595
4.
A start was also being made on the North Side by working day and night running a gullet through to the tunnel face, but the coolies were driven back to Kowloon by the typhoon.
5. The last fortnight's weather has been most trying, the coolie lines etc., which took months to erect and arrange for, have all nearly gone and labour is so dear and scarce that they are difficult to replace.
6.
Arrangements had been made for driving the headings at the North Side, coolies had been collected and trained and now everything is upset. The coolies are scattered for want of houses to live in and the shaft hopelessly wrecked.
The two miners, who have just arrived, say that they do not think it worth while trying to retimber it.
7. I am doing my best to get the coolie lines up again, but the typhoon of 29th destroyed a lot of material which was being towed round to Shatin Valley.
8. I have made arrangements for a lot of imported coolies and it will be very difficult to get these lines up by the time they are due to arrive.
9.
Looking forward to the future, the outlook for getting the work pushed through is much more hopeful, as Contractors are turning up here from Burmah and are ready to import coolies from there. This will be cheaper, I think, than importing from North China and they will probably stand the climate better than Tientsin coolies.
10. One Punjabi contractor has started on a cutting near Kowloon and also on 2 bridges. A great number of Punjabis are emigrating to Vancouver, changing steamers...