CO129-360 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 558

14922

(0685)

HANKOW-CANTON RAILWAY LOAN NEQOTIATIONS.

MEMORANDUM

by Mr. C.S. Addis.

553

The present position is as follows:-

1. By an exchange of notes the Governments of England

and France have declared themselves opposed to their nation-

als making railway loans to China unless accompanied by

suitable guarantees that the money will be devoted to the

object for which the loan was ostensibly raised.

2. The Germans, having been refused participation in

the Anglo-French Group, are now competing with them for the

Hankow-Canton Railway Loan by an independent offer to the

Chinese of Tientsin-Pukow terms in which the control of the

railway funds is vested in the Chinese Director General.

3. The Anglo-French group are accordingly faced with

the alternative of either coming to terms with china by

accepting Tientsin-Pukow (non control) terms or, of coming

to terms with the Germans by admitting them to participation.

4. The German and French Groups having both expressed

their willingness to enter into a general Anglo-French-

German understanding in China, the following arrangement

is