§ MR. YERBURGH (Chester)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware-that the prospectus of the Pekin-Han-kau Railway Loan states that the Société d'Etude de Chemins de Fer en Chine, otherwise the Franco-Belgian syndicate, has a preferential right over the Han-kau-Canton line in case the contract with the American syndicate is not carried through; whether the granting of this right to the said syndicate in face of the undertaking given by the Yamen to Sir Claude Macdonald is consistent with the claims of Great Britain in the Yang-tsze region; and whether he will lay upon the Table the terms of the Pekin-Han-kau Railway contract?
§ MR. BRODRICKWe have never received the text of the Pekin-Han-kau Railway contract from the Chinese Government, who will be reminded of 829 their promise to communicate it. There will be no objection to laying upon the Table the terms of the agreement as published in a Shanghai newspaper, which are believed to be substantially accurate. The copy of the prospectus with which my honourable Friend has kindly supplied me appears to give a preferential right to the syndicate to continue the line to Canton in case the contract with the American syndicate is not carried through; but it should be borne in mind that this contingency will only arise if the British and Chinese Corporation, who are associated with the American syndicate in this matter, are not prepared to carry out the work.