123
with my delegate and His Majesty's Consul-General all
questions relating to the Joint Working Agreement. He is
disposed to concur in the view that an immediate discussion
of this matter might not advance matters, and to favour
the suggestion that the Chief Resident Engineers of the
two Sections should in the first place endeavour to reach
an agreement on the questions involved.
3.
Mr. Grove meantime has completed
his estimates, a copy of which has been sent to me con-
-fidentially by the British and Chinese Corporation, and I
gather that the general position is that a more or less
satisfactory solution has been found of the two chief
M
difficulties the appointment of Consulting Engineers
and the land purchase and that he now hopes to open the
Section between Ganton and Sheklung by January, 1910, and
the Southern Section which unites with ours by July, 1911.
He has to some extent had to curtail expenditure in order
to keep within the available funds, and I think it not in-
-probable that the estimates may consequently be exceeded
in some items. He informed me a week or two ago that he
thought the discussion of the Joint Agreement might be
advantageously begun in a month or two.