File No. 16576/–2.
Minister Rockhill
to the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Peking, October 8,
1908.
No. 1022.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith copy
of a dispatch, together with its inclosure, from the American consul at
Nanking, on the subject of two proposed amendments to the regulations
for the international settlement of Wuhu, the first reserving to foreign
merchants exclusively the land within the settlements, the second
restricting the right of foreign owners of subletting to Chinese houses
in the settlements, which practice threatens to become, as it has long
been at Shanghai, a serious inconvenience to the requirements of
legitimate foreign trade.
The note from the British consul at Wuhu to Mr. McNally, which forms the
inclosure to his dispatch, sets forth so fully and clearly the
importance of the amendments that I need not dilate on it further.
I think that our acceptance of these amendments, if they can be agreed
to, is very desirable considering the rights our missionaries have under
the provisions of our treaties for the purchase of land outside
settlement limits. I have informed our consul at Nanking that I have
submitted the question to you and that he should await your instructions
before replying to the British consul at Wuhu.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Consul McNally
to Minister Rockhill.
American Consulate,
Nanking, —, 1908.
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a
copy of a communication from the British consul at Wuhu with regard
to the general foreign settlement at that port.
I delayed presenting the matter to the legation until I could make a
personal investigation of the limitations of the settlement, and
went to Wuhu for that purpose.
The settlement area is very small, and should missionaries enter
thereon with hospitals or educational institutions merchants would
have but little territory for business purposes. The missionaries
there have already considerable property just outside the settlement
environments and could enlarge the same at
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any time under treaty in the direction inland,
while the merchants, steamboat lines, and oil companies are confined
to the settlement boundaries.
I respectfully present the matter to the legation for your
consideration and await your instructions before replying to the
communication above referred to beyond a formal acknowledgment.
I have, etc.,
[Subinclosure.]
The British Consul to
Consul McNally.
H.
M. Consulate,
Wuhu, September 4,
1908.
Sir and Dear Colleague: As you are
doubtless aware, the taotai has recently refused applications from
missionaries to purchase land in the general foreign settlement at
this port on the ground that the settlement is expressly reserved
for foreign merchants. It appears to me that, considering the
limited area of the settlement and the comparative facility with
which missionaries can purchase land outside, in the interests of
foreign merchants the taotai should be supported in this reading of
the regulations.
There is another point in connection with the settlement regulations
to which I would direct your attention. Only foreign merchants can
own land, but there is apparently nothing in the regulations to
prevent the subletting of lots to Chinese, which would entirely
defeat the object of this clause. Many Chinese are most anxious to
live in this settlement, and there is reason to suspect that some
applicants for small lots are either lending their names to Chinese
for a consideration Or are intending to sublet to persons who are
not qualified to own land. The great demand for semiforeign houses
and the increased rates now obtainable make building for Chinese
tenants a very profitable business; and unless some restriction is
placed on the right of subletting it is only too probable that at no
distant date a large portion of this settlement will be in
occupation of Chinese, to the exclusion of bona fide foreign
merchants.
I have submitted these two points to His Majesty’s minister at
Peking, and he agrees with me that in the interests of the trade of
Wuhu the land within the settlement should be reserved for foreign
merchants and that missionaries and Chinese should be excluded, in
any case until the commercial requirements of the port have been
satisfied. He has further authorized me to consult with the taotai
and my foreign colleagues at Nanking with a view to measures being
taken to this end.
I have accordingly the honor to submit this matter for the
consideration of yourself and those of your colleagues who represent
the interests of their nationals at Wuhu, and trust that both you
and they will support me in inviting the Chinese authorities to
agree to an amendment to the settlement regulations in the above
sense. The exact wording of the clause can, I think, be left for
future discussion.
I have, eta,
