that the extra cost of the Shanghai-Nanking,
which
was often objected to by Chinese officials, was largely
due to difficulties of a similar nature created by the
people and officials of Kiangsu province.
Mr. Liang met the complaints frankly and reasonably.
He considered that Mr. Groves' estimate of the probable
total cost of land, as reported in Mr. Fox's despatch,
was overdrawn, and thought that it would not amount to
much more than £70,000. He admitted that there had
been some local trouble in two cases,
but nothing out
of the common, and he argued that though the terminal
facilities on the reclaimed bund at Canton were
costly, they were not excessively so taking everything
into consideration. The Government Bureau of Reclamation
had in the first instance asked Tls. 400,000 or £50,000
for the ground required by the railway, basing their
demand on the price paid by unofficial persons for other
portions of the land, and the
Board of Communications,
after four months of negotiation, reduced the demand to
nearly half. The rest of the land was being acquired at
fair prices, in his view, and he is a Cantonese,
With
54