Sir,
Enclosed No. 155 China Association, Hong Kong 12th October, 1904.
I have the honour to request that you will be so good as to lay the following expression of opinion from this Committee before His Excellency the Governor.
On the 18th May last, when you were administering the Government, you considerately received this Committee as a deputation from the China Association to lay their views on the question of the construction of the projected Kowloon-Canton Railway before you. On that occasion you undertook to communicate the proceedings at the interview to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies and to make known to the Committee his reply, if possible, or the substance of such reply, when received.
When addressing the Council on the day of his arrival in the Colony, His Excellency the Governor announced that he hoped devoutly that during his administration he would see the completion of the railway from Kowloon to the interior, and the colonists naturally concluded that not only was Sir Matthew Nathan strongly in favour of the early prosecution of this important work, but that His Excellency had come out with some definite instructions in connection therewith, subject of course to the conclusion of certain negotiations understood to be then proceeding with the British Chinese Corporation. The Committee therefore resigned themselves to a policy of temporary inaction, waiting with what patience they might for some settlement of certain questions unknown. Five months have, however, slipped by and no
Hon. R. H. Kay, C.M.G., Colonial Secretary.