§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT (Sheffield, Ecclesall)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Hu-Yu-Fen, the capable director of the Northern Railway of China, has been dismissed and replaced by Chang-Yi, who is hostile to British enterprise; whether Chang-Yi demands the dismissal of Mr. Kinder, the English engineer; whether the appointment of Chang-Yi imperils the sum of £2,300,000 of British capital, devoted out of the Chinese Imperial Railway Gold Loan for the extension of the Northern Railway from Shan-Hai-Huan to Newchwang; and what steps Her Majesty's Government propose to take to secure the predominance of British influence on the directorate of the Northern Railway?
§ MR. BRODRICKAccording to the information received from Her Majesty's Minister at Peking, Hu-Yu-Fen has been dismissed, and has been succeeded as Chief Director of the Northern Railways by Hsu, Chang-Yi remaining Assistant Director. With regard to Mr. Kinder, Her Majesty's Government cannot believe that such a demand for his dismissal, if 448 made, will be acceded to in view of the difficulty which would thereby be caused in the matter of the recent arrangement for the prolongation of the Northern Railway to Newchwang. The matter is being closely watched by Sir Claud MacDonald.