(
384
mist entirely osase. He has already reported this matter
in detail to the Director General of the Railway in
!
Poking and the British and Chinese Corporation, and he
is now obliged to ask me to bring these facts to the
Viceroy's notice and request His Excellency to afford
proper protection to these British engineers.
I have the honour to observe that the Canton-
Kowloon Railway (Chinese Section) is a Chinese undertaking
under Imperial Sanction in course of construction under
Chinese official direction. It is obviously the duty of
the local authorities to assist such an undertaking to
the best of their ability, and to lose no opportunity of
affording the engineers and construction staff protection.
If they do not they incur the grave responsibility of
disobeying the Imperial commands.
Again it is the duty of the local authorities
to preserve order in their districts. Officials who permit
crimes to go unpunished are by the laws of China dismissed
from their posts and degraded.
Again, by Treaty, the interests of foreigners
in