CO129-371 - Public Offices - 1910 — Page 576

This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.] 573

CHINA RAILWAYS.

CONFIDENTIAL,

[11866]

No. 1.

[April 7.]

C.O.

SECTION 1.

2550

RESS (Ree 28 PK 10

Sir,

India Office to Foreign Office.-(Received April 7.)

WITH reference to the letter from the Foreign Office of the 26th February last

Indio Office, April 6, 1910. and previous correspondence, I am directed by the Secretary of State for India to forward, for the information of Sir E. Grey, a copy of a further letter from the Government of India on the subject of the Bhamo-Tengyueh Railway project. It will be seen that the Government of India earnestly suggest for consideration whether it would not now be possible to urge the Chinese Government to expedite a settlement and to fix a date by which the British Government may expect to receive a final answer in the matter.

I am to request that, if Sir E. Grey sees no objection, this suggestion may be communicated to His Britannic Majesty's Minister at Peking, for such action as he may think desirable.

I am to add that a copy of Sir J. Jordan's letter of the 24th December last has been forwarded to the Government of India.

I have, &c.

E. S. MONTAGU,

Euclosure in No. 1.

Government of India to Viscount Morley.

Fort William, February 24, 1910.

My Lord,

IN continuation of our telegram of the 11th December last, we have the honour to forward, for the information of His Majesty's Government, a copy of the papers cited in the attached list" regarding the Bhamo--Tougyueh Railway and railway projects in Yünnan.

2. We desire to bring to your Lordship's notice that, while the British project for a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh appears to be as far from realisation as ever, the French railway has reached its present objective, and that this, coupled with the evidence of the likelihood of further railway extensions in Yünnan, renders it most desirable that steps should be taken to secure British interests before it is too late.

3. His Britannic Majesty's consul-general at. Yunnan-fu in his despatch No. 39, dated the 1st September, 1909, to His Britannic Majesty's Minister at Peking, has pointed out that, if there is no early prospect of a railway from Bhamo to Tengyueh, the French railway will divert the trade of Hsiakuan, the largest and most important centre for foreign goods in Western Yunnan, from Burmah to Tonquin; and His Britannic Majesty's consul at Tengyuch has informed the Burmah Government that, in his opinion, the French railway will also capture the trade of Tali-fu, the collecting and distributing centre of the greater part of the Burmah-China trade. We are thus threatened with a serious blow commercially in Yünnan, and further delay in the completion of the Bhamo-Tengyuch Railway will rob the line of much of its practical value.

4. The papers which we forward clearly show that the Chinese authorities fully realise the value of railways in Yünuan, and we cannot but believe that the replies of the Chinese Government to the representations of Sir John Jordan, at one time that we may await further developments without feeling any uneasiness, and at another that the matter would be fully considered as soon as the new Viceroy of Yünnan, whose movements had been delayed by reasons of health, had reached his province, were but excuses to delay the realisation of the British project. However,

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