According to what is meant by & train Mileage & according also to relative expense!
Repeating the figures in Sir M. Nathan's memo with 13052, the present position seems to be this:
We are about to pledge the H.K. Govt; without precious consultation with them or the H. Commil, to build a line to Sham Chun (on the new frontier) and ... Khevr. The cost and the lease it, when built, to the Ry Company (hereafter termed the Pr. M. Corporation) at a rental which will only cover int. & sinking fund. We know nothing definitely as to the trav. cost or construction, nor is it stated whether we are to equip, or merely build the line.
It seems evident that it will have to raise ... (following Sir M. Nathan's figures) and pay interest on it until the line is ... (which will take three or four years). There is no force in the matter of traffic rates of $76 Co. We are given: 42 passenger, 444 train accommodation.
I find it difficult to reconcile the Agnes supplies to Sir M. Nathan with Note G given in the Report of the BrC. Corporation's Engineer for T. & Expenses Stelalter Somerville-Large. According to the latter, the total length of the line is, as far as I can gather, about 125 miles. The frontier will be reached at ... from Canton.
The cost for ... above 105 miles is estimated at £10,627 p. mile; the total for the first 109 miles is £936,300. The cost for the last 16 miles is £392,100, even if reckoned at £24,507 p. mile. The portion between 109M & the frontier will be ... at this higher rate, we get a total of under £500,000 for the ...