Ed Boari 20
...... 90 lack of on
1
402 0.
At thi
2.
s
lines after coming through very hard times have become worth while only now they are drawing traffic receipts. The line through Hunan, Kuangtung and Hupei will not be completed before 10 years.
At present the finance question is the hindrance. After over a year's deliberation the Hunan gentry have only arrived at an outline scheme without any tangible arrangements while the first instalment of interest on the redemption loan is due immediately. In a succession of letters and telegrams the Hunan gentry urge action in terms showing their stress.
Kuangtung, of course, is a rich country yet of late unsatisfactory financing has caused a rupture between authorities and gentry and a great storm. The position is still excited and the outcome uncertain.
As to Hupei, we simply are in helpless embarrassment.
579
Thus at this time the authorities and gentry of the 3 Provinces are in a time of coil and entanglement, difficulty and distress; and yet the Conservatives accuse their authorities of having enormous privileges.
Moreover, the public affairs of Hunan have all hitherto been managed by officials but usually with aid from the gentry. Still more is raising funds by the gentry in the hands of their leaders, even though high authorities of Hunan simply have the decision and solely attend to supervision and urging on. Purchase of land and materials and starting work entirely depend on the leaders, great and small, of the gentry.
Thus there is responsibility for the expenditure whether or not it is extravagant and wasteful. From the Governor of Hunan down
24