110
-13-
vessels up to 60 tons displacement.
(48) Pilotage. Pilotage is not compulsory at the Port of
Hong Kong but there are pilots who are licensed by the Harbour
Master. In practice, foreign-going vessels employ a pilot,
but locally-registered vessels which are in and out of the Port
many times in the year, do not.
(49) The pilots use their own craft, usually sampans, for boarding ships but they may use a launch belonging to the
particular steamship company whose vessel they are to meet.
(50) Rail communication. The Port is connected by railway
on the Kowloon side where the Kowloon-Canton Railway, (British
section), has its terminal. This section is Government-owned
and runs from Kowloon for a distance of 22 miles to Lowu on the
border of the New Territories. In 1911 a connection was made
at Lowu with the Chinese Government line running to Canton,
(Canton-Kowloon Railway - Chinese section), thus affecting a
through connection to the latter place. In 1937 a connection
was made close to Canton with the Canton-Hankow Railway, so
giving a through connection to Hankow.
(51) In 1938 about 500,000 tons of goods, mostly for
military use, were sent by rail to various points on the line to
Hankow. Since then, however, during the course of the
hostilities between China and Japan the Chinese lines of railway
have been much damaged at places, and the Kowloon-Canton Railway
is now only operating to Lowu.
(52) From evidence given to me, it would appear that if and
when matters settle down in China, there will undoubtedly be a
demand for the conveyance of more and more goods by rail. If
this should prove to be the case the railway undertaking would,
it is stated, require more facilities than they now have in the
way of pier and godown accommodation. When Messrs. Coode,
Fitzmaurice, Wilson & Mitchell reported in 1922 on the develop-
ment of the Port, they provided for the construction of new piers