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predict the result. The provinces will doubtless indulge in noisy remonstrance, but they will soon realise the necessity of yielding to firmness.
A rescript which appears in the same "Gazette," and of which a copy is enclosed, foreshadows the early signature of the Hukuang Agreement as the first step in the inauguration of the new policy of railway development on Imperial lines.
Your Highness.
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
I have, &c.
J. N. JORDAN.
Joint Note communicated to Prince Ch'ing.
Pekiny, May 2, 1911. IN writing to your Highness on the 27th instant, asking for an interview on the following day, we have already expressed our surprise at the delay in the signature of the Hukuang Railways Loan Agreement, and we are entirely at a loss to understand the reason for this continued failure to complete the contract.
At the express wish of your Highness we agreed to consent to the omission of the branch line, provided an immediate understanding on all other points could be reached between the Board of Communications and the four banks concerned. These points have now all been satisfactorily arranged, and the Chinese Government is now bound to give effect to the formal promise which your Highness made to the Ministers of the
four Powers.
It therefore becomes our duty to request your Highuess to inform us without further delay of the date fixed for the signature of the agreement.
We avail, &c.
made between trunk and branch lines, and the capacity (or otherwise) of the people to build was not taken into account. It was sufficient for anyone to petition, and a permit for private construction followed as a matter of course.
Nevertheless, though many years have passed, we find to-day that Canton has raised half its share capital, but has not constructed many miles of railway; Szechuan has lost much of its funds which impeachment and prosecution have failed to recover; Hunan and Hupei have had a railway bureau for many years, but have nothing to show for their squandered funds. Thus have the resources of myriads of people been lost through squandering and embezzlement. The longer this continues the greater will be the people's loss; high and low will suffer harm, and evils unthinkable will result.
Therefore, be it specially and clearly proclaimed for the information of all that all trunk lines belong to the State by a formal ordinance of the Government. All trunk lines for the private construction of which provincial companies have been founded before the present year and which have all been delayed are to be taken back by the State and immediately completed.
Branch lines may still be constructed by merchants and people according to their capacity, but with the exception of these the permits formerly issued for the construction of trunk lines are to be cancelled. Let the Ministries of Finance and of Posts and Communications decide on the detailed method of taking back the lines in question-in obedience to this command-and submit the same for our approval as soon as possible.
The Ministers of State concerned should not hesitate and repeat the mistake previously made.
Should there be any who, without regard to the public interest, deliberately interfere with this railway policy or stir up strife and resistance, let them be treated as rebels.
Let this be noticed by all.
(Signed by Prince Ch'ing, Na Tung, Hsu Shih-ch'ang,
and Shêng Hsüan-huai.)
(Translation.)
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Imperial Decree of May 5, 1911.
THE supervising censor Shib Chang-hsin has memorialised, stating that it is essential that the system for constructing trunk and branch railway lines should be clearly decided. The said censor's memorial is a sensible one, and the Board of Communications is hereby commanded to make satisfactory preparations on the lines suggested in the censor's memorial, and to report to the Throne in a memorial.
Enclosure 4 in No. 1.
Rescript.
HUKUANG LOAN.
WITH reference to the memorial of the Ministry of Posts and Communications reporting that the signing of the final agreement for the Canton-Hankow and [Hupei section of the] Szechuan-Hankow Railway loan cannot well be further delayed, and requesting that the sanction previously accorded by the said Ministry (for the construction of these lines by the provinces) be cancelled, let it be as proposed.
(Signed by Prince Ching, Na Tung, Hsu Shih-ch'ang, and Shông Hsuan-huai.)
Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
Extract from the " Gazette” of May 9, 1911.
ON the 9th instant the Cabinet received the following Edict :-
The Ministry of Posts and Communications report that they have acted on the suggestion recently submitted to the Throne by the censor Shih Chang-hsin that a distinctive method should be adopted of dealing with trunk lines and branch lines of railway. This suggestion was a very satisfactory one, in view of the extended nature of China's frontiers, which stretch for many thousands of miles in all directions, enclosing an area which would require many months of travel to compass.
The Throne is full of solicitude for the defence of our frontiers, seeking day and night to exercise proper control, and we find that the speedy construction of railways is the only means to attain the end. Moreover, conferences on matters of govern- ment, the conduct of military operations, and the transport of produce are all dependent on facility of communication, which is thus a first essential in our desire for
progress.
As a result of earnest consideration, we find that the country must have trunk lines throughout the length and breadth of the land, in order to enable the Govern- ment to be carried on and a firm grip to be kept on our territories.
Formerly the matter was not properly thought out, and there was no definite method, so that throughout the country lines were built at random, no difference was
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