CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 397

1This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] 395

C. O.

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

5944

[January 13

SECTION REG 18 FEE 09

[1665]

No. 1.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received January 13, 1909.)

(No. 569.) Sir,

Peling, December 21, 1908. THE accompanying Report from Mr. Willis, Acting British Consul-General at Mukden, furnishes some interesting information about the working of the Fushun coal- mines. These mines, which are situated about 25 miles south-east of Mukden, and are connected by a branch line with the South Manchurian Railway, were taken over by the Russians during the recent war, and have since been claimed by the Japanese as part of the property accruing to them under Article 6 of the Treaty of Portsmouth, as confirmed by Article 1 of the Agreement between China and Japan of the 22nd December, 1905.

This claim is contested by the Chinese on the ground, as I understand it, that the Fushun mines were private property which should have been returned to China in accordance with the terms of Article 4 of the last-mentioned Agreement.

Whatever the merits of the dispute may have been originally, it appears no longer to be of much practical importance, as the development of the mines under Japanese management precludes any possibility of their being restored to China.

Mr. Lake, a British Engineer, who claims to have a large experience of coal- mining, told me a few days ago that he had rarely seen any coalfield so fully equipped as the Fushun mines are with the most moderu plant of every description, and he was astonished at the ease with which the Japanese put up and worked delicate machinery.

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

(No. 82.) Sir,

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Acting Consul-General Willis to Sir J. Jordan.

Mukden, December 18, 1908. WITH reference to my despatch No. 29, Confidential, of the 16th March last, I have the honour to forward copy of a letter addressed to me by Mr. E. C. A. Dunn, a Civil Engineer, who recently visited the Fushun coal mines, and whom I requested to write a Report for me.

It is clear from the information supplied by Mr. Dunn that during the past year the South Manchurian Railway Company have applied themselves seriously to carry put the policy enunciated by Baron Goto in his Report to the shareholders of the Company for the year 1907, namely, that every effort should be made to develop this branch of the railway property to its fullest extent.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

ROBERT WILLIS,

Dear Willis,

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

Mr. Dunn to Acting Consul-General Willis.

Mukden, December 15, 1908. I HAVE just been through the Fushun coal-mines, and as you are probably interested in them, I think you would like to have the impression I gathered from a

short visit.

When the Japanese took them over there had been very little real work done. The Coreans are said to have mined coal here about 600 years ago. During the Russian occupation but little proper mining was done, and apparently the tremendous size and value of the field were not discovered,

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