File No. 1571/24–25.
I have the honor to inclose copy of the aide mémoire which was presented
to the Chinese Government by the committee of ministers representing the
diplomatic body mentioned in my last dispatch on this subject. No formal
reply from the Wai-wu Pu has been received, but I was yesterday informed
by Mr. Liang that China did not intend, after spending the enormous sum
she has already laid out, to allow it all to be wasted by a suspension
of the conservancy works and consequent silting up of the channel. He
said they had given orders to the taotai at Shanghai to continue the
dredging and also to make a full report on the situation, so that the
Chinese Government will be in a position to make an intelligent decision
as to the future.
In discussing the matter with my colleagues I have taken the ground that
China should not be forced to guarantee this additional expenditure
without opportunity to consider the whole question, especially since
orders have been given that dredging operations be continued.
I gathered from my conversation with Mr. Liang that, while China felt
that she entered into the agreement of 1905 under a misapprehension of
the financial burdens involved, she would prefer to proceed even at the
great additional cost now estimated rather than allow foreign
participation. It is quite natural, in view of past experiences, that
China should desire to know definitely just how much more money will
actually be needed for this work and what will be the results
obtained.
The extreme attitude of the Shanghai community and consular body is not
reflected in the diplomatic corps here, where there is a disposition to
allow China time to consider the question fully, provided the work is
not allowed to go backward meanwhile.
[Inclosure.]
memorandum.
His highness, the president, and their excellencies, the ministers of
the Waiwu Pu, have taken careful notice of the successive progress
of the works in connection with the straightening and the improving
of the Whangpoo executed in the course of the last two years under
the direction and the control of the conservancy board by their
engineer in chief and in accordance with the agreement passed on the
27th of September, 1905, between the Chinese Government and the
representative of the signatory powers of the final protocol of
1901.
They have also learned that these works have had the good result of
deepening and widening the navigable channel of the Whangpoo in the
Junk Channel, named provisionally since the passage of the Astrea
the Astrea Channel, to such an extent as to permit the conservancy
board to open this channel to general traffic during the day since
the 1st of July last and also during the night since the 15th of
September.
In order to be able to continue the necessary works for the
completion of the amelioration work of the above-named river in all
its parts from the mouth to beyond the Chinese city and the
simultaneous closing of the ship channel, the consular body of
Shanghai has submitted to the diplomatic corps a report from the
engineer in chief dated the 9th of August, 1909, giving full and
completeparticulars of the expenses still to be incurred in order to
attain this result. A second report has been submitted by the same
engineer with the object of showing the financial conditions
together with a table showing the division of the expenses spread
over the five years still necessary to complete the work.
From these documents it is shown that this work will entail a further
sum of $7,898,820 Mexican, increased by $1,470,000 Mexican for
salaries and further general expenses, making a grand total of
$9,368,820 Mexican.
Not included in this sum is certain work of clearing away in the
upper part of the harbor, at the spot where there is a mudbank which
should be dredged away, but which would undoubtedly reappear as long
as access to this part is not forbidden to the innumerable Chinese
junks, boats, houseboats, and rafts of wood and bamboo which are in
the habit of anchoring there, and whose owners should, in case this
part was dredged, be compensated and indemnified.
According to these above-named reports the division of the estimated
expenses by Mr. de Ryke for the work of dredging, training, etc.,
will be as follows:
| For the first year to July 1. 1910 |
$2,000,000 |
| For the second year to July 1, 1911 |
1,670,000 |
| For the third year to July 1, 1912 |
1,670,000 |
| For the fourth and fifth years to July 1, 1914 |
2,558,820 |
To the total of these sums should be added for general expenses and
salaries above mentioned the sum of $294,000 per year; total,
$1,470,000.
At the same time the diplomatic body has been informed by the
conservancy board that the funds set aside for this purpose till the
1st of April, 1909, are exhausted, and that it is absolutely
necessary to find in the shortest time possible the sum of
$1,000,000 in order to pass the first contracts.
The representatives of the signatory powers of the final protocol are
pleased to think that the imperial Government is aware, like
ourselves, of the absolute necessity and of the extreme urgency of
continuing this work in order that the benefits obtained may not be
lost.
They have, therefore, the honor to ask His Imperial Highness Prince
Ching, and their excellencies the ministers of the Waiwupu, in what
way the imperial Government of China—which has engaged itself by the
final protocol in a general way to undertake the improvement of the
Whangpoo, and by the agreement of 1905 to alone defray all the
expenses—proposes to provide for all future expenditure for this
work and to meet the immediate needs referred to above.
