§ SIR EDWARD SASSOON (Hythe)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if His Majesty's Government have received a reply in writing to the repeated representations which were made by His Majesty's Minister at Peking to the Chinese Government, urging that the Anhui Mining Contract should be recognised as still valid and binding; is he aware of the loss that has been occasioned during the thirteen months to the promoters by this infraction of the Mackay Treaty; whether he 1137 will consider the advisability, as a matter of policy, of avoiding submission to such a violation of the legally acquired right of His Majesty's subjects; and that pending the re-affirmation of the contract, would His Majesty's Minister be instructed to demand the necessary permission to enable mining operations to be provisionally proceeded with.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYNo written reply has yet been received from the Chinese Government to the representations which have been made to them with regard to the Anhui Mining Contract, the continued validity of which is disputed by the Chinese authorities. The efforts of His Majesty's Legation have already been directed to obtaining permission for the promoters of the scheme to commence operations, but so far without success. Those efforts are being continued, and I am unable to make any further statement on the subject at present.