Peking, and whereas the Companies are willing to assist the Administration in this matter, the following stipulations have been agreed on, and under date below given, signed by the Administration represented by its Director-General Sheng-hsuen-huai, and by the Great Northern Telegraph Company, Limited, of Copenhagen represented by its acting co-managers in China, Mr. Julius V. Petersen and Mr. K. Suenson, and by the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company Limited, represented by Mr. William Bullard, all three parties duly furnished with full and special powers for this

purpose.

Article I.—The Companies undertake to use their influence with their respective Governments to obtain from the allies permission for the Administration to reerect the landlines between Taku and Peking, and to reopen public stations at Tien-tsin and Peking, on condition that the Companies shall have the absolute control of the working of the above-named landlines, and of the stations at Taku, Tien-tsin and Peking.

Article II. For the purpose, stated in Article I, the Companies shall have the right to appoint an agent at Tien-tsin and at Peking who shall have complete control of the entire Chinese staff, the working of the lines, and the management of the stations.

The Companies shall further have the right to appoint such other foreigners as they deem necessary to ensure efficient control.

At Taku the above-named lines shall be worked from the present cable station.

Article III.-The Administration shall provide accountants at Tien-tsin and Peking who shall be responsible to the Administration for all monies received for telegrams.

At the Taku station the Companies will receive all monies for all telegrams and will pay the same to the Administration.

Article IV. The Administration undertakes to pay all expenses incurred in connection with the establishment and working of the said lines and stations, and further to reimburse to the Companies all expenses in connection with the Europeans stationed at the afore-named places by the Companies.

Article V. This Agreement shall continue in force until the majority of the foreign troops shall have been withdrawn, and peace and the normal state of affairs in the North of China shall have been reestablished, when the Peking and Tien-tsin stations will be handed over to the Administration for their own management.

In witness whereof the undersigned, duly authorized, have signed the present Agreement.

Done at Shang-hai in the Chinese language and in the English language. Three expeditions duly compared and found to be in agreement have been signed in both languages on the twenty-sixth day of the month of October, nineteen hundred, corresponding with the fourth day of the ninth moon of the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Kwang-hsu.

(L. S.) For the Imperial Chinese Administration-the Director-General (Signed): SHENG-HSUEN-HUAI.

(L. S.) For the Great Northern Telegraph Company Limited of Copenhagen-the acting co-managers in China, KAY SUENSON, JULIUS V. PETERSEN. (L. S.) For the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company Limited (Signed): W. BULLARD.

NUMBER 1901/1.

GREAT BRITAIN (The British Government, and the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company)

Agreement for the Provision of a Submarine Cable between Chefoo and Weihaiwei.*-April 23, 1901.

AGREEMENT made the 23rd day of April, 1901, between Henry Torrens Anstruther, Esq., and Ailwyn Edward Fellowes, Esq. (commonly called the Honourable Ailwyn Edward Fellowes), two of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, for and on behalf of His Majesty's Government of the one part, and the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, Limited (hereinafter called "the Company "), of the other part.

1.—WHEREAS His Majesty's Government, being desirous that a telegraph cable should be laid with all possible dispatch connecting Shanghai with Weihaiwei and Taku, applied to the Company to lay such cable for the account and at the cost of His Majesty's Government, and negotiations have been proceeding as to the terms upon which such cable should be laid;

2.—And whereas since the said negotiations were entered on the Imperial Chinese Telegraph Administration (hereinafter called "the Administration ") applied to the Company and to the Great Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen (a Danish Company working in connection with the Company hereinafter called the Great Northern Company) to lay a cable for the Administration from Shanghai to Chefoo and Taku; and the Company, with the approval of His Majesty's Government, entered into negotiations with the Administration with regard to the laying of such a cable;

3. And whereas the said negotiations with the Administration resulted in the following basis of Agreement, the terms of which have since been embodied. in two formal Agreements duly executed between the Administration of the one part and the Great Northern Company and the Company of the other part, which Agreements bear date respectively the 4th day of August and the 27th day of October, 1900:

(a) The Company and the Great Northern Company are to provide and * Text as printed in Hertslet, p. 1174. See Note to this document, post, p. 273.

lay, for Chinese account, a cable between Taku and Shanghai, connecting Chefoo en route; with the right to lay branch cables from Chefoo to Weihaiwei, Port Arthur, and Kiao-chau to meet the requirements of the British, Russian, and German Governments.

(b) For the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable the Administration is to pay the Companies 210,000l. by instalments spread over thirty years, together with interest on the outstanding balance at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum; with power to the Administration at the end of twenty-five years, but not before, to pay off the balance then remaining due. Until the whole of the money is paid the cables are to be mortgaged to the Companies; and as additional security, the Companies are to have a lien on the balances payable by the Companies to the Administration under the Joint Purse Agreement of July, 1896.†

(c) The Companies are to work and maintain at the expense of the Administration the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable, and to provide a steamer at a fixed daily cost when required for repairs or renewals together with cable required.

