695
Extract.
(36458)
4.
-
The Canton-Kowloon Railway.
3J400!
K9
The aisaffected districts in the second district of
this Railway have been causing most serious difficulties and
delays in the construction of the line. How serious the
impasse has been may be gathered from the following extract
of a letter from the Engineer-in-Chief to the Managing Direc
After referring to the slow progress of land purchase
and the indifference of the local officials to the criminal
aggressiveness of the natives, the Chief Engineer said:-
tor.
"Thus our work is paralysed, and in the districts es-
pecially referred to, viz. Shek ha to Sin Chuen River, Yuen-
chow to Shektan, Namseh to Wang Lat, such delays have al-
ready occurred that I estimate at least six additional months
will be required for the completion of our railway, with an
added cost of $500,000".
This letter was written in May 1909 and Mr. Grove now
estimates that, provided the difficulties are at once over-
come and no other disturbances take place, the first district
from Canton to Shektan (30 miles) will be open for traffic
in April 1910. As the original estimate stated December 1909
for this section, it will be seen that a loss of at least
four