in the Chinese end, while China would have no voice
whatever in the Hongkong part of the line.
Mr. Campbell took him through the Chinese text
of Article I of the Preliminary Agreement and point-
ed out that it did not bear out his interpretation
and that it contained nothing at variance with the
two draft agreements, the object of which in any
case was to bring the whole line from Canton to Kow-
loon under one administration,
The Hongkong Government
proposed to build their section themselves with their
own money, and as it passed through their own terri-
tory they naturally had all the say in regard to it:
the Chinese portion was to be built by the British
and Chinese Corporation with money borrowed from that
Corporation.
Sheng kung pao did not appear to wish to listen
to much refutation of his arguments but went on to
complain of the way in which he had been treated by
the British and Chinese Corporation in the matter of
the Shanghai-Nanking Railway Agreement, which was the
model of the Corporation's draft agreement in the
present case. He had negotiated that agreement with
365
Mr. Brenan, an old friend, who had gone to England
after the signature, leaving details unsettled.
There was delay over these, and finally because he
was asked by me through Sir Pelham Warren (an old
friend) to let the details stand over and allow the
issue of the loan for market reasons, he had agreed
and the loan was issued. That was a long time since
and two important details which should have been
settled months ago in accordance with the terms of
the Loan Agreement were still unsettled. One was
the regulation for the guidance of the Board of Com-
missioners, and the other the contract of the Engineer
in Chief. As to the first, after long discussion,
Regulations had been agreed upon which Mr. Henry
Keswick in Shanghai said had to go home for approval
to the head office in London. To hasten this ap-
proval Sheng kung pao wrote a letter at the time,
seven or eight months ago, to Mr. W. Keswick (also
an old friend) and had received a satisfactory reply,
yet nothing was done. It was the same sort of delay
in regard to the contract of the Engineer-in-Chief,
Mr.
Mr.