7
Railway Authorities as frequent military movements north of Canton resulted in the commandeering of goods wagons. Mercantile firms also laboured under great difficulties as the rapid decline in the value of Chinese Currency, and various Chinese Government restrictions imposed from time to time on imports and exports made normal commercial trading difficult. Down goods traffic was very poor being practically confined to vegetables and farm produce. Since December this traffic has ceased due to difficulties experienced by the vegetable merchant in Canton with the Customs and Railway authorities over examination of cargo. down traffic are given below:---
Up Traffic
Down Traffic
Kilos. Revenue Kilos. Revenue *182,923 $679,877.00 1,313 $10,175.00
Details of up and
*Ministry of Communications U. N. R. R. A., Canton-Hankow Railway, Other Chinese Gov- ernment Depts. (Military etc.) Commercial.
19. Receipts from local goods traffic amounted to $48,680.00 the quantity conveyed being 7,260 Kilos. This was consider- ably less than prior to the war due to a variety of circumstances, chief among them being marketing and control of vegetables by Government who arranged direct conveyance from the New Territories to the market by lorries, the lack of fishing in the Taipo area owing to shortage of junks, and road competition.
20.
RATES AND FARES.
Prior to the cessation of through traffic in 1938, fares could normally be divided into two classes, those applicable to local traffic and to stations on the Chinese Section other than Canton, and the purely terminal fares in operation between Kowloon and Canton. Owing to intense river com- petition, it was necessary to keep these latter fares at a very low level indeed in order to attract passengers to the Railway. Since the re-occupation of the Colony and the re-opening of the Railway, competition by river companies, due to lack of shipping, has greatly declined, and the result has been that the train accommodation available has been taxed to the uttermost. It was therefore possible to abandon the employ- ment of special low terminal through fares, and to apply the normal fares in operation to local stations and sectional stations to all terminal passenger traffic with an additional charge of 20% for travel on the Express trains. It will thus be seen that economic conditions have resulted in a complete reversal of pre-war methods for the time being, and whilst the comparatively high fares prevailing has not deterred passen- gers from travelling, it is realised that eventually reductions for terminal traffic will have to be made when river competition becomes more intense. Passenger fares varied