§ Sir C. HOBHOUSEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a Japanese syndicate have obtained possession or control of an important iron mining concession in the Yangtse River area; whether this area is one more particularly reserved for British enterprises; and, if so, whether the British Ambassador or Foreign Office were consulted before the concession was asked for or granted?
§ Lord R. CECILHis Majesty's Government are aware that negotiations are proceeding for the acquisition by a Japanese syndicate of the Feng Huang Shan iron mines near Nanking, but they have no official information that the negotiations have been concluded. The mines are situated in the Yangtse River area, which His Majesty's Government have always regarded as their special sphere of interest in China, in the sense that British subjects possess a prior claim to the favourable consideration by the Chinese authorities of applications which they may make for industrial concessions in that region; but they are of opinion that neither British nor any other foreign claims to spheres of interest in China should be pressed so far as to be inconsistent with the principle of the "open door." The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.