ments of interest and repayments of principal due in terms of the agreement of October 10th, 1898, to the bondholders of the Chinese Government loan of that year, and after deducting from the balance of the net earnings of that railway the amounts required to meet the payments of interest and repayments of principal due in terms of the Agreement of March 6th, 1908, to the bondholders of the Chinese Government Shanghai-HangchowNingpo Railway loan of that year, then the payment of interest and repayment of principal of the present loan shall be a first charge upon the said surplus earnings of the Peking-Mukden Railway (excluding the section of the Hsinmintun-Mukden line to the East of the Liao River) and no deduction or payments shall be made from the earnings of the said railway other than those required to meet the obligations stated in the Loan Agreements of October 10th, 1898, and 6th March, 1908, until an amount sufficient to pay the next half-yearly instalment of interest and yearly instalment of principal of the present loan shall have been placed on deposit with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation as security for the due payment of the same.

"ARTICLE 5.-The Corporation undertakes to purchase the aforesaid bonds to the total nominal value of £375,000 at the price of £91 for each £100 bond.

"ARTICLE 6.-The Ministry hereby undertakes that the proceeds of this loan shall be solely devoted to the redemption of the loan of Yen 3,000,000 mentioned in the preamble of this Agreement, and hereby declares formally_that_on redemption of the said loan the Kiangsu Section of the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway will be free from all loans, charges or mortgages whatsoever (the Chinese Government 5% Shanghai-HangchowNingpo Railway Loan of 1908, and outstanding liabilities of the Company for which the Ministry of Communications has made provision, excepted) and that the Chinese Government will not permit any other loan charge or mortgage to be created by the Provincial Company of Kiangsu on the security of the aforesaid section of the Shanghai-HangchowNingpo Railway.

"ARTICLE 7.-If any of the bonds mentioned in this agreement are lost or destroyed a reissue of any thereof will be made in the amounts respectively called for by such fost or destroyed bonds, but proper proof of the loss or destruction must be given in the usual form by the Corporation to the Ministry. All expenses connected with the reissue of such lost or destroyed bonds will be borne by the Corporation.

ARTICLE 8.-All bonds and coupons and payments made and received in connection with the service of this loan shall be exempt from all Chinese taxes and imposts during the currency of this loan.

"ARTICLE 9.-This Agreement is signed under the authority of a Presidential Order of February 14th, 1914, which has been officially communicated to the Minister of Great Britain in Peking by the Waichiaopu.

ARTICLE 10.-Three sets of this agreement are executed in English and Chinese, two sets to be retained by the Ministry and one by the Corporation in the event of any doubt arising regarding the interpretation of the agreement the English text shall rule.

Signed at Peking by the contracting parties this fourteenth day of February, Nineteen hundred and fourteen.

The Chekiang section of the railway was likewise nationalized by an agreement (of which no version is available) with the Chekiang Provincial Railway Company, the funds for the purpose being obtained by the Chinese Government from the proceeds of the loan of 1908. under the terms of a memorandum of agreement, dated September 19, 1914, of which the text is thus given in Wang, p. 491:

Agreement with British & Chinese Corporation regarding Nationalization of Chekiang Section of Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway, September 19, 1914. "WHEREAS arrangements have been concluded between the Ministry of Communications (hereinafter called the Ministry') and the Chekiang Provincial Railway Company (hereinafter called 'the Company') for the resumption as a Government Railway of the Chekiang Section of the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway (hereinafter called 'the Section'):

SEND WHEREAS the said section was placed on June 16th, 1914, under a Managing

Director appointed by the Ministry, and it is now necessary to commence making payment

of the instalments of redemption money which the Ministry has agreed to pay to the Company:

"AND WHEREAS the British and Chinese Corporation Limited (hereinafter called 'the Corporation') has agreed that the Company shall be paid from the funds of the Chinese Government 5% Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway Loan of 1908 such amount as may represent the actual value of the said Section, on condition that the entire ShanghaiHangchow-Ningpo Railway (hereinafter called the Railway') be forthwith administered as a Government line in a satisfactory manner.

