CO129-383 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 151

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

14353

RECR

Prof 2 MAY I'

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

[10120]

No. 1.

[March 20.)

SECTION 3.

(No. 93.) Sir,

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received March 20.)

WITH reference to my despatch No. 434 of the 29th November, forwarding a

Peking, February 28, 1911. despatch from the acting British consul at Harbin on political matters in Northern Manchuria, I have the honour to enclose the copy of a despatch in which Mr. Sly reports that the Imperial Maritime Customs have virtually abandoned Aigun in favour of Taheiho or Sahalian as the seat of the Customs Administration on the Amur frontier.

This change seems bound to open up, sooner or later, the question of foreign trade and residence in Taheiho.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN,

Enclosure in No. 1.

(No. 7. Confidential.) Sir,

Acting Consul Sly to Sir J. Jordan.

IN my despatch No. 41, Confidential, and in other despatches emanating from

Harbin, February 18, 1911. this consulate since my assumption of charge at Harbin last year, I have had occasion to refer to the fact that, though Aigan is the Chinese port on the Amur opened under the Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1905 to international trade and residence, the place at which trade actually centres is Taheiho, also called Sabalian, situated on the same river and lying opposite to Blagovestchensk.

I have now the honour to report that the authorities of the Imperial Maritime Customs, recognising the needs of the situation, have altered the arrangement under which their duties have hitherto been transacted in the Aigun district. Aigun, which nominally retains its position as the chief Imperial Maritime Customs station on the Amur, will be placed in charge of a member of the Customs outdoor staff; but the office of the assistant-in-charge will be removed from Aigun to Taheiho, formerly only a controlling barrier, which will thus become in fact, though not in name, the real seat of the Imperial Maritime Customs Administration on the Amur.

As stated in my despatch No. 41, Confidential, of last year, to which I have above referred, the Japanese authorities have on a previous occasion preferred a request to the Chinese Government to be allowed to station a consular officer at Taheiho, a proposal which the Chinese Government was unwilling to entertain. The fact that the Imperial Maritime Customs have now seen fit to transfer the actual seat of their administration from Aigun to Taheiho is an additional proof that, as a trade mart, it is the latter, not the former, which is of real value and importance, and should, it would seem, provide a sound argument, if and when circumstances require, for pressing for the opening of Taheiho either as an additional trade mart or as a substitute for Aigun.

I have, &c.

11918 - -3]

H. E. SLY.

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