[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[16389]
C.O. 16123
335
[May 1.]
SECTION 1.
YB MAY DE
No. 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received May 1.)
(No. 114.) Šir,
Peking, March 15, 1909. REFERRING to my despatch No. 70, of the 13th February, I have the honour to inclose copies of further correspondence concerning the affairs of the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway. Much of it is taken up with an acrimonious discussion between Mr. Tuckey and the Chinese Managing Director which arose from an attempt to remove the foreign accountants and secretaries from the authority of the Chief Engineer. This was resisted by Mr. Tuckey, who produced evidence to show that the German Engineer on the northern section was given the authority refused to him, and I considererl the attempt a sufficiently flagrant act of discrimination to justify a prompt protest from myself. The sharp and argumentative reply of the Wai-wu Pu (3rd March) to my note of the 9th February appeared to me to indicate that more was to be gained by direct communication with the Directors-General, and the results of an interview with their Excellencies on the 11th March, at which the state of affairs on the Tientsin- Pukow Railway was generally discussed, not always amicably, are summarized fully in my confidential despatch of to-day's date to His Majesty's Consul at Nanking. It will be seen that according to present arrangements the junior Director-General, his Excellency Sun Pao-ch'i, who is of a conciliatory disposition, will proceed to Nanking shortly for the purpose of settling all the matters in dispute, and Mr. Bland is taking steps to secure that a representative of the Chinese Central Railways and the auditor will be present at the time of his Excellency's visit to assist in smoothing differences and in coming to an amicable understanding.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
J. N. JORDAN,
Inclosure in No. 1.
(No. 3. Confidential.) Sir,
Sir J. Jordun to Acting Consul King.
Peking, March 15, 1909. AT an interview with the Directors-General, their Excellencies La Hai-buan and Sun Pao-chi, on the 11th March, I discussed the affairs of the Tien-tsin- Pukow Railway, and particularly the matter of the form of agreement signed by accountants and secretaries, which is the definite issue raised between Mr. Tuckey and Taotai Lo, according to your despatches Nos. 10 and 12 of the 26th February and the 1st March. The information placed at my disposal in the latter despatch enabled me to prove to their Excellencies that Taotai Lo adopted an attitude towards Mr. Tuckey which the Chinese Managing Director of the northern section was not permitted to assume towards the German engineer. I commented strongly on this discrimination, which was unfriendly if nothing else, and told their Excellencies directly and plainly that it could not and would not be tolerated.
They said that they had just received Taotai Lo's report of this difference of opinion, and had not yet had time to deal with it. They professed ignorance of the details of the agreements on the northern section, but mentioned that the Chinese Managing Director was being severely criticised for giving too much authority to the German engineer, and contended that in any case Mr. Tuckey should have reported his grievances directly himself to the Director-General in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 17 of the Loan Agreement. They did not conceal that they found Taotai Lo obstinate and unsatisfactory, and attributed much of the friction on the southern section to the fact that he is an engineer by profession, and therefore prone to hold technical opinious of his own, whereas the Chinese Managing Director of the northern * Not printed.
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