made by the Chairman of the Shanghae Municipal Council to the Senior Consul that all the lands lying between the International Settlement on the north and the railway line should be incorporated within municipal limits and made subject to administration under the Land Regulations. The extension of the International Settlement arranged in 1899 was intended to include the lands above referred to, but the Chinese authorities were then resolute in excluding them, alleging that they were in another administrative district, Paoshan, and for that reason outside the area of the Treaty port of Shanghae. This contention was, of course, not admitted, but, rather than allow the negotiations to fall through, the exclusion was acquiesced in by the Municipal Council, and the boundary offered by the Chinese authorities was accepted. The question has now again been brought forward in consequence of a conflict of police jurisdiction over certain roads made by the Municipal Council on land purchased by the municipality, wholly or partly beyond Settlement limits.
My despatch No. 33 of the 17th June to Sir Pelham Warren sufficiently explains my attitude in the matter. While recognizing the desirability of the proposed extension, I express the personal view that, unless the Viceroy of Nanking and the Provincial authorities are in the first place prevailed upon by the Consular Body at Shanghae to support it, there is little prospect of the Central Government considering it favourably.
I have taken occasion in a Confidential despatch, No. 34 of the 19th June, to draw attention to the dangers of the use of force by the Municipal Council for the purpose of asserting or maintaining the right of police over extra-Settlement roads, which has been exercised by the Councils with the tacit acquiescence of the local Chinese authorities for years past, and I have pointed out that, if the exercise of this right is seriously objected to, the proper course is to invite the Chinese authorities to state their objections in the regular manner and to arrange a maintenance of the status quo while these are under discussion.
I have, &c. (Signed)
J. N. JORDAN.
Sir,
Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Consul-General Sir P. Warren to Sir J. Jordan.
Shanghae, June 4, 1908.
I HAVE the honour to forward to you herewith a copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Senior Consul by the Chairman of the Shanghae Municipal Council, asking for the support of the Consular Body to the proposition that all the lands lying between the Settlement and the railway line be incorporated within municipal limits and made liable to administration under the Land Regulations.
This demand on the part of the Council, as the letter indicates, has its immediate origin in the attempted arrest by the Chinese police on the outskirts of the Settlement of a foreign constable while patrolling that portion of the North Chekiang road which lies along the Settlement boundary. The road in question is a municipal road, that is, it was built by the Council on land specially acquired by them for the purpose, but where the incident took place the actual boundary-line of the Settlement runs for about 300 yards along the middle of the road, so that one-half of it is inside and the other half outside the Settlement and within the Paoshan district.
Until the so-called Chinese Commercial Settlement at Paoshan was established some two years ago by the late Taotai, the right of the Council to police all municipal
[1905 k--5]
B
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