The construction of the railway is being completed using funds raised in China. The total length of this line from Canton to Peking will be 1,500 miles.
2. To construct a line to a deep-sea port from Canton, a loan was raised from the British and Chinese Corporation (for £1,500,000 Loan Agreement attached) for the Section from Canton to the British Frontier. From the Frontier to the Port of Hongkong is being constructed by the Colony. The Canton Section is 89 miles long, the British Section 23 miles. Including the cost of Land Resumption, the Canton Section will probably be completed within the amount of the Loan approximately, though as land has cost more than anticipated, savings will have to be made in construction, which will subsequently have to be made good. The British Section, owing chiefly to a Tunnel (7,356 feet in length) and extensive reclamation of sea-bed at the Terminus, will probably cost about £1,100,000 and will be paid for by repayments of the Loan made to China. Thus, the British Railway forms the terminal section of a line which will ultimately extend from Hongkong (Kowloon) to Peking and beyond.
There is no other terminus which can rival the advantages of Hongkong, but the Chinese no doubt resent the terminus of this main trunk line being in Foreign Territory, and it is conceivable that the port of Whampoa (4 miles from Canton) might be dredged and converted into a port during the currency of the Loan.