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The administration are, therefore, obliged to make the best terms they can, with the result that land is being acquired very slowly and in most cases at exorbitant rates. Not only are they being charged at an average rate of over £100 a mou for land which is, for the most part, waste ground, but they are often forced to buy land they do not require. In one instance where the line runs through the outskirts of a small village, necessitating the removal of a few houses, the administration have been obliged by the local gentry to buy up the whole village.
Mr. Grove, the Engineer-in-Chief of the line, to whom I am indebted for this information, estimates that at the present rate of purchase a sum of not less than £210,000 will be required on this account, and he fears that this unexpectedly heavy expenditure will make it impossible for him to construct the line for the sum originally agreed upon.
He is at present engaged, at the request of the Director-General in Peking, in drawing up a detailed estimate.