130
think that it would be safe to entrust the control of the
British Section to a Board sitting at Canton and with a
preponderant Chinese vote, at any rate,unless the powers
of the Board were strictly limited to matters of working
detail, and all questions where the interests of the two
Sections were opposed, were reserved for decision by the
two Governments concerned, viz.:- the Hongkong Government
and the Central Government at Peking who have assumed
control over all Chinese Railways.
10.
The second question of moment is
to settle the basis upon which profits should be shared.
It was proposed that the net profits on the whole Railway
should be divided between the two Goverments in proportion
to the capital expenditure on construction per mile, or
that a bonus mileage should be allowed for such sections
(e.g. the Tunnel) as largely exceeded the average cost
per mile of the whole line. There is no doubt that such
a proposal would be strongly opposed both by the Chinese
Government and by the British and Chinese Corporation and
the alternative seems to be that each Section should take
the -profits receipts from the local traffic over its own
hoyo
line with a proportion of the receipts through traffic in
which as Mr. •
Butler Wright suggests the charge for traffic
Over