§ MR. LYNCHI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether Article 4 of the provisions concerning Tibet of the Convention of 1907 between Great Britain and Russia cancels Article 3 of the Convention of 1906 between the United Kingdom and China respecting Tibet, by which Article it was arranged with the Chinese Government that Great Britain should be entitled to lay down telegraph lines connecting Gyantse, Gartok, and Yatung with India.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYArticle 3 of the Convention with China of 1906, while modifying Article 9 of the Convention with Tibet, concedes to the British Government the right of telegraphic communication between India and the trade marts. Telegraphic communication with the marts, thus comes within 203 the terms of the Convention with Tibet, the fulfilment of which, under Article 1 of the Convention of 1906, Great Britain and China have engaged to secure. Article 2 of the arrangement with Russia regarding Tibet recognises the engagements entered into by Great Britain and China in Article 1 of the Convention of 1906.
§ MR. LYNCHI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will state the names and status of the British agents appointed to watch over British trade at the trade marts of Gyantse, Gartok, and Yatung, in Tibet; whether it is proposed to make any change in their status; whether, under Article 9 of the Convention of 1904 between Great Britain and Tibet, it would be open to the Government of India or their subjects to obtain a concession for the improvement of the roads from India to these trade marts in case the Tibetan Government were to fail to keep them in order; and whether, under the Convention between Great Britain and Russia of 1907, the Government of India and their subjects are debarred from applying to the Tibetan Government for such concession.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYI am informed by my right hon. friend that the British trade agent at Gyantse is Captain W. F. T. O'Connor, C.I.E., an officer of the Indian Political Department. The trade agent at Gartok is Thakur Jai Chand. There is no British trade agent at Yatung. There is no immediate intention of changing the status of these officers. As regards the contingency contemplated by the hon. Member of a failure of the Tibetan Government to carry out their obligations as to roads under Article 5 of the Convention of 1904, the action to be taken in that event would be covered by Article 1 of the Convention with China of 1906, which, as explained in my Answer to the hon. Member's other Question, is again covered by Article 2 of the arrangement with Russia regarding Tibet. Article 9 of the Convention with Tibet does not apply to the contingency contemplated in the hon. Member's Question.