38161
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
RECE
Rra 23 NOV 09
CHINA RAILWAYS.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[40081]
No. 1.
103
[November 1.]
SECTION 3.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 1.)
(No. 377.) Sir,
Peking, October 13, 1909. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you herewith copy of a despatch from Ilis. Majesty's consul-general at Canton, which gives some interesting details regarding the state of things on the Canton branch of the Canton--Hankow line.*
Sir Chen Tung Liang Ch'êng told me that his position as director-general had become intolerable, and that his life was made sucli a burden to him that he was obliged to leave Canton at all costs. The death of Chang Chih-tung, which occurred while Sir Chen Tang was here, appeared to him to ease the situation considerably, as it would relieve the shareholders of the incubus of Government interference. But the substitution of the Board of Communications for Chang Chih-tung in the direction of the Canton and Hopei railways may, on the other hand, have the effect of encouraging the provincial opposition to foreign participation in these undertakings. With all his shortcomings, Chang exercised a personal influence over the gentry which no board is likely to possess.
What with internal feuds amongst the Chinese themselves and the paralysing influence of international rivalry, the prospects of railway construction in China seem for the moment to be the reverse of bright.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
* Not printed.
[2486 a--3]
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