§ Mr. HAZLETONasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British Minister at Pekin has addressed a protest to the Chinese Government against the acceptance of a German loan for the building of the Canton-Hankow Railway; if so, on what grounds; and whether British financiers were offered the loan on the terms accepted by the Germans and refused it?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. McKinnon Wood)The terms offered by the German group were declined by the British and Chinese Corporation and His Majesty's Minister at Peking, acting under instructions from the Foreign Office, has addressed a protest to the Chinese Government on the ground that the conclusion of a loan on such terms was a breach of the spirit of the undertaking given to us by the Chinese in 1905, as explained in my reply to the hon. Member for Mid-Armagh on the 7th instant.
§ Mr. HAZLETONasked what was the form of the alleged agreement, signed 9th September, 1905, with reference to the building of the Canton-Hankow Railway; by whom was it signed on behalf of His Majesty's Government; and whether the alleged agreement in question was merely a letter written by a Chinese official to a 1506 person or persons entirely unconnected in any official capacity with His Majesty's Government?
§ Mr. McKINNON WOODThe agreement referred to in the question was in the form of an official letter addressed by Chang Chi Tung, the then Viceroy of Wuchang, to Mr. Fraser, His Majesty's Consul-General at Hankow, and was by way of return for the loan made to China from British sources for the redemption of the concession for this line granted to an American syndicate.