CO129-384 - Public Offices - 1911 — Page 88

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

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

C

CONFIDENTIAL.

23539

[22315]

RecoNo. 1.

R18 JUL

Arey Receive

(No. 222.) Sir,

[June 9.]

SROTION 3.

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey,Received June 9.)

Peking, May 22, 1911. IN continuation of my despatch No. 21 of the 14th January, I have the honour to transmit copies of a despatch and enclosures from the acting British consul at Harbin relative to the proposed agreement with the Russian Government for the payment of municipal taxes by British subjects in the Russian railway settlements in Manchuria.

Mr. Sly discusses the question very fully in his despatch, and reports that he has had some preliminary and informal conversation with the Russian consul-general on the subject.

My reply, copy of which is also enclosed, will, I hope, enable him to approach his Russian colleague with definite proposals.

I have, &c.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

J. N. JORDAN.

(No. 16.) Sir,

Acting-Consul Sly to Sir J. Jordan,

Harbin, April 30, 1911. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 1 of the 14th January, forwarding copy of a despatch No. 371 of the 28th October last from Sir Edward Grey, in which it is stated that His Majesty's Government favour the conclusion of a reasonable understanding with Russia in regard to the payment of municipal taxes by British subjects residing in Harbin. This decision would, subject to the necessary safeguards which it is desired to obtain for the protection of British subjects against vexatious and unjust treatment at the hands of the Russian authorities, appear to imply the recognition of the status quo anterior to the Russo-Chinese agree- ment of May 1909, which has, in practice, been of little effect. It is accordingly desirable that I should furnish you with a copy of the Harbin Municipal Regulations of 1907, upon which the present system of municipal administration is mainly founded, and full particulars of which have not, I understand from your despatch under acknowledgment, been previously sent to you. A copy of these regulations, in translation, forms enclosure No. 1 to this despatch, and is accompanied by two memoranda, enclosures 2 and 3, the first of which contains notes on various matters mentioned in the regulations, which appear to require some explanation, and the second, of which invites special attention to the authority and powers enjoyed under the regulations by the administration of the Chinese Eastern Railway. It is hoped that these enclosures may be useful to you in considering the general aspect of the whole question, and it may be added that, on the presumption that it is intended to give due recognition to the predominance of Russian interests in Harbin, and to the controlling influence of the railway company, the municipal regulations of 1907 would, it seems, be divested, provided that adequate safeguards are obtained for the protection of British subjects, of many of the objections formerly entertained to them. Con- siderations which would appear to support this argument are: (1) That the authority exercised by the railway administration, which is in fact, if not in name, a Russian Government institution, may, provided due allowance be made for differences in national character and culture, be compared to the control which the British authorities have over the municipal organisations in British concessions in China; and (2) that the stipulation contained in article 42 of the regulations that the chairman of the municipal council and, incidentally, of the assembly of delegates must be a Russian subject does not of itself give to the subjects of Russia residing in Harbin a greater preference than that enjoyed by British subjects resident, for example, in the British concession at Canton by reason of the requirement of regulation 4 of the Shameen land regulations of 1908 that the majority of the members of the municipal council must be British subjects. Similarly, if the premises be correct and the necessary

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