the terminal at Kowloon; goods consigned to or from Canton
145
should be examined there so as to avoid delay at the
3.
frontier Station. Sealed trucks from Kowloon to pass without examination and pay at terminus. The ordinary expenses
of maintenance as I have said would be borne by each line,
including making good any construction which had not been
efficiently done at first, erecting permanent buildings
for Stations to replace temporary ones &c., but if either
Section incurred a considerable outlay for the common
benefit of the whole line, such as increased terminal
facilities or doubling the line &c., it would form a
reasonable ground for increasing the proportional rates of
that Section, and as such would be brought before the
Joint Board (and the two Governments) for approval and
determination of the fractional increase in the rates per
mile asked in compensation for the outlay.
I do not enter into further details, there are many
obvious difficulties which would form the subject of negotiation. Under this system the Colonial Government would no doubt
at first have to maintain an unduly large Staff, but probably
a general Manager on a salary of £1,000 or £1,200, with an
Assistant Accountant at £500, and a Maintenance Engineer on
about the same with a Workshop Foreman would suffice for the
Financial ... permanent