KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY (cont.)
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engineer), Mr. M. H. Logan (engineer in charge of construction from the Beacon Hill tunnel to Shumchun), Messrs. F. W. W. Valpy and J. C. Steen (assistants to District Engineer), R. Baker, W. Waite and F. Southey.
It is interesting to note that the Mr. M. H. Logan mentioned above, is now Lieut-Col. Logan, O.B.E., of the well-known firm of civil engineers, Messrs. Logan and Amps. Mr. R. Baker, who was Mr. Logan's chief assistant, recently retired from the position of general manager and chief engineer of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (British section).
Some interesting facts are disclosed in a paper prepared by Messrs. F. Grove and B. T. B. Boothby and read at a conference of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London in 1913. The authors were connected with the construction of the Chinese section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway.
The paper discloses that the extreme length of the line in Chinese territory was anticipated to be 100 miles, but many deviations were made and the line, when constructed, was 89.04 miles in length, or adding the British section, 111 miles from Canton to Kowloon.
The cost of the Chinese section was only $12,624,127, made up as follows: Survey, $104,000; land $1,675,000; earthwork, $1,867,000; bridgework, $2,303,000; fencing and boundaries, $55,000; telegraph, $54,400; track, $2,710,000; stations and buildings, $877,290; plant and rolling stock, $1,563,600; general charges, including Chinese direction, $1,414,837.
Much political intrigue has developed around the Kowloon-Canton Railway. Under present arrangements, the Chinese section receives 65 per cent. of the receipts and the British section 35 per cent.
The Chinese authorities argue that inasmuch as the Chinese section is nearly 80 per cent of the railway, its percentage should be nearly 80 per cent. On the other hand, the management of the British section points out that the mileage standard cannot be applied, because the construction of the British section was very expensive. In recent years, too, the Chinese section has deteriorated in many respects.
EARLY AGITATION FOR RAILWAY
The history of early efforts to link Hongkong (via Kowloon) by railway to Canton and other parts of the world, was given yesterday. We have seen that a London firm, Messrs. Matheson & Co., obtained a concession for a Kowloon-Canton railway in the Nineties, but for some years it remained unused. Then came an American syndicate, which in 1898 obtained the original Canton-Hankow rail concession, a line yet to be completed. In a year or two the Americans realised that the terminus should be a deep-water port, and from Canton they turned their eyes to Kowloon.
The S.C.M. Post of November 25, 1903, commenting on this matter, stated:
"Two alternatives presented themselves: a deep water terminus at Hongkong with which the world's trade had had sixty years' acquaintance, where great dockyards had been fashioned, where the coastwise trade had gathered as at a focus, or a deep water terminus at some point north of the British hinterland, where no preparations had been made, where no docks existed, to which trade would have to be enticed at much cost of time and money. Hongkong was undoubtedly the preferable site. The Americans came to Hongkong, spied out the land, and discovered that the concession was held by Messrs. Matheson and Company.
"There was but one thing to do," they approached Messrs. Matheson and Company and made them an offer for the concession. Messrs. Matheson and Company, with this useless document upon their shelves, disappointed at the treatment of British financiers, and hopeless of obtaining money...