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Board of Communications are endeavouring to recover the administration of those lines which have been entrusted to the provinces and to withdraw all provincial concessions upon which work has not yet been commenced. While I am ready to agree that central control may mean some delay in the construction of the Canton-Kowloon railway, I do not think that in present circumstances the Chinese Government could be easily induced to transfer the control from the Board of Communications to the Viceroy, and from my experience of the Board so far, I should be disposed to consider that a central administration of railways may in the long run prove more acceptable and satisfactory to us. As matters stand, I should in any case be averse from exercising pressure on the Central Government to reverse their policy and transfer the control of the Canton-Kowloon railway to the Viceroy.
The question of the consulting engineer for the Chinese section has been under discussion with the Board of Communications, and it has been arranged that the practice of the Northern railway should be followed. In accordance with that practice, Messrs. Carrow, Parr ... will