CO129-362 - Public Offices - 1909 — Page 24

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M. Müller, who proposed an amendment, copy of which is to be found in the minutes of the 30th April, enclosed in this despatch.

At a general meeting of the whole consular body held on the 11th May the German acting consul-general's minority report was adopted, instead of the majority report of the committee, by eight votes to three, four members being neutral. M. Ratard, the French consul-general, was unable to he present, otherwise he would have voted for the committee's resolution.

At the time I strongly opposed the adoption of M. Müller's amendment, and pointed out that I considered that the consular body were over-stepping their authority trying to dictate to the engineer in the way proposed by the amendment. Article 11 of the Whangpoo Conservancy Convention of the 27th September, 1905, only gives the consular body a right to protest to the Conservancy Board if the works are not executed with diligence, care, and economy. It certainly could not be inter- preted as allowing the consular body to bring in a scheme totally opposed to the engineer's report.

I have, &c.

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

PELHAM L. WARREN.

WHANGPOO CONSERVANCY SCHEME AND ESTIMATES.

Minutes of Meeting held April 30, 1909, at 15 o'clock at the Senior Consulate, by the Committee instituted under Item 6 at the Sixth Consular Meeting.

All members of the committee are present

Sir Pelbam Warren, consul-general for Great Britain.

M. Ratard, consul for France.

M. de Zeppelin-Obermüller, consul-general for the Netherlands.

M. M. Müller, acting consul-general for Germany.

M. D. Siffert, consul-general for Belgium and senior consul.

M. J. de Rijke, engineer-in-chief to the Wangpoo Conservancy Board, is also

present.

In answer to question put to him M. de Rijke states :--

That the contractors will have finished the present contract of dredging in the junk channel at about the end of July or middle of August of this year.

That the amount of supplementary dredging in the junk channel will be of 1,200,000 cubic yards, so as to get a channel 18 feet deep, 600 feet wide on the whole length, for final opening.

That the approximate time required for this supplementary dredging will be about one month.

That if taken into account the 500,000 or 250,000 cubic yards to be eventually dredged gratis by the East Asiatic Dredging Company might be deducted from the abore 1,200,000 cubic yards, but that it will do no harm to have a reserve of dredging.

That he considers necessary and advantageous for the Whangpo Conservancy, and in consequence for the public benefit, to have this dredging done with the least possible delay.

That he thinks that a reduction of 10 per cent. on the present contract cost of dredging will be obtained from the East Asiatic Dredging Company for the supple- mentary dredging in question.

That for this supplementary dredging he could-

(a.) Ask for tcuders in eight days,

(b) Get tenders by the end of June from contractors having a plant in the East. (c.) That he does not consider either possible or probable that tenders would be

reecived from contractors further away, from Europe, for instance.

(d.) That a new contractor could only commence work in the middle of September and finish it by the middle of October.

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That harm would result to the river improvement from any delay in this supple- mentary dredging, as he wants dredging matter for dumping on his mattresses for solidification in the ship channel.

M. de Rijke then receives the thanks of the committee and withdraws.

The committee therefore considers the motion submitted to the last consular meeting by MM. de Zeppelin and Siffert, which, after some discussion, is adopted by 4 votes against 1 (M. M. Müller), in the following modified form :-

"To write to the Conservancy Board that, in the consular body's opinion, the dredging of the 1,200,000 cubic yards should be done without interruption between the present dredging work and this proposed extra dredging by the present contractors at a cheaper cost per unit to be agreed upon by said contractors, and the Whangpoo Conservancy Board to write to the diplomatic body in Peking, suggesting that the other works proposed by M. de Rijke in his last report of scheme and estimates should be proceeded with, and that the Chinese Government be approached to devise means and ways to raise the necessary funds for said works."

It is understood that this resolution shall be presented to the consular body, M. Müller being at liberty to present the following motion (see No. 285 VI), which the committee did not see its way to adopt.

The committee then takes cognizance of the letter (No. 277) from the Whangpoo Conservancy Board in reply to our inquiry as to the publication of No. 251, and decides to conform to its contents in sending the report of M. de Rijke to the Chamber of Commerce, under the express understanding that it will not be published this in order to abide by the wish expressed to us in writing by the Whangpoo Conservancy Board.

The meeting adjours at 17 o'clock.

D. SIFFERT,

Senior Consul and Chairman of the Committee.

Inclosure 3 in No. 1.

(285 VI.) Motion presented by M. Müller.

THAT it be decided---

(a.) To write to the diplomatic body in Peking suggesting that the Chinese Government be approached to devise means and ways to raise the funds necessary for the completion of the Whangoo Conservancy.

(b.) To write to the Conservancy Board that in our opinion, in accordance with article 3 of the Peking Agreement of 1905, public tenders would have to be invited for the undertaking of any dredging work which will still be left to be done after the expiration of the dredging contract with the East Asiatic Dredging Company, the present contractors, or, if account is taken of the 200,000 cubic yards to be dredged free by the East Asiatic Dredging Company, as proposed by the consular body, after the expiration of the said contract and free extra dredging of these 250,000 cubic yards.

(c.) To write to the Conservancy Board that in our opinion, in the case of tenders being invited for the dredging of 1,200,000 cubic yards, which, according to M. de Rijke's report, would have still to be dredged to make the junk channel fit for a final opening, all dumping of dredging matter into the shipping channel should be abstained from as Jong as the means and ways to raising the necessary funds for the further Whangpoo Conservancy works will not have been secured, in order to avoid all risk of inter- fering with the present fairway without having at the same time the means at hand for a permanent opening of the junk channel.

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