"THIS AGREEMENT between the Ministry, of the one part, and the Corporation, of the other part.

"WITNESSETH AS FOLLOWS:

"1. The Ministry hereby declares the said Section to be free from all mortgage of property or charge on revenue, and that all outstanding liabilities of the Company are provided for in the payments which the Ministry has agreed to make to the Company.

"2. The actual value of the Section having been estimated by the Ministry and the Corporation at Shanghai Taels 8,000,000 it is hereby agreed that the following amounts shall be paid from the loan funds aforesaid on the dates herein stated, namely,

"The said amounts will be held available to the order of the Ministry by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Shanghai, but with the condition that if after defraying from loan funds, from time to time, the expenditure for repairing and construction work of the railway and for constructing the connecting line with the ShanghaiNanking Railway there should be insufficient loan funds remaining over to meet the final instalment above stated the deficiency shall be met from the proceeds of the ShanghaiHangchow-Ningpo Railway Supplementary Loan.

3. From the date of the first payment of loan funds as above agreed the railway will be effectively administered by the Ministry, and it has been agreed by the Company that they will from that date relinquish all their rights in respect to the Section and will look solely to the Chinese Government for the payment of all further instalments, without recourse against the Railway; a declaration to which effect will be stamped on the Chinese Government bonds which are to be issued to the Company by the Ministry.

"4. The administration of the Railway will be conducted by a Chinese Managing Director. An Engineer-in-Chief, a Traffic Manager, a Locomotive Superintendent and a Chief Accountant, all of whom shall be British subjects acceptable to the Corporation, shall be appointed forthwith, together with the necessary staff, including a Chief Storekeeper, who shall be a British subject. The aforesaid officers shall be under the orders of the Managing Director or his duly authorised representative: and in order to secure efficiency and economy of administration the said Chinese Managing Director and officers shall be the Chinese Managing Director and staff of the Shanghai-Nanking Railway. Their full salaries and allowances shall be charged to the administration of the Shanghai-Nanking Railway and the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway in proportion to the respective mileage of these lines. The connection of the railway with the Shanghai-Nanking Railway shall be undertaken immediately on signature of the present Memorandum of Agreement. Funds for the purchase of the necessary land will be furnished by the Ministry, and the expenditure necessary for the construction of this connecting line will be met from loan funds.

"The completion of the Railway from Hangchow to Ningpo shall be undertaken by the Administration as soon as practicable.

"5. The Chief Accountant shall have sole charge under the authority of the Managing Director of all receipts and disbursements of railway funds and shall sign in conjunction with the Managing Director all documents appertaining to the disbursement of railway funds. The receipts of the railway will be deposited by him to the credit of the Railway Account with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at Shanghai; and any net revenue after payment of working expenses will be available for the payment of interest on the bonds of the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway Loan of 1908.

"6. This Memorandum of Agreement in English and Chinese is made subject to and in amplification of the Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway Loan Agreement of March 6th, 1908. In the event of any doubt arising regarding its interpretation the English text shall rule.

Signed at Peking, this nineteenth day of September, 1914, corresponding to the nineteenth day of the ninth month of the third year of the Chinese Republic. "[Chinese signature and Seal of "THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS] "S. F. MAYERS

(Sgn.)

(Seal) "FOR THE BRITISH AND CHINESE CORPORATION, LIMITED."

NUMBER 1908/4.

CHINA.

Memorial of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and imperial rescript, in regard to the revision of the procedure governing intercourse between the local officials and missionaries.*-March 12, 1908.

A memorial was presented by the former Tsung Li Yamen, enclosing five articles on the subject of intercourse between the local officials and missionaries, which was approved by an imperial rescript, dated Kuang Hsu, 25th Year, 2nd Month, 5th day (March 16, 1899).†

We would note that in the memorial it is stated that when the Archbishops or Bishops apply for an interview with the Viceroys, Governors, Provincial Judges, Taotais, Prefects, or District Magistrates, the said officials will treat with them according to their respective ranks.

