CONFIDENTIAL
3
(contd)
8.
Since writing the foregoing, I have just learned (see para 5 above) that the drainage channel in the bund has proved inadequate and that following recent heavy rain- fall (it continues as I write) two families in Tam Kon Chau have had to be evacuated because their huts have been flooded to a depth of 6 inches. I have told N C N A that the flooding could probably only be reduced if the channel were 15 ft widex 5 ft deep. I added that because of the pressure of water which has already built up it will in practice be impossible to widen the drainage channel at all significantly without causing extensive damage to the bund.
However,
we see no alternative if the flooding is to be reduced; and in any case a more sensible drainage channel could have been built if the Shek Ha commune had not taken precipitate and unilateral action. We shall see what happens.
Yours ever,
CC
RE Allen Esq FED
F CO
Research Dept
FE Section
F CO
Chancery Peking
(I C Orr)
CONFIDENTIAL
ain
in