Enclosure 2
54
3.
In the report made by Mr. P. T.---
Somerville Large in 1899 for the British and Chinese Cor-
-poration the terminus was assumed to be on the reclaimed
land at Tsim Sha Tsui to the extreme South of the Peninsula
and this site had been generally accepted locally. Apart,
however, from the fact that the reclaimed land was private
property which could only be resumed at enormous cost, it
seemed to me, when I first went into the matter in the
autumn of 1904, that the area available was too restricted
for a satisfactory terminus, that it could not be extended
without unduly encroaching on the fairway of the harbour
and that access to it could involve utilizing for the
railway the main North and South road of Kowloon which
would have hampered traffic and interfered with the de-
-velopment of the town. On the other hand Hunghom Bay ap-
-peared to have the advantages now set forth in the first
paragraph of Mr. Chatham's letter.
This view received independent
corroboration from a letter dated January 13th., of which
I enclose a copy, from Mr. A. J. Barry, M.I.C.E., whom I
saw on the occasion of his visit to Hongkong shortly before
that date but with whom I had not discussed this matter.
4.
V
The plans now submitted are based
on