893.52/243
Memorandum by the Minister in China (Johnson) of a Conversation With the American Consul General and Senior Consul at Shanghai (Cunningham)89
In the course of a discussion today of the attitude of the Consular Body at Shanghai toward the Chinese Land Office, Mr. Cunningham referred to the fact that the Consular Body had raised with the Chinese the question of transfer fees on titles transferred between foreigners of the same nationality.
I told Mr. Cunningham that I disagreed with the point of view of the Consular Body as I thought that there was no difference between the transfer of a piece of property between persons of the same nationality and such a transfer between persons of a different nationality, sofar as the responsibility of the Chinese for issuing a good title was concerned.
Mr. Cunningham pointed to Regulations 5 and 6 of the Land Regulations, but I contended that these Regulations did not preclude the issuance of a new title deed. Mr. Cunningham showed to me the reply of the Chinese Land Office to the letter of the Consular Body, in which the Land Office took the view that it must require the issuance of new deeds where land passed from one foreigner to another of the same nationality.
- Copy transmitted to the Department without covering despatch; received June 19, 1930.↩