My dear Sir John Jordan,
H. B. M. Consulate-General,
HANKOW,
October 12th, 1908,
Received December 12, 1909.
I am sorry that only now have I found time to write with reference to my telegram No. 23 of yesterday.
Liang Tun-Yen, with whom I was very intimate when he was Chang Chih-Tung's private Secretary in 1900-1903, called on Saturday afternoon, (10th), and told me Chang had consulted him about his railway schemes, showing him also the telegrams that passed between us last week. Liang pressed on His Excellency the necessity of concentrating effort on completing the Hankow-Canton line, a main trunk, whereas the line to Ichang was only subsidiary; but Chang would not listen, persisting that steamer competition would prevent the Wu-Yo line from paying. This view, Liang agreed with me, was absurd, though of course the sooner there's through traffic to Changsha the better.
Chang would not either listen to Liang's recommendation of Moore, whom he stigmatised as a waterworks expert. His objection,