Enclosure to Secret Despatch of 6th June 1907
C. O.
Hon. Colonial Secretary,
17791
Rec'd 18 MAY 07
87
I saw Mr. Wu Ting Fang this morning on the subject of the Joint Working Agreement for the Canton-Kowloon Railway. He commenced the interview by a reference to the eight months within which the Corporation by their Agreement were to raise the money for construction. I said that I imagined that the raising of the Loan was awaiting settlement of the proportion of it that was to be taken up by the Cantonese. He replied that it had now been decided that they would take none as they had discovered that shares in the Loan would give them no lien on profits from the Railway and they could get more than 5 per centum on their money in other investments.
Mr. Wu Ting Fang then said that the settlement of the Joint Working Agreement must await the appointment of a Chief Engineer for the Chinese Section of the line who would advise the Chinese with regard to its technical aspects. As Mr. Wu seemed to have no special suggestions to make as to what the Agreement should embody, I went over briefly the following points that appeared to me to be important:
1. The junction of the Chinese and Hongkong Sections should be at the place we have selected at the Lo...
Page 90
Page 91