HC Deb 15 October 1912 vol 42 cc1033-4
2. Mr. GINNELL

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that foreign employés in the Chinese Maritime Customs have for some years ceased to hold any semblance of independence or control and become Chinese civil servants, retained for their work or as a matter of policy; and whether, in view of this example, the fact of foreigners being employed in the Chinese service is regarded by the Foreign Office as any guarantee of Chinese good faith?

Sir E. GREY

I do not quite understand the drift of the hon. Member's question. The use of foreign employés has not been advocated to guarantee China's good faith, but in the Maritime Customs it has resulted in great efficiency in the service, and China and everybody concerned have no doubt benefited greatly thereby.

3. Mr. GINNELL

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, if he will state any reason, from the point of view of British trade, for forcing China to give a £60,000,000 monopoly in Chinese finance to a group in whose control British banking plays at most only a sixth part; in which any privileges or appointments would be in like proportion; through which Japan and Russia by their methods and constant presence would inevitably accomplish their designs upon China; and whereby British privilege would disappear from the whole of China as it has already disappeared from the Yangtze Valley?

Sir E. GREY

As I stated in reply to a question put by the hon. Member on 13th June last, there is no intention of forcing China to borrow more than she wants or to borrow at all, if she does not want to do so.

4. Mr. GINNELL

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, since the willingness of British financiers, if allowed, to lend money to China on terms satisfactory to both sides shows the so-called foreign control, on which the six-Power group alone insists, to be unnecessary for British interests, if he will say in what interest the British Foreign Office supports that requirement of the non-British members of the six-Power group to which China objects?

Sir E. GREY

I must refer the hon. Member to the statement made in reply to the hon. Member for West Hampshire on the 9th instant. To lend money to China without adequate guarantees for proper and useful expenditure will impair Chinese credit, it might even lead eventually to the bankruptcy of China, which would provoke all sorts of undesirable foreign interference and would damage the trade of China, and therefore British trade with China. It is in this interest that we have acted.

Mr. GINNELL

Will the right hon. Gentleman place in the Library or make otherwise available to Members the text of the terms sought to be imposed by the six-Power group, and especially whether those terms or the terms between the constituents of that group restrict China in the development of any part or parts of its territory?

Sir E. GREY

I would ask the hon. Member to give notice of that question.

Forward to