(d) All existing Agreements and Concessions between the Administration and the Companies, or either of them, are to be extended, and shall continue in force until the 31st day of December, 1930;

4. And whereas the Joint Purse Agreement of July, 1896, referred to in the said basis of Agreement, is an Agreement, dated the 11th day of July, 1896, made between the Administration of the one part and the Great Northern Company and the Company of the other part, whereby certain arrangements were come to as to the transmission of telegraphic traffic to and from China, and to and from certain places in China, and as to sharing the profits arising from such traffic, and as to matters connected therewith;

5. And whereas an Agreement, dated the 13th day of May, 1897, ‡ was entered into between the Administration on the one part and the Great Northern Company on the other part relating to telegraphic traffic in and to and from China, and by a further Agreement, dated the 6th day of March, 1899, made between the same parties, which Agreement and further Agreement were duly confirmed by the Governments of China, Russia, and Denmark, there was added to the said Agreement of the 13th day of May, 1897, the following additional Article:

"That in the interest of both parties to the Agreement, dated the 13th May, 1897, and for the same term of years, that is till the 31st December, 1910, no other party will be allowed without the consent of both the said parties to land telegraph cables on the coast of China and islands belonging thereto, or to work such cables in connection with the Chinese lines, or otherwise to establish telegraph connections which might create competition with or injure the interests of the existing lines belonging to China or to the Great Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen. This shall, however, not prevent the Chinese Government from establishing local internal cables where no competition can arise, nor from consenting to the junction by cable of Port Arthur with the Russian No. 1897/3, ante.

† No. 1896/3, ante.

telegraph system for the exchange of limitrophe local traffic, neither shall it prevent the transmission of terminal Formosa traffic over the Foochow-Formosa Cable now belonging to Japan, whilst other traffic must not be exchanged by this line except with the consent of China and of the Great Northern Telegraph Company of Copenhagen";

6. And whereas the said Agreements of the 11th July, 1896, 13th May, 1897, and 6th March, 1899, are the principal Agreements referred to in the said basis of Agreement as "all existing Agreements and Concessions," thereby agreed to be extended until the 31st day of December, 1930, and such Agreements and Concessions by virtue of the Joint Purse Arrangements subsisting between the Company and the Great Northern Company enure for the benefit of both the said Companies;

7. And whereas the Company has already laid an efficient telegraph cable (hereinafter called "The Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable") from Chefoo to a point on the Island of Liu-kung-tau, selected by the military authorities at Weihaiwei, and has at such last-mentioned point constructed and established a station for the purpose of working such cable, and has provided such station with a sufficient British staff and all needful instruments and appliances, and has connected the same with the station at Chefoo from which the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable will be worked.

8. And whereas the Company has also laid the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable:

Now it is hereby mutually agreed and declared as follows:

1.-The Company will carry out, or will procure to be carried out, the aforesaid Agreements of the 4th August, 1900, and 27th October, 1900, with the Administration as to the working and maintenance of the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable.

2.-The Company will provide and keep at the station at Chefoo from which the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable will be worked, and will also provide and keep at the station at the Island of Liu-kung-tau a sufficient British staff to transmit all traffic between Weihaiwei, Chefoo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, and between Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chefoo, and Weihaiwei, and the Company undertakes that all such traffic shall, as far as practicable, be transmitted throughout exclusively by British staff. Any case in which such transmission by British staff has been found impracticable shall at once be reported to His Majesty's Government with the reason thereof.

3. The Company will maintain the connection between the Taku-ChefooShanghai Cable and the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable and will work the ChefooWeihaiwei Cable for account of His Majesty's Government on the terms hereinafter expressed so long as it may be required by His Majesty's Government to do so. But the Company shall be entitled, subject to the priority and free transmission of all messages on the service of His Majesty's Government, including the local administration of Weihaiwei, to use such cable and the said station on Liu-kung-tau for the transmission of any other messages, and all receipts in respect of such last-mentioned messages, during the period that the cable is worked by the Company for account of His Majesty's Government,

shal as between His Majesty's Government and the Company belong to the Company but subject to the rights of the Administration:

Provided that His Majesty's Government may at any time by three months' notice to the Company under the hand of the Secretary or Assistant Secretary to the Treasury, determine the working of the cable by the Company for account of His Majesty's Government.

4. If and whenever while the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable shall be worked by the Company for account of His Majesty's Government, such cable shall require to be repaired or renewed, the Company will, upon the request of Mis Majesty's Government, supply a cable steamer to effect, and will therewith use its best endeavours to effect, with all dispatch reasonably possible, the necessary repairs. or renewals, at the price of 150l. for each day or part of a day such steamer shall be employed plus the cost of any cable used for such repairs or renewals, the period of employment of such cable steamer to be computed from the day of her leaving her port or station to the day of her return thither both inclusive, with the addition of the days occupied in coaling and taking cable on board preparatory to the expedition, and in discharging cable after her return to her station, provided that the said daily rate of 150l. shall not be chargeable in going or returning for any greater distance than from or to Hong Kong.

Provided that if the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable shall at any time remain out of working order for a continuous period of three months His Majesty's Government may, on the expiration of such period of three months, by notice to the Company under the hand of the Secretary or Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, determine the working of the said cable by the Company for account of His Majesty's Government immediately or on the date specified in such notice.

5. His Majesty's Government will, out of moneys provided by Parliament, pay to the Company in London within three calendar months from the approval of this Agreement by the House of Commons the sum of 16,000. His Majesty's Government will also pay to the Company by equal quarterly payments out of moneys provided by Parliament the annual sum of 4,000l. for the working of the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable, while the same shall be worked by the Company for account of His Majesty's Government as aforesaid, and the connection at Chefoo between the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable and the TakuChefoo-Shanghai Cable is maintained, and for the transmission of Government messages over the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable.

6.-In case of war, rebellion, or other emergency, His Majesty's Government may take possession of the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable, and of the stations, offices, and apparatus on such telegraph line, and may keep possession thereof for so long as His Majesty's Government may think requisite, and may work such telegraph line by Government servants; and the Company shall do all in its power to enable His Majesty's Government to have and enjoy the benefit and advantage thereof, but no compensation shall be payable to the Company by His Majesty's Government for taking and keeping possession as aforesaid.

7. His Majesty's Government will give to the Company all needful protection from enemies, rebels, pirates, or other assailants during the working of the Taku-Chefoo-Shanghai Cable and of the Chefoo-Weihaiwei Cable.