545
6
Council for jinrickshaws, and that these licences contain a clause that fines will be inflicted on the owners if the coolies drawing the rickshaws are opium smokers, unhealthy, or otherwise unfit for the work. Cases of contravention of this clause having occurred, warrants were issued for the arrest of certain jinrickshaw owners who happened to be resident in the French Settlement. The French Consul-General refused to countersign the warrants, and the Municipal Council then appealed to the Consular Body, alleging a contravention of the 2nd clause of the Provisional Regulations.
The French Consul-General, however, maintained that his action was justified by the technical point that it was the jinrickshaw owners who had committed the contra- vention by sending the unsuitable men from their residence in the French Settlement; and he further stated that the owners had, by his instructions, been already prosecuted for their offence and fined by the Mixed Court in that Settlement. As the case was considered to be trifling, and the offenders could, in any case, not be punished twice for the same offence, the matter was allowed to drop.
In the light of the explanations given by Mr. Mansfield, these cases, although involving in some particulars, the points at issue do not appear in themselves to be of serious importance.
I am to add that the objections, urged in your letter now under reply, to a con- tinuance of the existing arrangements with regard to the jurisdiction of the two Mixed Courts have been duly noted, and I am to state that, although no settlement has yet been arrived at, the question has not been lost sight of either here or at Peking.
No. 11.
I am, (Signed)
&c.
F. A. CAMPBELL.
Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne,- (Received October 20.)
(No. 239.) (Telegraphic.) P.
Peking, October 20, 1903. I AM informed by the German Minister that the group of German financiers connected with the Tien-tsin-Chinkiang Railway desire, with a view to expediting negotiations for the final contract, to separate their interests from those of their British associates. The German Government have asked their Minister for his opinion, and the latter having consulted me, I said that I had received no instructions from my Government, and had heard nothing from the representative of the British capitalists interested in the railway.
I beg to refer your Lordship to Mr. Townley's despatch No. 273, Confidential, of the 23rd July on the subject of separating British and German interests in the Tien- tsin-Chinkiang Railway.
77
As matters now stand, the French Consul-General at Shangbae, states that he is unable to send an assessor to the Mixed Court in the international settlement, and he denies the right of other nationalities to send assessors to the Mixed Court in the French settlement in which only the French assessor sits with the Chinese Magistrate. Since the provisional Rules with regard to the jurisdiction of the two Courts were agreed to a Committee, consisting of the British, German, and United States' Ministers at Peking, have been intrusted by the Diplomatic Body in that capital with the task of preparing a draft of amendments to the Mixed Court Rules. I inclose a copy of a despatch which was received from Sir E. Satow in December 1902,* forwarding a copy of the final draft, and reporting that it had been presented by the Committee to the Diplomatic Representatives for their approval and accepted by all except the French Minister.
Copies of two further despatches from His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Peking are also inclosed for your Excellency's information, from which, it appears, that the French Minister was in June last still without instructions with regard to the amended Rules, and that he did not expect any expression of opinion from the French Government on the subject.
M. Dubail expressed to Mr. Townley the opinion that the present arrangement would work very well if properly applied, and he stated that he had enjoined upon the French Consul-General to be as conciliatory as possible.
Experience has, however, shown that difficulties have frequently arisen; and, in the opinion of the Acting British Consul-General, friction between the authorities of the two Settlements is bound to cecur as long as the present conditions continue.
It would, no doubt, he advisable that all details with regard to procedure should be settled locally; but His Majesty's Government trust that the French Government will see their way to send instructions to the effect that the two Courts in the Settle- ments should be placed on an equal footing; that when a Frenchman is concerned in a case in the international Settlement a French assessor should be present, and that similarly when a foreigner of any other nationality is interested in a case in the French Settlement an assessor of that nationality should be present, all cases being tried in the Court of the Settlement in which the defendant resides.
I request that your Excellency will make representations in this sense to the French Government, pointing out at the same time that, as has been already stated, the provisional Regulations now being acted on at Shanghae were only adopted as a temporary measure pending a definite settlement.
I am, &c.
No. 13.
(Signed)
LANSDOWNE.
(No. 520.) Sir,
No. 12.
The Marquess of Lansdowne to Sir E. Monson,
Foreign Office, October 21, 1903. I TRANSMIT to your Excellency herewith a copy of a despatch which was received from His Majesty's Minister at Peking in August, 1902,* inclosing the provisional Rules which had been suggested by the British, French, and German Consular officers at Shanghae for defining the respective jurisdictions of the Mixed Courts of the international and French settlements at that port.
The Rules are at present in force, but they have never been considered satisfactory, and as their title implies and as Mr. Mansfield's covering despatch shows they were accepted only as a modus vivendi until a definite arrangement could be arrived at.
Sir E. Satow, No. 180, June 29, 1902.
Sir,
Foreign Office to British and Chinese Corporation.
Foreign Office, October 21, 1903. I AM directed by the Marquess of Lansdowne to state to you that a telegram has been received from Ilis Majesty's Minister at Peking, reporting that the German Minister has informed him that, in order to hasten the negotiations for the final contract for their section of the Tien-tsin-Chinkiang Railway, the German group wish to separate their interests from those of the British financiers, and that he has been asked for his opinion on the matter by the German Government.
Sir E. Satow replied that he had not been approached by the representative of the British capitalists interested.
I am to inquire whether your Corporation have any observations to make on the subject.
I am, &c.
(Signed) T. A. CAMPBELL.
* Sir E. Satow, No. 298, October 16, 1902.
† Mr. Townley, No 41, January 28, ditto, No. 233, June 18, 1903.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.