CO129-363 - Public Offices & Others - 1909 — Page 210

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government]

CHIINA RAILWAYS.

CONFIDENTIAL,

[41849]

| 39215

[November 15.]

SECTION 1.

Cat 2 DEC 09

No. 1.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.(Received November 15.)

(No. 384.) Sir,

Peking, October 23, 1909. AS was to be expected, the death of the Grand Secretary, Chang Chih-tung, has revived the agitation in the provinces of Hunan and Hupei against contracting foreign loans for the construction of railways. The accompanying despatch from the consul- general at Hankow shows the efforts which Hunan is making to induce the Board of Communications to abandon the loan negotiations, while the attitude of Hupei was clearly indicated at the first meeting of the provincial assembly of that province. The President delivered a violent speech against a foreign loan for railways, which he stigmatised as a death blow to Hupei and a warning to the neighbouring provinces. He proposed that every effort should be made to resist the project, and the motion, having been unanimously adopted by the assembly, was communicated by the Viceroy to the Committee of Constitutional Reform in Peking.

In this connection I may mention that a Minister of the Wai-wu Pu told me a few days ago that the Hupei provincial assembly had demanded the right of access to the archives of the public offices in Peking, and I have little doubt that the demand referred to the question of the loan negotiations.

I have, &c.

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

J. N. JORDAN.

(No. 59.) Sir,

Consul-General Fraser to Sir J. Jordan.

Hankow, October 21, 1909.

I HAVE the honour to forward précis of a telegram, published in the local Chinese paper, "Kung Lan Hsin Pao," of the 16th October, in which the Hunan Railway Office urges the Board of Communications to drop all negotiations for a large foreign loan, and asserts the province's ability to finance the construction of the Hunan section.

Inclosure 2 in No. 1.

I have, &c.

E. H. FRASER.

Précis of Telegram from Hunan Railway Head Office to Board of Communications.

(Translation.)

October 8, 1909. IN reply to their urgent requests for the publication of the terms of the proposed loan, his Excellency the late Grand Secretary Chang in May last promised to publish the terms so soon as the draft agreement was passed by the Board of Finance. There after Hunanese in capital and provinces poured in protests against the loan as impairing our rights, and France and America intervened, as Japan and Russia showed a desire to do also. His Excellency Chang, perceiving what perils and dangers beset the scheme, absolutely declined to move further in the matter, and the Wai-wu Pu, thoroughly weighing the circumstances, and understanding popular feeling, maintained a firm attitude. His Excellency Chang's lamented decease has prevented his promise being carried out, and the agreement remains unsanctioned. Hunanese everywhere beg us to move your honourable board to usk the Throne to instruct the other two boards to cut the knot by dropping the loan scheme altogether.

Work has started at Changsha and Chu-chou; filling has been completed for station and siding at Changsha, and 7 h of earthwork from Chu-chon. Work will soon go on at both ends and from the middle of this section, the cost of which will be about

[2485 p-1]

209

歷

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