At the time the memorial was presented the Tsung Li Yamen hoped that the procedure which they drew up to govern intercourse between the local officials and missionaries would be of benefit to the church. But the Bishops and others. who are preaching the Gospel in China can not be said to have official rank, and they certainly can not hold the same rank as Viceroys, Governors, and other officials.

Of late the practice of the local officials, based on treaty, in their relations with the missionaries, does not agree with the conditions which were prevalent at the time the last regulations were drawn up. Furthermore, since the regulations in question were put into effect, the missionaries and others have constantly made use of the ceremonial customs and insignia of the local officials, thereby causing misunderstandings among the stupid people. Such was certainly not the original intent of the regulations, and it is urgently necessary to draw up a procedure more in accord with present conditions.

We accordingly petition the Throne to cancel the memorial of the Tsung Li Yamen. In future the intercourse between the local officials and the missionaries should be carried on as before, in accordance with the treaties.

When the Throne has approved this memorial, this board will communicate with the different provinces that they may issue instructions to have the memorial observed.

Reverently submitted to Their Majesties, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

RESCRIPT: Approved.

Kuang Hsu, 34th Year, 2nd Month, 10th day (March 12, 1908).

*Translation from the official Chinese text.

† See Note to this document, post, p. 718.

Note.

Rockhill, p. 424, and Hertslet, p. 1154, reprint from China, 1900, No. 1, p. 142, the following translation of that memorial:

Memorial and Rescript concerning Intercourse between local Officials and
Missionaries, March 16, 1899.

"China has long ago given her consent to the establishment of Mission stations of the Roman Catholic religion in the various provinces. With the desire of maintaining peaceful relations between ordinary Chinese subjects and the converts, and of facilitating protective measures, the following proposals as to the reception of missionaries by local officials are submitted:

1.-To define the various ranks of missionaries.

Bishops rank with Governors-General and Governors. They may ask for interviews with these officers. If a Bishop returns to his country or vacates his post on account of sickness, the priest who acts for him can also ask for interviews with the Governor-General and Governor.

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Provicaires and Head Priests can ask for interview with Treasurers, Judges, and Taotais. Other priests can ask for interviews with Prefects and Magistrates.

The Chinese officials of all ranks above mentioned will return the courtesy in accordance with the rank of the priest.

"2.-Bishops must furnish the provincial authorities with a list giving the names of the priests deputed to transact international business with the Chinese officials, and of the places where missions are established, so that the provincial authorities can instruct their subordinates to treat with such priests according to these regulations.

All those priests who ask for interviews, and those specially deputed to transact such business, must be Westerners, but in cases in which the Western Priest cannot speak Chinese, a Chinese priest may interpret.

"3.-In cases in which the Bishop lives away from the provincial capital, he need not naturally go to the said capital to ask for an interview with the Governor-General or Governor without cause. On occasions of a change of Governors or Bishops, or of New Year's congratulations, the Bishop may write to the provincial authorities or send his card as a matter of courtesy, and the provincial authorities will reciprocate.

"In cases of change of priests, the newcomer must have a letter from the Bishop, before he can ask for interviews with the Chinese officials as above.

4.-In grave cases connected with the mission, Bishops and priests must request the Minister of the nation specially intrusted by the Pope with the protection of Roman Catholic missionaries or the Consul of that nation to arrange the affairs with the Tsung-li Yamên or the local officials. They may also discuss and arrange the matter in the first instance with the local officials, so as to avoid complications. The local officials, when applied to in such cases, must at once discuss and arrange the affair in an equitable and friendly

manner.

"5.-The local officials must, as occasion arises, exhort and constrain the ordinary Chinese to look upon the converts as comrades, and not to pick quarrels with them.

"The Bishops and priests on their side must instruct their converts to lead blameless lives, and so preserve the good name of the religion and the respect and goodwill of the

non-converts.

"Should lawsuits arise between converts and others, the local authorities must_decide the same with impartiality. The priests must not interfere or favour their people. Thus it may be hoped that converts and people will live together on friendly terms.

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The same day the Imperial assent was given."