132
need not be raised in this connection. Questions of
responsibility for policing the lines, construction of
branch lines, receipts from open line before completion.
of the whole line, inclusion or exclusion of cost of land
in calculating capital outlay, provision of working
capital &c.,
&G. 1
largely disappear if the community of
interests is limited to through traffic and the responsibi-
-lity of each Government is recognised as absolute for its
own Section.
14.
In view of the facts I have set
out in this Despatch, and of the absence of any sufficient
lever with which to negotiate, looking moreover to the
conclusion which I fear must be accepted that "pooling of
receipts" is out of the question, and bearing in mind that
according to the enclosed correspondence an alternativa
terminus to the Hankow Railway at Whampoa is not beyond
the region of practical possibility, I am inclined to
think that this Colony may find itself driven to the
adoption of a plan of separate control. According to Mr.
Butler Wright (page 2) that alternative would involve
junction station at the frontier to be used as a
terminal station". If that is the case no time should be
lost in arriving at a decision for at present both
Seations