File No. 893.773/36.
[Inclosure 1.]
Ambassador Guthrie to Consul Pontius.
American Embassy,
Tokyo,
January 14, 1915.
Sir: I beg to acknowledge herewith the
receipt of your communication of the 6th instant,5 on the subject of
apparent discrimination in freight rates instituted by the South
Manchuria Railway on foreign importations.
I have before me a letter written by the British Consul at Dairen to
the British Ambassador here, which states as follows:
I asked the railway company if it would be correct to assume
that goods shipped along the routes specified in the
notification (i. e., the specific local freight charges on
goods shipped into the interior of Manchuria from the ports
of Antung, Dairen, and Newchwang) but in foreign bottoms and not on Osaka Shosen Kwaisha or
Nippon Yusen Kwaisha boats, would not
benefit by the new specific through rates but be liable to
the specific local rates—which are
higher. I am pleased to be able to report that * * * in a
letter which I have just received from the railway company,
it is stated that the specific through rates are applicable
to the specific through goods carried by any steamship line,
whether under a foreign flag or the Japanese flag, who have
entered into special arrangements with this company
concerning the transportation of through goods.
This would seem to contradict the information which you have received
upon this point. I shall be glad if you will let me know whether you
have had any conversation directly with the railway people touching
this particular question.
On page three of your letter, acknowledged above, you speak of the
15% reduction “supposed to apply on ‘local’ shipments.” Does not
this 15% reduction in fact apply?
I am, [etc.]
[Inclosure 2—Extract.]
Vice Consul Hanson to Ambassador Guthrie.
American Consulate,
Newchang, China,
January 28, 1915.
Sir: In reply to the Embassy’s instruction
of January 14, 1915, I have the honor to refer the Embassy to this
office’s despatch No. 31, dated October 17, 1914, to the Legation in
Peking on this subject. A copy of this despatch was forwarded to the
Embassy under the same date.
At the bottom of page 1, of this despatch, the statement is made that
“The said quotation includes also the discriminating statement
regarding shipments of through cargo from either the United States
or Europe.” So far as I can learn from the records of this office,
the basis for this statement was a letter dated October 14, 1914,
written by the local stationmaster of the South Manchuria Railway
Company to the local office of the * * * firm * * *; this
communication states explicitly that “only such shipments are to be
ranked as ‘through cargoes’ as are shipped through to stations on
the South Manchuria Railway Company, under the Nippon Yusen
Kaisha-South Manchuria Ry. through bills of lading.”
This does not seem to be in accord with the information on this point
received by the British Consul in Dairen.
In this connection, there is quoted below a passage from a letter
received from the local office of * * *, discussing the phase of the
question bearing upon the application of the specific through rates
“to the specific through goods carried by any steamship line,
whether under a foreign flag or the Japanese [Page 613] flag, who have entered into special
arrangements with this Company concerning the transportation of
through goods.”
I consider the whole point lies in the meaning of the misleading
or ambiguous wording: “* * * who have entered into special
arrangements with this company concerning the transportation of
through cargo.” In my opinion, what this really amounts to is
that the facility would—or could—be applicable to any
non-Japanese line which might have entered into special
arrangement with S. M. Ry concerning the transportation of
through goods, but I am not aware that any non-Japanese line has
actually done so, or has ever been made acquainted that it could
do so, or that if it were made so acquainted, it would find
practicable the conditions which it would most probably be asked
to comply with. The Manchuria Daily News of 30th September and
1st October last only mention N. Y. K. and O. S. Kaisha, and no
notification to the effect mentioned by H. B. M’s Consul at
Dairen, as having been advised to him by letter, has, as far as
I am aware, been made public. If not, why not? That is the
unsatisfactory point.
As the local stationmaster of the railway company here is a very
subordinate officer and must refer questions of importance to the
head office in Dairen, it might be advisable for the American Consul
in Dairen to apply directly to the South Manchuria Railway Company
for information in regard to the nature of the “special
arrangements” necessary to be entered into, and endeavor to discover
whether or not these “special arrangements” are the same that
Japanese steamship lines have entered into with the railway
company.
With regard to the application or non-application of the 15%
reduction on local shipments from Newchwang, the Embassy is again
referred to this office’s dispatch No. 31, of October 17, 1914, to
the Legation. Enclosure No. 2, of that dispatch gives a table, based
on old rates found in the railway company’s tariff book in operation
prior to October 1, 1914, and new rates, effective after October 1,
1914, as quoted by the local stationmaster of the company. Here it
is clearly shown that the 15% reduction does not apply in all
cases.
I have [etc.]
