CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 203

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

RECE

201

4196

RoGP 1 FEB 10,

CHINA RAILWAYS.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[2489]

No. 1.

[January 22.]

SECTION 2.

Mr. C. S. Addis to Sir F. Campbell.~(Received January 22.)

Dear Sir Francis,

31, Lombard Street, London, Junuary 21, 1910. HUKUANG loan. I have just received the French reply, in the form of the enclosed minutes, of the meeting of the French financial group held at Paris on the 14th January.

The gist of it is the renunciation of any claim to appoint a French engineer on the Hankow-Canton line and the acceptance of the proposed division of the Hankow- Szechuen line into four equal sections, subject to a specific undertaking from China that the extension of the line is to be a reality and not an illusion. Failing such an assurance, the French would push the proposed division to its logical conclusion and insist upon receiving a fourth share of such portion of the line as might actually be obtained for construction.

There is a safeguarding paragraph to the effect that these minutes are not in their nature decisive, but in a private note M. Simon takes care to tell me that the minutes were framed by M. Caillaux in consultation and agreement with the Quai d'Orsay and M. Cambon.

It is something to have secured at last a formal acknowledgment from the French of the exclusive British right to appoint an engineer to the Hankow-Canton Railway. It is also a satisfaction to have reduced to terms of equality the preposterous claim of the French to a preferential position on the Hankow-Szechuen. For the rest, America has still to be brought into line before the four Powers can approach the Chinese Government. Nor is it certain that the French will be content with the shadowy undertaking with regard to the extension of the Szechuen Railway, which is all, I am afraid, China is likely to grant. These are considerable, but I trust, not insurmountable difficulties.

Yours truly,

C. S. ADDIS.

Enclosure in No. 1,

M. Simon to Mr. C. S. Addis.

Cher Mr. Addis,

Paris, le 20 janvier, 1919. JE suis heureux de vous adresser ci-inclus copie du procès-verbal de la dernière réunion tenue par le Comité français des Chinese Central Railways (Limited). Sans doute recevrez-vous sous peu communication de ce document par les soins de Mr. Jamieson, à qui copie en a été adressée directement par le secrétaire du Comité français mais j'ai tenu à ce que vous en ayez connaissance le plus tôt possible. J'ajoute pour votre information strictement personnelle--que M. Caillaux s'était, ces derniers jours, mis en plein accord tant avec le Quai d'Orsay qu'avec notre Ambassadeur à Londres, et qu'il a pris soin de rédiger lui-même les parties essentielles du procès- verbal.

Votre bien dévoué.

[2581 y-2]

S. SIMON.