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person who is most representative of the Gov- ernment and the people of Hongkong, and on their name I wish to offer your Excellencies very hearty thanks for the invitation extended to us to take part in what will doubtless be one of the leading events of the history of South China, and for the hospitality which has been extended to us The toast of Success to the Canton-Kowloon Railway is really a toast of success to Anglo-Chinese co-operaticu for joint working to our mutual profit. You accepted our assistance in building the Chinese section of this line You employed British engineers in it. And that section is part of the joint Canton-Kowloon line. The mere name shows that the working has been co-operative. We have not called our line the Kowloon-Lown line, and you have not called your line the Canton- Samchun line. It is one line-the Canton- Kowloon line-with two sections, one British and one Chinese. And as part of the co- operative working of that line we have been for some time discussing with you a working agree- ment for it. This agreement is now, except for formal confirmation, concluded. There
difficulties be
to
met in several that agreement, and naturally the main one was on the division of profits, (Laughter.) Yon We thought had your views: we had ours. consideration should be given to the great proportionate cost of our shorter length owing to our tunnels. Yon quoted your bridges. That matter is now concluded, and I don't think Mr. Chao, who conducted the negotiations with Mr. Clementi and Mr. Lindsey, is of opinion that we English are grasping or very greedy. We bare
neighbours proverb that &
I think it should be neighbourly, and will be found in this instance that we have acted up to our proverb. Another matter required settling. We in Hongkong have a free port; you in China collect a material por- tion of your revenue from Customs duties. It was obviously desirable to make such arrange- ments as would not, on the one hand, hamper the working of passenger traffic on the line, and, on the other hand, endanger your revenue. We are very distrustful of anything like Customs in Hongkong. We are suspicious. And even the personality of our friend Mr. Harris was unable to remove those suspicions altogether, I think Mr. Harris will admit that we
are perhaps watching him closely in seeing that he is not doing what he ought not to do, but we gave him every facility for protecting that great revenue which it is his duty to look after. Well, your Excellencies, we have taken these steps not only because we wished to be neighbourly, but also for a pecuniary reason. We have sunk a good deal of capital in our share of the line, and we want it to pay, and we can only get the maximum benefit from it with the heartiest co-operation between the two sections, the Chinese and British. That it will pay I personally bave not the slightest doubt. I come from the Straits, the Malay Peninsula, and down there they have built 400 odd miles, and aro still building, not, as here, through a coun- try overflowing with industries and a thriving population, but in great part jungles interspersed with Malay villages, and the Malay, though he has many virtues, has never been accused of industry. We have frequently put in lengths of line there, not with a view to immediate profits,
but expecting that in the long distance they would pay. Time after time we found that immediately they were opened they paid handsomely; that people who had never travelled in their lives be- came enthusiastic travellers and that the revenue went up immediately. I have not the slight- est doubt that will happen here also, and I believe the local traffic alone will pay all working expenses and a handsome sub towards the interest on the capital. Then there is the long distance traffic. This line is quite a small portion of a line that before long will be reaching until it joins the main line to Europe. I am a recent oomer to Hongkong, but I expect to be passing Samchun with a ticket in my pocket to London, and a return ticket at that. (Applause) Apart from that very long distance traffic, there is the China traffic alone. This sec. tion will be part of a line running from Peking through all the populons provinces of Chins with their cities, towns and villages down to Hongkong, one of the great ocean ports of the world, and a port for the last 70 years through which the greater part of the trade of Chine has passed. { That such a line cannot pay handsomely is inconceivable. And I would remind your Ex- cellencios that as much as you have used Hong- kong in the past I believe you will use it still more in the future. Every year ships are get- ting bigger and bigger, they want deeper and deeper water, more and more accommodation, and more and more facilities. A big port can meet the ocean traffic on those lives in a way no small port ever can, and I believe we shall still be doing very much business with Canton for many years to come, And, your Excellencies. I can as- sure you on behalf of the Government and mer- chants of Hongkong that nothing will be left undone to make that great port even more useful to you, and to maintain it in its position among the ocean ports ofthe world. (Applause.) I havo said this Canton-Kowloon Railway is a monu- ment to Anglo-Chinese co-operation, and I believe it will lead to still further co-operation. It will bring the Cantonese still closer in touch with the inhabitants of Hongkong, and I firmly believe the more we see of one another, the more we know of one another, the more ready we shall be to work with one another. (Applause.) Your Excellencies, it is the earnest wish of your British guests that any future enterprise of Anglo Chinese co-operation may begin under as happy auspices as has thie Canton-Kowloon
! Railway. (Applause.)
His Honour CHAO CHING Hua, Managing Director of the Imporial Chinese Section of the Canton-Kowloon Railway, said:-Your Ex- cellencies and Gentlemen,-I desire no greater pleasure than to be able to express my gratitude to the officials, gentry and the staff of the railways of the two sections for the honour shown by them in attending this pleasurable and interesting function. The opening of the first section of this railway, which took within place in December last, may be
the recollection of many of us here, as it is only a lapse of 10 months, and to-day we are here witnessing the opening of the whole line and the connection of the two sections. This function, which is the last in connection with this railway, will mark the through opening and the connection of this railway with that of the Brit- ish section, and principally it will mark the strengthening of the close friendship which is