CONFIDENTIAL.
Hongkong.
Enclosure!
(with & spare copies)
Sir,
No. 88
COLONIAL OFFICE
C.O. 210/50
762
26 JUN 1904
Goverment House, Hongkong, 20th May, 1904.
With reference to my previous Despatches on the subject of the construction of a Railway between Hongkong and Canton, I have the honour to transmit for your consideration the enclosed report of an interview which I recently had with the Committee of the China Association who waited upon me with the object of pressing their views on this subject upon the Government.
2. The gentlemen who compose the Committee comprise many of the leading European business men in the Colony and their opinion therefore carries great weight.
3. As indicated in my remarks to the Committee, I am of opinion that if the Concessionaires will not undertake to proceed with the immediate construction of the line, either unsupported by any assistance, or with the help of a guarantee such as I have previously suggested, then His Majesty's Government should induce the Chinese Government to cancel the Concession and to make a new one in favour of the Colonial or Imperial Government, or of a Company nominated by either of them. The nature of the Concession might be the same as that under which the French Government is extending their railway from Langkay...
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ALFRED LYTTELTON, K.C., M.P.