Office of the Historian

893.52/460: Telegram

The Consul General at Shanghai (Lockhart) to the Secretary of State

Shanghai, July 19, 1938—11 a.m.
[Received 12:05 p.m.]

1005. This Consulate General’s despatch of January 14, 193825 re Bureau of Land Administration.

1.
The situation with reference to the records of the Bureau of Land Administration remains unchanged except the Japanese are becoming more insistent that the land records be turned over to the Japanese military. In this the interested Consuls are not inclined to acquiesce, on the ground that (1) the Japanese have no special claim on the land records and (2) the Shanghai Municipal Council took custody of the land records without the consent of the Consular Body or the Consuls specially interested. The Japanese by way of a compromise recently proposed that the Municipal Council make some arrangement by which the records should be opened for daily inspection by the public with a Japanese employee of the Municipal Council present, but this has not seemed to offer a satisfactory solution of the problem [Page 409] although it is better than turning the records over to the exclusive control of the Japanese.
2.
The recordation of land transfers has been in progress since the beginning of hostilities but there is still no strong pressure from the general public or property owners for the restoration of normal land office facilities. However, the issue may reach a more acute stage vis-à-vis the Japanese soon. It would seem that the only solution which would be fair to all nationalities concerned (and I am very doubtful whether either the Japanese or the Central Government would agree) would be [to consent to the] creation as a temporary expedient only of a special land bureau possibly with codirectors to be selected by the Consular Body as representatives, respectively, of the Settlement areas and the Chinese area, with nationals of the several most interested governments being included among the employees of the bureau. The question will doubtless shortly resolve itself into whether the land archives shall be turned over to a Japanese sponsored Chinese land office, presumably created by the Reformed Government, or whether the interested Consuls shall attempt to retain some control over the administration of the land office as suggested above, or by some other more practicable means, in view of the peculiar situation that now obtains here, and certainly the present position regarding the land archives cannot be maintained permanently.
3.
The Department’s comments, or preferably its instructions, are respectfully requested. Any suggestions looking to a possible solution of the problem would be appreciated.

Repeated to Hankow, code by mail to Peiping and Tokyo.

Lockhart
  1. Not printed.↩