CO129-361 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 574

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No. 66.

Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received December 19.)

(No. 271.) (Telegraphic.) P.

BELGIAN Minister's proposal as to indemnity bonds. of the 28th September.)

Your Lordship's telegram No. 177 of the 1st ultimo. given by Russian Government.

Peking, December 19, 1903.

(See my telegram No. 230

No answer has yet been

French and Belgian Governments are being urged by their Ministers to ask St. Petersburgh to consent to the proposal. Ministers, however, are not sanguine of

success.

Your Lordship's despatch No. 281. I have proposed to bring this subject forward officially, and have frequently mentioned it to my colleagues. In the opinion of the French Minister, it would be better to wait until the Belgian scheme was accepted, and up to the present I have not acted on your Lordship's instructions.

Am I to proceed without waiting for the result of the appeal of the French and Belgian Governments to St. Petersburgh? My telegram No. 243.

Remission of interest on amounts, which may fall into arrear on account of the depreciation of the tael, is not likely to be unanimously conceded.

(No. $60.) My Lord,

No. 67.

Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.~( Received December 21.)

Peking, October 29, 1903.

IN continuation of my despatch No. 351 of the 17th instant, in which I inclosed a Report from His Majesty's Consul at Ningpo on an anti-Catholic outbreak at Ninghai, I have the honour to transmit herewith a copy of a further despatch from Mr. Mortimore on that subject.

I have, &c.

Sir,

(Signed)

Inclosure in No. 67.

Consul Mortimore to Sir E. Satou.

ERNEST SATOW.

Ningpo, October 16, 1903. IN continuation of my despatch No. 12 of the 7th instant, on the subject of the anti-Catholic outbreak at Ninghai, I have the honour to report the following additional details which have been communicated to me by the Reverend K. McLeod, of Ninghai :---

On the evening of the 4th instant Wang Isi-tung, the leader of the rioters, left the city with his following, taking with them a Roman Catholic convert whom they had captured. On the 5th they beheaded their captive and dispersed to their homes, with the exception of their leader, wlio took to the hills and has so far evaded capture by the officials, although rewards of 3,000 dollars for him alive and 1,500 dollars for him dead have been offered by the local officials.

Soldiers from Ningpo and Taichow are now guarding the district and searching for the rioters, several of whom have been captured. During the disturbances six people in all, including the Roman Catholic native priest, have been killed; a partly built chapel in the district, as well as that in Ninghai city, destroyed, and some of the converts houses have been pulled down.

The last Magistrate appears to have been a weak man and entirely in the bands of the Roman Catholic clique, but the present official, who has only lately taken over charge and who was absent at the time of the outbreak, is a much firmer man and doing bis utmost to capture the leaders of the rising. Everything is now quiet in Ninghai, and no Protestant converts have been molested.

I have, &c. (Signed) R. H. MORTIMORE.

No. 68.

Sir E. Satow to the Marquess of Lansdowne.-(Received December 21.)

572

(No. 361.) My Lord,

Peking, October 29, 1903. IN continuation of my despatch No. 346 of the 8th October, I have the honour to report that the statement furnished by the German Minister to Mr. Townley (as reported in his despatch No. 258 of the 2nd July) that a clause of the German Agreemunt for mining in Shantung is worded, "The sphere of operation is comprised within a radius of 250 li from Chefoo, but any places already conceded for the working of nines, &c., to merchants of other nations are naturally excepted," was taken from the Chinese translation of the authentic document. The wording of the German text corresponding to "conceded for the working of mines to merchants of other nations" is, I am given to understand, an andere Regierungen vergeben" (granted to other Governments). It is the German text which is binding on both parties.

In order to put this point in a clearer light, I beg to inclose translation of the final clause, which was left untranslated in the version from the Chinese copy forwarded in Mr. Townley's despatch No. 304 of the 19th August last, together with a copy of the map. This translation is taken from the Chinese copy obtained confidentially by Mr. Lockhart, and does not contain the passage which corresponds to the words "but any places granted to other Governments are, of course, excepted." These words, it seems, were added to the Concession by Baron von Kettler, the late German Minister, when it was sent up from Shautung for ratification by the Chinese Government.

Quite apart from the question whether it would be a friendly act on the part of the German Legation to endeavour to obtain for German subjects a Mining Concession in the British zone of influence, as distinguished from the leased territory, the words granted to other Governments" may well be construed as applicable to both, and consequently the zone of influence is equally excluded from the purview of the German Mining Concession.

1

The German Chargé d'Affaires seems to have thought otherwise, as appears from his note to Prince Ch'ing, of the 19th February last, of which I have the honour to inclose a translation. Your Lordship will observe that he makes the incorrect state- ment that the Wei-hai Wei Mining Company intend to begin operations at a place 15 miles from Wei-hai Wei. It was this note to the President of the Foreign Board which frustrated Mr. Stewart Lockhart's negotiations with the Governor of Shantung with respect to the mining area known as Tiger Hill, which lies athwart the boundary between the leased territory and the British zone of influence at Wei-hai Wei.

My German colleague informs me that be is unable to settle this question directly with myself, as it affects the interests of a German Company, and that he is reporting on the matter to Berlin.

I have, &c.

(Translation.)

(Signed)

Inclosure 1 in No. 68.

German Mining Agreement. Final Clause.

ERNEST SATOW.

THE five localities indicated by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Bergbau und Industrie are stated below.

The first is in Shantung Province in the Yichou district. On the east to the shore of the Yellow Sea; on the south to the Kiangsu frontier; on the west, turning south from Yichou, direct to the Kiangsu frontier; on the north from Yichou Fu east direct to the sea-shore.

The second is in the Yishui Hsien district. 120 li from the city forms the limit. The third is reckoning from a point 10 h north-west of Chuch'eng, following the 36th degree of latitude eastwards, direct to the German leased territory. On the west, reckoning from a point 10 li north-west of Chuch'eng, turning southwards direct to the sea-shore. On both the east and south sides the Yellow Sea and the German leased territory form the limit.

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